which is a thing altogether hidden but in respect of those excellent Qualities Vertues and Perfections for which some are Eminent and Exemplary in this present World and because for their gracious dispositions and endowments they are the Choicest the Best the most valuable part of Mankind a peculiar people Zealous of good Works There is no doubt but God knoweth who are his who will continue his who will be fit and rightly prepared for his most Glorious Beatifical Presence But we have no Revelation concerning of particulars and as for the Scripture which is the standing Revelation we are to trust unto and to go by it meaneth by the Elect Sincere Sound Holy and Faithful Christians They are God's Elect in the Scripture Sence AND hence it followeth that none of those People who profess the Faith of Christ and Obedience to him should be Censorious and Uncharitable to others who own the Lord Jesus as well as they and who are for ought they know in as ready nay by their Humility and Charity in a readier way to Eternal Happiness than such as out of a principle of Pharisaism and Spiritual Pride Judge hardly of their Brethren Have they been Baptized in the Name of Christ So have we Do they Believe the several Articles of the Christian Faith So do we Do they use the Ordinances of Christ So do we Do they pretend Holiness I pray God we may all appear Holy in the Day of God and I wish some be not grosly mistaken in the Notion of Holiness for it doth not consist in a demure Look nor in odd Gestures nor in dry Opinions nor in Raptures and Ecstacies nor in Niceness Affectation or Singularity as to Matters Circumstantial But good Morality is a great part of True Holiness and it doth entirely consist in a Godly Righteous and Sober Life And whether their Holiness or ours be most substantial that Day will shew when all our Works shall be tried and when God will Judge even the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ IN the mean time People should not talk of their Election and Holiness so as to forget Charity God's great and undeserved Goodness to us all should Teach us to be Good and Kind and Affectionate to each other Beloved if God so Loved us we ought also to love one another saith the Apostle 1 Joh. 4. 11. Some have a strange faculty of Predestinating Themselves to Eternal Happiness and of Reprobating others to Eternal Misery But by all that I have read and considered upon this Subject it is great Ignorance joyn'd together with self-Self-love and Factiousness of Spirit that prevails with some Men to maintain a Point so opposite to the Love of God since the Point has been so accurately Examined especially in these Later and more Inquisitive Ages INSTEAD of expressing uncharitableness to one another upon fond presumption when we are all called by the Great Mercy of God to a State of Savlation we should every one of us give diligence to make our Calling and Election sure as the Apostle tells us 2 Pet. 1. 10. Meaning that we should make such a good use of these means of Grace we have the Privilege and Happiness of enjoying that they may be effectual to us and that we fail not of obtaining the end of that Faith and Hope to which we are all called And the way the Apostle directs is Plain and Open If saith he ye do these things ye shall never fall that is if ye do the things he mentioneth particularly at the 5 6 and 7 ver of that Chapter if ye add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity If these things be in you and abound ye shall never fall You see the Terms of Everlasting Life are conditional and that it lies on our part to perform those conditions Whence it necessarily follows that whatever God's Purposes are there are none on Their side who are People of Ungodly and Uncharitable Minds The Decree is extant Heb. 12. 14. Without Holiness that is without the entire practice of Religion no Man shall see the Lord and therefore it is very dangerous to trust to God's Secret Decrees while Men are wanting to that which is a manifest Duty Besides there is required Habitual Sanctity and Purity of Heart to fit and prepare us for an Heavenly State to make us Meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of Saints in Light Col. 1. 2. without this gracious disposition of Soul the Works of Heaven would be utterly Unsuitable to our Inclinations and we our selves should be utterly Uncapable of exerting our faculties upon them with the chearfulness and pleasure which is the Life of the Blessed and the Joys there are of such a Spiritual and Sublime Nature that they are altogether inconsistent with Tempers which are Earthly Sensual Devilish So that were there no Decree to keep Evil-minded People out of God's Everlasting Kingdom the very Nature of the Thing would render it absolutely impossible for them to be Happy in it because their Corrupt dispositions are quite Unfit for it nay Averse and Contrary to those things wherein the Blessedness of Heaven doth consist Therefore instead of taking upon us to shut others out we should have a great care lest we exclude our selves by depending upon Decrees on God's part without Holiness on our own Upon such Decrees as may be said to be of our own making if we do not qualifie our selves in such a sort as God hath commanded us Men should look very well at Home inquire diligently into their true State Rectifie their Tempers Mould their Hearts unto a Divine Frame set their Affections on things which are Honest Pure and Lovely Resemble God by being Merciful and Good to All and Imprint on their Souls those Divine Characters which are a Similitude of His Perfections and Glory This is the ultimate end of God's Love to us all that he may make us like unto Himself in the entire goodness of our Nature and that by those means he may render us truly Happy in the Fruition of Himself And whatever some giddy-headed People conceive it is very high and dangerous Presumption to leave the whole business of their Salvation to God and to throw it all upon God first to ordain them peremtorily to Everlasting Happiness and then to work upon them after an Irresistible manner as if they were to be haled and forced to it though with all their ill Qualities about them and notwithstanding their uncharitableness in particular than which nothing can be more Opposite to the Love of God nor to the Condition of that Place which is the Habitation of his Glory CHAP. VIII That our Care must be to make such a due Use of Gods Love and Goodness towards us all as to perform those things which are indispensibly necessary in order to the actual Possession of
Redeem us from all Iniquity to deliver us from the Bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God that being made free from Sin we might become Servants unto God and have our Fruit unto Holiness and the end Everlasting Life Nothing can be clearer than this is from the Holy Scripture that God sent his Son into the World to this end and purpose and with this most gracious Intention and for this Reason the whole Race of Mankind ought with all Thankfulness of Heart to acknowledge and adore him as the Saviour of us all If notwithstanding all his tenders of Grace and Mercy some will be so wanting to their Eternal Interest as to continue still in Bondage and to go on in their Wicked and Ungodly Courses till they take their last Fortunes with the Devil and his Angels from whose Power and Damnation they might have been delivered This will be indeed an aggravation of their own Crimes and Folly and a demonstration of the Divine Justice but no Diminution at all of God's Love and Goodness by the various acts whereof he shews now his great and unwillingness to have any of us Perish And it shews the Reason why the Apostle said He is the Saviour especially of them that Believe because though he be loving unto all yet these make a special use of his general Love they walk worthy of their Vocation by their special Obedience they order all Actions in special conformity to his Commands and Laws and so a special Application of Christ's Merits is made unto Them that he becomes Finally and Effectually and in the Event and Issue the Saviour of them onely It concerns us therefore as much as our Eternal Comforts amount to to take great care of our Hearts and Actions because whatever Notions some are willing to please their Fancies with every ones Final State will be suitable to the Nature and Condition of his Works To be Prying into and to Depend on God's Secret Counsels and at the same time to neglect ones own Life is the ready way to a more fatal downfall than His who walks on gazing upon the Stars and presently breaks his Neck by tumbling down a rugged Precipice The Revealed things belong to us and this is the Revelation that If we will enter into Life we must keep the Commandments Mat. 19. 17. That in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him Act. 10. 35. That we must work out our Salvation with fear and Trembling Phil. 2. 12. That we must not be conformed to this World but be transformed by the renewing of our Minds Rom. 12. 2. That we must cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit 2 Cor. 7. 1. That we must be Holy in all manner of Conversation as He which hath called us is Holy 1 Pet. 1. 15. And that if God so Loved us we ought also to Love one another 1 Joh. 4. 11. These things being so plain the great business of our Life should be to let all empty Speculations go and to Study the Practical Part of Religion For it is not our Opinions but solid Piety and Vertue that will carry us out in the day of God He hath shewed thee O Man what is good And what doth the Lord require of thee but to do Justly and to love Mercy and to walk Humbly with thy God Saith the Prophet Mic. 6. 8. And to what purpose hath the Grace Grace of God which bringeth Salvation appeared unto all Men Why That denying Ungodliness and worldly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World saith the Apostle Tit. 2. 12. If then we would answer the Love of God to us so as to be the better for it indeed and to reap benefit by it Everlastingly this is the true Way viz. to be led by the Goodness of God unto Repentance to bring forth Fruits Meet for Repentance to Eschew Evil to follow Peace and Holiness to have our Conversation Honest in the World to do those things that are Just and Pure and Lovely and of good Report to serve God acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear to lay aside all Bitterness Malice and Hatred to put on as the Elect of God Bowels of Mercies Kindness Humbleness of Mind Meekness Long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any Man have a Quarrel against any and over all to put on Charity which is the Bond of Perfectness These are so many Branches of the whole Duty of Man and if ye do these things whatever Conceits uncharitable People may have of you ye shall never fall CHAP. IX That we must make God all possible Returns of love What love is How excellent when it is a Divine Affection Two things shewed First How we may Acquire the love of God Secondly How we are to Express it viz By Obeying him by Resembling him and by desiring the Present and Future Fruition of him Sixthly TO dispose our Minds throughly for these Religious performances we should above all things possess our Hearts with such a Sense of God's Love to us as will naturally excite us to return all possible degrees of Love to him Love is a most vigorous Affection of the Soul a Principle of Action that Works and Exerts it Self after an Omnipotent manner as if it resembled that miraculous Faith which removeth Mountains T is an Affection that bears up against all difficulties that breaks thorough all Opposition that spares no Cost that begrudgeth nothing either of Time or Labour and that engageth all the Faculties of the Soul in such generous Undertakings as Dull Selfish and Phlegmatick Natures are hardly capable of opening a Thought to In short it is such a commanding Passion as brings a Man into Captivity with his own Consent and makes him pleasantly and chearfully a Vassal witness that single instance of Love Jacob who notwithstanding the unworthy Artifices of his Unkle Laban looked upon his many Years Servitude but as a few Days for the Affection he bore to his Beloved Rachel Gen. 29 As this Affection is more and more Purified so it riseth in its Vigor and when it comes to be a Divine Love placed upon God and upon the Son of God it is a most Active Delightful Principle of Obedience to his Will in all things It is that which sets the Blessed Angels upon the Wing to Execute his Commands with such Pleasure and Alacrity The same Divine Principle inspired the Apostles and other such Saints of Christ especially in the Bâ—gining of Christianity to Do and to Suffer all that was possible for Christ's Name with that Resolution Chearfulness and Zeal which made them Renowned unto all Ages The Love of Christ constraineth us saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 5. 14. And to omit other Instances I cannot but remember here the Ardent Zeal of that famous imitator of St. Paul Ignatius the Martyr Bishop of Antioch in the Apostolical Age who being Condemn'd
Pray to him and in the same Breath Asperse him that at once they Fear him and Hate him and that though they go to his Temples to Worship and to offer Sacrifices to him yet this is such a sort of Courtship wherewith Flatterers accost Tyrants they Hate and Curse them in their Hearts the very time they seem to Honour them Plutarch thought all frightful Ideas to be unsuitable to the Nature of a Deity God saith he is the Hope of Vertue not a Formidable Dreadful object Though Artificers are wont to represent him by Images that have a terrible Aspect yet Philosophers will tell you that God's Majesty is attended with Goodness with Benignity with a kind and careful Providence And he was of Pythagoras his Mind how slightly soever some thought of it That wise and Vertuous People are in the best Temper when they approach unto God because their Devotions are mixt with fair Opinions of him and with sincere Affections towards him These you will think were great things for an Heathen to say and so they were But we find by constant Experience that 't is natural for us to Hate those we are Afraid of and Nature will work after the same manner when we have to do with God if we conceive of him under such scaring notions as to believe him to be a Sowre Harsh Angry and Tyrannical Being Such Qualities are very Hateful they create Horror and Aversion but 't is impossible for them to beget any Love and therefore they must be utterly incompatible with the Glories and Excellencies of God whose Mercy is over all his Works and who sheweth his Almighty Power most chiefly by doing works of Pity and Compassion and to entertain such apprehensions of him as are a disparagement to his great Goodness is the ready way to bring us to the condition of those old Pagans who Worship'd Evil Doemons meerly for Fear lest they should Hurt them I deny not but there may be some Kind and Measure of Love in those who look upon God as a stern and rigorous Being if they can but perswade themselves into a Belief that God is so Partial to Their Souls as to make them his particular Favourites by a fixt and unconditional Decree But this degree and sort of Love is meerly a Passion of the Sensitive Soul raised by the power of Fancy because the Belief of this absolute purpose towards Them in particular wanteth the Authority of Divine Revelation Rational Affection or that Love towards God which is necessary to make all our performances a reasonable Service is quite another thing It is a fervour of Heart excited by the rational Faculty the Understanding upon full and clear Conviction of the Mind out of the Word of God which Conviction is wrought by the frequent Account we find in the Holy Scriptures touching the intrinsick Excellence and Goodness of God's Nature and touching his great Love and relative Goodness towards all Mankind This is the proper true Ground of that Divine Love I have spoken of and Ardent and Genuine affection of the Heart which the consideration of God's Universal Goodness is apt to kindle in the Soul of every Man who is not conscious of any willful and gross Wickedness which maketh him afraid of the Justice of God AS far as Nature could help them the wiser and more considerate Heathens attained to the Love of God by those weak discoveries they had of the Divine Goodness There are says Seneca de Ira lib. 2. cap. 27. Some things which cannot Hurt they are so Beneficent and Succouring in their Nature as the immortal Gods which neither will nor can be Mischievous because their Nature is Mild and Gentle He speaks in the Plural Number to gratifie the Humour of those Times but he means that one Supream God whom the more Intelligent Pagans Worshipp'd nay Worshipp'd with Affection as Seneca saith elsewhere de Benef. lib. 4. cap. 19. No Man in his right Senses will be horribly afraid of God because it is madness to Dread that which is Beneficial nor can any Man Love that object which they Fear after that manner Accordingly Maximus Tyrius tells us That the truly Religious Man is the Friend of God or one that loves God and that he is therefore Happy because he is a lover of God Dissert 4. Such considerable Notions those observing Men had of the Goodness of God as naturally produced great Affection to him And if we Christians who have besides the Book of Nature the Divine Writings would but attentively consider by what we read in them what a great lover of Souls that most Perfect Being is and what various Methods he hath used to save all our Souls from Perishing Everlastingly it would be the most Astonishing thing in the World if such considerations did not render him the most indearing Object since the very Publicans loved those who loved them nay since the very Ox knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Master 's Cribb 2dly HAVING thus shewed the proper way of Acquiring the Love of God I proceed now to consider how we are to Express it And that our Practice as to this may be Regular we must note what indeed is clear to all Men from the natural Operations of this Affection that Love excites us powerfully to these three Things 1st To observe the Will 2dly To resemble the Temper And 3dly To desire the Fruition of the Object we have an Ardent Affection for FIRST True Love makes us observe ones Pleasure seeing this Affection is made up of Esteem and Honour in the Judgment and of Complacency in the Heart a ready Compliance of the Will must be the next thing because this is only the Paying of that Deference which we Conceive to be Due and an Act of Respect whereby we are willing and delighted to Oblige In all Cases it makes us to be yielding But when it comes to be a Divine Love and hath the Blessed God for its Object it cannot but engage us to Entire and Universal Obedience because the Soul hath God's Soveraign Authority in its Eye besides those Beauties and Excellencies of his Nature which are so Amiable and so Powerful in their Influence God being the sole Governour of the World that hath a right to give Laws to our Souls and a Power to Dispose of them we are indispenfibly Obliged to make his Will when once it is Revealed the Rule and Measure of our Actions And the Necessity of this adds a mighty force to those Inclinations which Love alone createth evermore in the Mind to clasp with his Holy and Righteous Precepts Hence it is that the Scripture interprets Obedience as the only Sign and Argument of a Divine Love I will shew Mercy unto Thousands of them that Love me and keep my Commandments saith God Exod. 20. 6. If ye Love me keep my Commandments saith Christ Job 14. 15. This is the Love of God that we keep his Commandments saith the Divine Apostle 1 Joh. 5. 3.
THIS then is the first way of Expressing our Affections towards God in return of his great Love and Goodness to us and to all Mankind by Doing all things he requires of us with a ready and chearful Mind It is not a starch'd Gesture nor a Formal carriage nor an External Profession nor a waterish Look nor a furious Zeal for dry Opinions it is not these or any of these things that is the Sign of that Divine Love which is the Noble Principle of Religion For these outward shews may be consistent with the Hatred of God and Man and then they are only so many Glosses of Hypocrites void of that Rational and Generous Affection which God's Love calls for 'T is the entire subjection of the Heart Operating and Exerting all its Vigour by Religious Sober Honest and Charitable Actions 'T is the subduing our unreasonable Passions the denying all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts the cleansing of our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit the squaring of our Lives according to the Laws of God To this Pliant and Obediential frame of Soul that is the true Testimony and Fruit of that Love which God looks for and which is in the Sight of God of so great a Price We must call upon him daily with Faithful and Enflamed Spirits we must apply our Hearts to the Study and Practice of Religion we must do Justly Love Mercy and walk humbly with our God we must be sincere and without any Guile and deal truly with all Men as in the presence of God we must Love one another and Forgive one another For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 Joh. 4. 20. In short to express our Love of God after a right manner we must obey him in all things and that with enlarged Hearts with Filial Reverence with Ingenuous Dutifulness with a ready Will and with such Alacrity Chearfulness and Pleasure of Mind as becometh those for whom God hath been pleased to do so many Miracles of Mercy SECONDLY Another proper Act of Love is to Study Imitation This proceeds from a Twofold Cause partly from the great Value we have of and the great Complacency we take in the Object of our Affections which being so Amiable in our Eye doth naturally Excite us to transform our selves into a Similitude of it And partly it proceeds from an innate Desire we all have of being Beloved again which being impracticable without an Harmony of Mind and Temper between both Parties it is necessary for the one that Love may be Reciprocal to suit himself to the disposition of the other especially if that other be a Superior in Dignity Excellence and Perfection Considering therefore that God is infinitely the most Excellent the most Excellent and Perfect of all Beings the Love which springs from a Sense of his Perfections and reacheth after a Plenary Communication of them must needs Stimulate ones Soul to put on a Disposition as far as 't is possible agreeable to the Mind and Spirit of God THEREFORE that we may Rightly and Eminently express our Love to God we must by all means endeavour to resemble him I mean in all those things that are Imitable by us We must be sincere in Heart as that most Blessed Being is According to the capacities and Powers of our Nature we must be Holy and Separate from all Moral Impurities as God is we must be Patient Long-suffering and slow to Anger as He is we must be Treatable and Reconcilable notwithstanding all Affronts and Injuries as he is we must be strict Observers of the Eternal Rules of Righteousness and Justice as He is we must be Steaddy and True to all our Promises as the Faithful God is we must be Merciful and Benign Compassionate and Tender-hearted Bountiful and Impartial Kind and Good to all Men even to our Enemies as that Gracious and Beneficent Being is who maketh his Sun to shine upon the Good and upon the Evil too and sendeth his Rain upon the Just and upon the Unjust also Those Ill-natured People who are Uncharitable Rigid Fierce Implacable Austere Cruel Revengeful and Outragious should look upon God's Glories the Perfections and Beauties of his Nature and should employ their time upon this great Study how to be like God according to those charming Ideas under which He is represented unto us in the Holy Scriptures Thou thoughtest Wickedly that I am even such a one as thy self saith God but I will reprove thee and set before thee the things that thou hast done Psal 50. 21. God will not be served with our Vices nor must we be such Fools as to think we love him by entitling him to the Filth and Refuse of our Corrupt Nature Goodness is so bright a Beam of the Divine Glory and so easie to be seen in every part of the Creation that Men cannot but discover it by the Eye of Common Natural Reason The old Pagans Admired it and believed God to be the Best Being and therefore Ador'd him Prayed to him in all their Straits and Necessities and Celebrated his Praises as well as Nature could teach them For which Universal Custom amongst all Mankind there could not have been any sufficient Reason had they not Universally Believed not only the Existence of a Deity but moreover that the Divine Being is a God of Power and a God of great Clemency Benignity and Goodness This was the true Ground of their Religious Offices and of that Love which Nature wrought in their Hearts towards him And whatever any of us Christians may talk of our Loving God all is but Froth and Vanity Senseless and Ridiculous Profession unless we resemble him in Goodness Be ye Merciful even as your Father is Merciful as our Blessed Saviour said Luk. 6. 36. THIRDLY And Lastly to express our Love towards God we must earnestly desire the Fruition of him This every one seeth to be another natural Act of this Affection and the most Vehement Effort of it to be United to its Object and to have it in actual Possession and the Reason is because Happiness is Apprehended to consist in such Enjoyment Now God being the true Felicity of the Soul the only proper Object which the Faculties of the Soul can be Employed upon with satisfaction and which can fully Answer all our Desires it is impossible to Conceive how we can truly Love him especially under the notion of our Happiness without Ardent and Impatient Longings after the Fruition of him THIS being so clear the next thing we are to Note is that there is a Present and a Future Fruition of God The Present Fruition in respect of Degree is very Imperfect because we are yet in an Imperfect State but in respect of Quality and Kind is the same with that which is yet to come For it consisteth in Contemplating God according to our Capacities in Admiring the Perfections of his infinite Majesty in setting our Hearts on
with the notion and state of all such because the Chosen ones of God are those and onely those who shew the truth and vigour of their Faith by all holy conversation and godliness Though they are in the World yet in the Scripture-sence they are not of the World but chosen out of the World as our Saviour said of his first Disciples John 15. 19. And for this reason the World hateth them because they are not of the World even as Christ himself was not of the World John 17. 14. Therefore the World knoweth them not because it knoweth not God whose Sons they are 1 John 3. 1. WHEN Men meddle with points of Divinity and especially with such a Tender and Weighty Point as this is touching God's Love to Mankind they should very carefully observe what words really mean in the Scripture style and should form their Notions of things accordingly not daring to fix upon the great Rule of our Faith a construction of their own and that too quite contrary to the Sence of the Holy Spirit as some have taken the Confidence to doe whether out of Ignorance or out of Design or out of Both God knoweth Now not to urge any more places of Scripture to this purpose those already cited are enough to shew that in the Sacred Dialect the World is taken commonly in the softer sence for Mankind in general and many times in a severe construction for those of them who are in the most desperate condition the more wretched sinful and provoking part of mankind but we never find it used to signifie a Peculiar People Approved of God Acceptable to him or so in Favour with him as to be elected by him unto Everlasting Glory And should these places of Scripture be applyed to those who are supposed to be so elected such consequences would necessarily follow as to all Rational and Sober men would appear not onely very Absurd but very Impious and Horrible also To come close then to the matter in hand When our Saviour said God so loved the World c. his plain meaning was that God's sending his onely begotten Son into the World was an Act of his Love to the whole Race of Adam to all men without any exception not onely to the Jews but to the sinful Gentiles also to all and singular that did or should live upon the face of the whole Earth nay an act of Love even to those who are the Ungodliest of the World the most Corrupt People the Greatest Sinners that are most of all under God's Wrath and Displeasure 2. SOME may be ready to enquire here How the God of Purity can be said to Love People that are in such a sad and wretched state why this is the Second thing I am to consider and before I proceed to the Explication thereof I must intreat you to observe that Love and Anger are not at all Inconsistent Love and Hatred indeed are opposite affections but Love and Displeasure may go together and very often there is Kindness even where there is Indignation As frail and infirm Beings as we our selves are we find in our own Nature a mixture of these Dispositions Thus a Magistrate is angry with a Malefactor though at the same time he Pitieth him A Father is Incensed against an Undutiful Child though at the same time he Loves him and for that reason Correcteth because he bears a Tender and Entire Affection towards him One Man is highly Displeased with another and reckons him an Enemy though at the same time he is Benevolently affected to him as a Neighbour and a Christian and is ready to do him any Charitable Offices as one for whom the Lord Jesus was pleased to Die And if these several Affections thus meet in us though our Natures are Vitiated and Corrupt How can it seem incredible that at the same time Displeasure and Love should come from that Divine Being who is absolutely Perfect transcendently Righteous Infinitely Necessarily and Inexhaustibly Good and Merciful This being premised that I may now proceed Distinctly and Clearly upon this Subject I must desire you again to observe that there is a Twofold Love to be consider'd here or rather a Two-fold Degree of Love and of each of these we find in our selves a daily Sense and Experiment 1. First There is in our Nature especially when it is smooth'd and softned by Religion an inclination to do a Man good consider'd under the notion of a Man though his actions towards us be such that he deserves not thereby any kindness at our hands but rather the contrary This Divines are wont to call The Love of Benevolence a Love that we bear towards all Mankind for common Humanity sake and an affection which the Laws of Christ require us to have even for our bitterest and most implacable Enemies How provoking soever their Practices be Works of Mercy and Charity are due to their Nature and Persons so that we must bless them that curse us do good to them that hate us and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us Matth. 5. 44. 2. Secondly We feel in our Souls an earnest and vehement desire of doing all the Kindest Offices we can possibly to those that Love us again and that endeavour to oblige gratifie and serve us a very Great and Tender affection grounded on their Personal Qualities and Merits over and above that which they call for on the account of Common Nature and this is usually stiled A Love of Friendship or Complacency Now these Two Sorts or Degrees of Affection are ascribed unto God I mean abstracting those Passions and Perturbations of Mind which are ever incident to us by reason of the frailty and weakness of our Constitution That Particular and most Intense Love whereof there is some Analogy and Resemblance in the Divine Being he expresseth onely to those that are very Dear to him those that Love him that Serve him with all their Soul that Keep his Commandments and that acquire that Noble Character of being his Friends as Abraham was called the Friend of God James 2. 23. And the Blessed Jesus said to his Disciples Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15. 14. Hence it was that he told them That he Loved them and that the Father himself Loved them meaning with a more Peculiar and Ardent Assection and he told them this Reason for it too because they Loved him and Believed that he came out from God John 16. 27. For the same reason St. Paul saith Ephes 5. 25. That Christ Loved the Church that is those whose hearts are purified by Faith and whose consciences are purged from all dead Works to serve the Living God Those Gracious Dispositions and moral Perfections which by the operation of the Holy Spirit are formed in all Honest Humble and Obedient hearts are the onely ground of that Love I now speak of that Great and Abundant Kindness which God extends to such as perfect
confirm our Hopes to rectifie our Wills in such a Moral Way as is suitable to voluntary Agents and to induce our corrupt Natures with a super natural Principle of Grace for the performance of those Duties which God now requires in such a measure as God will accept of Thus from the beginning to the end of God's Oeconomy there is nothing on his part but Love Love Unspeakable Love Unfeigned and after all these various and astonishing expressions of it to us all for any of us to Revile that most Holy and Beneficent Being as the cause of Men's Sins as the Author of Men's Damnation as the hater and destroyer of Men's Souls by pretended absolute and irresistible Decrees this is such a complication of Blasphemy Ingratitude and other horrible Wickedness as would need another Sacrifice if that already offer'd upon the Cross were not of Infinite Value WERE Men possest with a true Sense of God's Love and his Works for us methinks nothing more would be needful to endear Religion to us and to engage us to Piety Charity and Holiness of Life Such a mighty influence would that Sense have over every one of our Souls to stir us up to every thing that is pure lovely and good And in order to it that I may now proceed to the more practical part of this Discourse give me leave to lay before you these six following Directions First That you be careful to entertain in your Minds Genuine Apprehensions of God Secondly That you do not Judge of God's Love by the Event of things Thirdly That you do not measure his purpose as to things Eternal by his present Acts of Providence in dispensing some special Favours here Fourthly That you do not think Uncharitably of others upon a presumption that you your selves are of the number of God's Elect. Fifthly That you diligently perform those things which are necessary in order to the final participation of God's Love Sixthly and Lastly That you endeavour to make God all possible returns of Affection CHAP. IV. Six Practical Inferences from this Point First That we should have Genuine Notions of God and what Notions are such First THAT you be careful to entertain in your Minds Genuine Apprehensions of God That Wise and Vertuous Heathen Plutarch in his Book of Superstition shews That though the Fancy of an Atheist be a very false and foul imagination and an Argument of extream blindness of Mind yet such a one is in a better case than he who believing the Existence of God takes him nevertheless for a Frightful Hurtful Tyrannical Cruel and Savage Being And he draws a Parallel from himself I had said he much rather People should Report that there never was such a Man living as Plutarch than that Plutarch was an inconstant and fickle Man addicted to Anger Revengeful upon every slight occasion moved out of himself by little Provocations or apt for ordinary disrespects to behave himself like an outrageous and unmerciful Creature To imagine there is no God is to Disbelieve to conceive hard and unworthy Notions of God is to Slander and Reproach him I call those hard and unworthy Notions of God which are unsuitable to the Perfections of so excellent a Being so Glorious for the infinite Goodness Rectitude and Beauties of his Nature He is absolutely perfect in himself the Supream Chiefest and purest Good without the least mixture of any thing that is a stain to perfection or a Debasement and Diminution of it This is Essential to the Deity and necessarily included in the Notion of God And as he is the most perfect Being in his own Nature so is he too the cause and spring whence all those Perfections are derived which are in any degree remarkable in his Creatures especially of those Perfections whereby all Rational Beings Angels and Men excell the rest whatever Excellencies are in these according to the measure of their Capacities we must suppose to be in God in the highest degree because it is unconceivable how he can communicate that to others which he himself hath not Therefore in framing our Idea's of God we must abstract and lay aside all Conceptions which include Defect or any thing that is a Disparagement to Excellency Though it be impossible for us poor Finite Creatures to have Adequate Notions of that Infinite Being or to Understand and Know him fully as he is especially while we our selves are in this Mortal State Yet this is the best way of raising our Minds to the clearest and truest Apprehensions of him by ascribing to him all that Argues true Excellency and Perfection and by separating from our Conceptions of him whatever serves or seems to Degrade Lower and Vilifie a most perfect Being And to hit this matter rightly we should observe what is Vile in our selves Defective and Reproachful in our own Nature and be sure to remove and throw away all that from our Conceptions of God For though God hath given us divers excellent Faculties yet in each of these there is something that doth Deprave Vitiate and is a Blemish to it In our Understanding there is much Darkness In our Wills there is an Averseness to follow Reason many times though it be clear a crookedness that makes us stand awry and hold off from that which is Good And in the lowest Faculty of the Soul there are many Passions and Affections which most of all Argue Defect in us and are the greatest Disparagement and Stain to Humane Nature Therefore they are called Vices because they are a Blemish and Pollution to that Spiritual Being the Soul and so great a Blemish that the foulness of them is discoverable by the ordinary Light of Nature Frowardness Rage Malice Spitefulness Lying Insincerity Cruelty Crossness of Temper Love of Mischief and the Pleasure some take in Oppressing Hurting Ruining Poor People and many times too when there is no other Reason for such Barbarous Actions but onely the Fierceness and Violence of a Blind Passion These are very ugly things and such as appear very ugly in the Eyes of Heathens themselves They Argue great Defect and Corruption in Humane Nature and are a Disgrace to it They are the Efforts of Base Minds and Signs of a very Scurvy Temper Actions that Proceed from very Degenerate Spirits and evil Hearts and such as are hateful to all Men whose Natures are at all Refin'd and Improv'd These Qualities therefore being so inconsistent with all Excellency and so diametrically opposite to Perfection we may be sure they cannot be in God nor can any thing like them have room in his Divine and Super-excellent Nature To represent that most Glorious Being as one that from Eternity disposed of Men's Lots without any Consideration or Foresight of their Actions as one that made Mankind with a stedfast Resolution to Damn the Generality of them or at least took Advantage by one Man's Sin to consign the greatest part of his Posterity to Everlasting Torments To represent him as one that
seeks to compass his Design by not onely Permitting but Assisting Men to Transgress his Holy Laws as one that bids them Obey and Swear he desires they should Obey his Commands and yet by his Secret Will would not have them do it As one that Denies when he seems to offer them the Means of Obeying refuseth to help their Weakness and yet Punisheth them for not accepting his Help To represent him as one that thus colludes and deals hardly with his Poor Creatures and all this that in the end he may shew his great Power over them and satisfie his own absolute and irresistible Will and to please himself with their Everlasting Unspeakable Torments This is to Degrade God beneath his most perfect Self to make him equal if not exceed the most Barbarous Tempers to extinguish his Glory to throw upon him the very dregs and filth which the worst Natur'd Man is capable of and to destroy those Divine Attributes which are the Lustre and Excellency of the Deity God is Love saith the Apostle and the Genuine Notion of his Love is that he is ready to do his Necessitous Creatures and especially the Precious Souls of Men all the Good they need The Genuine Notion of his Justice is that he evermore Acteth Righteously according to the Rules of Eternal Reason Rewarding every Man as his Works are whether Good or Evil. The Genuine Notion of his Truth is that his Words are agreeable with his Purpose and Mind that he cannot Lye or Dissemble because it is Repugnant to the Excellence of his Nature The Genuine Notion of his Power is that he can do whatever doth not involve a Contradiction nor Argueth Evil or Imperfection in the Agent The Genuine Notion of his Goodness is that he is inclined to provide all the means that are necessary or becoming him to provide for the Welfare of his whole Creation according to the Capacities and Faculties of every part of it The Genuine Notion of his Mercy is that he is Compassionate Benign and Patient towards the most undeserving Men though by their own Faults they are Sinful and Enemies to their own Souls These are the Glories of his Essence Attributes which adorn his Nature and which shew him to be the most Perfect and Excellent of all Beings Therefore in forming our Notions and Conceptions of God we must be sure to have a constant Eye and a tender Regard to these his adorable Perfections and Construe his Works with Respect to them especially the Works of his Love which is the Attribute he seemeth particularly delighted with himself and for that Reason 't is said Jam. 2. 13. That Mercy Rejoyceth against Judgment And when God was Pleased to shew his Glory to Moses on Mount Sinai as he passed by before him he Proclaimed himself in this Stile The Lord the Lord God Merciful and Gracious Long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands Forgiving Iniquity and Transgression and Sin and that will by no means clear the Guilty Exod. 34. 6 7. CHAP. V. That we should not Judge of God's Love to us by accidental Events which depend upon our own Choice Secondly HAVING thus according to this Description possest our Minds with True and Genuine Apprehensions of God we must be careful Secondly That we do not Judge of his Love towards Mankind by accidental Events which depend upon our own choice By accidental Events I mean those Miseries and Punishments of Men which befall them by their own foolish wilfulness besides God's Sincere Desire and Primary Intentions He is not willing that any should Perish 2 Pet. 3. 9. As I Live saith the Lord God I have no Pleasure in the Death of the Wicked Ezek. 33. 11. And yet it appears by the last Words of that verse That the House of Israel took a ready course to Die and in Probability many of them did Where then lieth the Cause of this Miscarriage why even at Wicked Men's own Doors because either they make no Use at all or make a very Ill Use of God's Love towards them O! Israel Thou hast destroyed thy Self but in Me is thine Help saith the Holy One of Israel Hos 13. 9. This is the plain Account of the Matter Help is not wanting on God's part He giveth to all Men Liberally Jam. 1. 5. He provideth Means enough to keep us all from Destruction if we will set our Hearts to Apply them duly he is Loving unto every Man but every Man is not so Loving to himself as God is And hence it cometh to pass that though God's Intentions be equally Benevolent yet it happens accidentally that they have not equal Success because all do not take an equal Care to Answer God's Goodness Some Reject or Frustrate the Counsel of God Luk. 7. 30. Which could not be if Mercy were not offer'd and if God's Intentions towards them were not Kind and Real Some Resist the Holy Ghost Act 7. 51. Which could not be if the Holy Ghost were not there to Operate and strive with them Some Grieve the Good Spirit of God Ephes 4. 30. Which could not be if the Comforter were not given them first to Seal and Mark them as Men Purchased with the Blood of Christ to be his Servants Some are in danger of Quenching the Spirit 1 Thes 5. 19. Which could not be if the Spirit had not Kindled some Sparks in them Some hide their Talents in the Ground Mat. 25. 25. Which could not be if a Talent were not first put into their Hands Some presently lose out of their Hearts the Seed of Eternal Life others will not suffer it to take deep Root and others Choak it with the Cares and Pleasures of this Life so that it bringeth no Fruit unto Perfection Luk. 8. Which could not be if the Seed had not been Sown Events in this Case are different according as Men's Hearts are either Good or Bad and according as their Care and Husbandry is greater or less and hence it is that when all Men are called to a State of Salvation some Work it out and some Neglect it One Judas continues the Servant of Christ and another hath the Character of the Son of Perdition and Simon Peter Weeps for his own Sins and Converts his Brethren from theirs while Simon the Sorcerer remains in the Gall of Bitterness and the Bond of Iniquity The Reason of this is within Men because some are Diligent to continue and grow in the Grace of God others Frustrate it and turn it into Wantonness It doth not become the Wisdom of the great Legislatour of the World to Drag People to Heaven against their Wills or to force their Obedience to his Laws by a Power that is Irresistible For this would be to Destroy the Nature of Obedience which ought to be Hearty Chearful and Free and it would take away the Reason of Rewards which Obedience cannot be capable of if it be not an Act of Choice no more than Machines and Engines
deserve a Reward when they move as they are stirred without any inward Principle of their own God sets before us Life and Death Blessing and Cursing and bids us choose Life Deut. 30. 19. He calls upon us by his Ministers Word and Spirit to conform to his Laws he affords us all the necessary means of Happiness he gives us a new Principle and a Sufficiency of Spiritual Strength to help our Natural Weaknesses and to enable us to become New Creatures and having shed abroad such abundance of his Love he leaves us in our own Power to Employ it Because we are Rational and Voluntary Agents it is fit we should be dealt with in a Moral way by Instruction Arguments Perswasion and such other Motives as are consistent with our Natures and suitable to Beings which know the differences between Good and Evil and have not onely a Power of choosing and refusing but are moreover deeply concern'd in Point of Duty and Eternal Interest to chuse the Good and to refuse the Evil. The Divine Grace serves to Help and Rectifie our Nature but not to take away our Powers and Faculties of Acting nor do we cease to be Men when we are called to be Christians Still we are in our own Hands in a great measure and still the Proposals are like those formerly made to Cain If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted And if thou dost not well Sin lieth at the Door Gen. 4. 7. If any of us fall under a Curse after all as Cain did or be Banisht from God's Presence as Cain was it is because our Hearts are Evil like his and because we throw off as he did the Love of God and of our Brother If Men become Reprobates it is because they will be of Reprobate Minds for God doth not deliver them up to a State of Reprobation or to strong Delusions So that in the end they are Damned till they refuse to receive the Love of the Truth that they might be Saved 2 Thes 2. 10. Such Miscarriages ought not to be imputed to the God of Truth Purity Mercy and Compassion or to him that loved us and gave himself for us God forbid He intended to Save all to the uttermost that would come unto God by him and he did all that lay on his part to draw all to him therefore he is the Saviour of all though all are not actually saved That they were to blame themselves for and none else but themselves because nothing was wanting in their Redeemer He had been the Saviour of the whole World though none had believed on him but his Blessed Mother because it would have been their own Crime if others had not believed on him as well as she because they would not have been gathered unto him as he himself said of Jerusalem and her Children when he would have gather'd them as an Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings The Sun is truly said to Enlighten the World should all Mankind shut their Eyes and refuse to behold its Rays or hide themselves in Holes and Caverns from the Heat of them So did the Son of Righteousness rise upon all upon the Evil and upon the Good upon the Just and upon the Unjust He was Good to all Mankind though some hate the Light and will not come unto the Light but love Darkness rather because their Deeds are Evil Job 3. 19. Now this is purely Accidental in respect of God's Intentions and Desires and therefore we may not judge of God's Love by such Accidents no more than we allow our selves to judge of one anothers Purposes and Wishes by Events that are quite beside them nay contrary unto them An upright Law-giver consults the Good of the whole Commonwealth gives them Rules to be the Measures of their Actions and encourages them all with Promises of Rewards upon their Obedience and if notwithstanding all this some will be so Perverse and Headstrong as not to be Govern'd but will follow still such irregular Courses as will bring some to the Gibbet and others to the Flames The Condemnation of such People is very Just because it is from themselves A tender Physician consults the good of all his Patients provides Remedies for them adviseth them to make a due Use of them and tells them the danger that will attend their wilful neglect especially if the Disease be in its nature Mortal and if notwithstanding all this a sick Man will fly in the Physicians Face and throw away that which he should Receive his Death is Accidental and ought not to be charged to his account who would have saved him from it A Conscientious Divine I am sure consults the Eternal good of all that are committed to his Charge prayeth for them directs them according to the best of his Skill and Power calls upon them to be merciful to their own Souls admonishes and intreats them thinks no Service too much for them seeks to do them good sincerely wisheth their good and if notwithstanding this they will not hearken nor mind but Destroy themselves after all by the violence of their wicked Passions or by their willful Stupidity this doth not argue any want of affection in Him it is besides what the good Man Intends or Desires that which he is Grieved and Afflicted at the very apprehensions of the Event is sad and accidental but He himself is clear from the Blood of all No Man questions the Affections of a Father to the Children of his Bowels and yet it is common for Children by their own Folly and Obstinate temper to Ruin all their Fortunes notwithstanding the Cares Counsels and Endeavours of their Parent and thereby bring down his Gray Hairs with Sorrow to the Grave Now if in these Cases Intentions ought not to be Measured by Accidents much less are we to judge of God's Decrees and Purposes by any Man's Ruin because God of his Goodness doth much more for us all than what we poor Creatures are able to do for one another how great soever our mutual Zeal and Affections may be He giveth Grace which none of us can give He bestoweth his Holy Spirit which is not in our power He strengthens us with Mâ—ght in the Inner-Man which is out of the reach of our Hand He Prevents Follows and Furthers Men with secret Operations which are beyond and above our capacities to do and if notwithstanding all outward and inward means of Salvation and notwithstanding God's wishes to the contrary some for whom Christ Died will go on still in Error and Sin till they Destroy themselves finally this doth not argue any want of Love or gracious Intentions in God but is a sad argument that some might have been Healed and would not an act of Perverseness and Intractability which in God's day will turn to their greater condemnation CHAP. VI. That we must not measure God's Purposes as to things Eternal by his present Acts of Providence in dispensing some special outward Favours in this
Life Thirdly AS we must not judge of God's Love by accidental Events so neither must we measure his Purpose as to things Eternal by his present Acts of Providence in dispensing some special outward Favours in this Life By special Favours I understand certain singular Advantages in respect of this World and such too as have some respect to the World to come in both respects very valuable Privileges and Blessings which some enjoy in a greater and better measure than others And from those which I may call Temporal Privileges though Spiritual Advantages go along with them many times to conclude that the rest who enjoy them not in the like degree are under God's absolute Hatred Or in a State of Damnation is very Unreasonable and Injurious to God's Honour As for instance whereas the Lord Promised Abraham upon his Obediential and Exemplary Faith that he would be a God unto him and to his Seed after him and that he would give them the Land of Canaan for their Possession God intended this Promise should be made good not to Ishmael and his Posterity though Ishmael was Abraham's First Born but to Isaac and his Off spring In Isaac shall thy Seed be called said God to him Gen. 21. 12. Meaning that Isaac and his Descendants should Inherit the Promise Now this was a special Favour and Privilege to him and his Issue especially considering the Spiritual Blessings which went along with this Earthly one that to them pertained with the this Adoption the Glory or the Ark of God and his Glorious Presence in it and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the Promises of Christ's coming among them and from them Rom. 9. 4 But though Isaac and his Seed had these singular Advantages we must not by any means conclude hence that Ishmael had no share at all of God's Love much less may we inferr that he was absolutely Rejected of God as a Rebrobate to Eternity For as touching a future State the Scripture is wholly Silent and therefore so must we And though God did not Bless him in this World so greatly and abundantly as he Blest his Brother Isaac yet I cannot find any reason to think but that God Loved him too For we are told Gen. 17. That God Commanded him to be Circumcised which was the outward Mark of the Divine Favour the Token of God's Covenant and therefore we cannot suppose him to have been quite shut out of it Nay God told Abraham there expresly v. 20. That as for Ishmael he had heard him and had Blessed him and would make him Fruitful and would Multiply him exceedingly so that twelve Princes and a great Nation should come out of his Loins though God intended to Establish his more particular Covenant and special Favour with Isaac And as for Ishmael's Posterity though they were not Blest with all those outward peculiar Privileges which Isaac's Children enjoyed yet we find nothing to perswade us but that they were allow'd to Live in the Land of Canaan with their Kindred if they would Profess the Religion that was Established there Nay they were in a Capacity of having their share though not so great a share of the Divine Favour and Goodness provided they did not turn Idolaters nor forsake the God of their Father Abraham but did Worship him still as Abraham was wont to do and as he Commanded his Children and his Houshold after him Gen. 18. 19. I instance next in Jacob and Esau whose Case is constantly urged in defence of those rigid Doctrines which are so inconsistent with the Notion of God's Love to the World The Children being not as yet Born saith St. Paul nor having done Good or Evil it was said unto Rebecca The Elder shall Serve the Younger as is it Written Jacob have I Loved but Esau have I Hated Rom. 9. 11 12 13. These Words some Interpret as if God hated Esau if not his Posterity too with a perfect hatred and by an absolute Decree Eternally deprived them of all Hopes of enjoying his Favour in this World and in the other too And hence they go on to lay down this Principle that God hateth some People meerly because he will and shuts them out of the Kingdom of Heaven without any foresight or consideration of their Evil Works But whosoever shall with Attention and Impartiality of Mind consider the Apostles meaning in that place will not find the least ground for that Principle by what he saith of Esau and that for these two Reasons 1. FIRST Because St. Paul doth not mean that God hated Esau in a Proper Positive and Strict Sence but only that he did not Love him so much as he did his Brother Jacob. For the Word Hatred is often taken Comparatively for a lower and lesser degree of affection As the Wise Man saith He that Spareth his Rod Hateth his Son Prov. 13. 24. That is he doth not Love him so well as he who Chasteneth his Son betimes So when our Saviour saith Luk. 14. 26. If any Man come to me and Hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple This saying would be strangely hard were it to be understood in a strict Sence for Christianity doth not cancel the Bonds of Nature To Hate such near Relations is an Unnatural and Wicked thing which we may be sure is utterly Forbidden by his Religion who Commands us to Love even our Enemies But our Lord meant that we must Love Father and Mother and Life it Self less than we love Christ that our Affections to these must not compare with those we are to have for him who Loved us so as to Dye for us And therefore St. Matthew renders it thus He that Loveth Father or Mother more than Me is not Worthy of Me and he that Loveth Son or Daughter more than Me is not Worthy of me St. Mat. 10. 37. In this Sence God is said to have hated Esau meaning in comparison of the particular kindness he shew'd unto Jacob He Loved Jacob more he expressed his Goodness to him in a greater Measure and in an higher Degree than he exprest it to Esau though he was the Elder of the two 2. SECONDLY This lower Degree of Love to Esau was not in reference to a Future State but only as to some outward Blessings and Advantages in this World And hereof there are two plain Arguments the one is drawn from St Paul's own Construction of the matter viz. that the Elder should serve the Younger which can be meant of nothing but Temporal Servitude according to the Will and Appointment of their Father Isaac saying to Jacob Be Lord over thy Brethren and let thy Mother's Sons bow down to thee Gen. 27. 29. The other Argument is taken from St. Paul's Design and Drift there which was to shew that the Jew 's had no reason to be Scandalized because God had now given the
to be thrown to the Lyons as he was on his tedious Journey to Rome where he was to Suffer he sent before-hand to the Christians there an Epistle wherein he most Importunately and Passionately desired them not to use any means in the World to prevent his Martyrdom but rather assist the earnest Desires he had to Die for the Lord Jesus He Prayed heartily that it might be his Lot to be torn in pieces by the Wild Beasts which were provided for him and that he might find them Fierce and Ravenous He profess'd that rather than fail he would Court nay Constrain them to Devour him He express'd his Wishes that he might endure any Torments the Flames the Cross the united Force of Savage Creatures Manglings Dilacerations the dispersing of his Bones the chopping of all his Limbs into pieces the Consumption of his whole Body nay all the pains the Devil could bring upon him so that he might but enjoy Jesus Christ He declared that all the Kingdoms of this World would do him no good without Martyrdom and that he had much rather Die for Christ and to be with Christ than be Monarch of the whole Earth and the true cause of this his Flaming Zeal was the great Sense he had of Christ's wonderful Affection in Dying for the World which Commanded from him the return of these Passionate Affections to God and his Redeemer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said he my Love was Crucified I have briefly observed these things to shew that Love is a most powerful Affection when it is Sincere Hearty and Earnest Of all the Affections of the Soul it is that which will not be concealed or lie idle There is a vehemence in the Nature of it which will break forth and discover the Delights and Desires that are within And therefore to Fit and Temper our Minds duly for those Performances which God looketh for as a Genuine return on our part for his abundant Love to us all and as necessary means in order to the Final and Everlasting Fruition of himself we must raise our Affections to this hihg and noble Pitch to Love the Lord our God With all our Heart and with all our Soul and with all our Mind Mat. 22. 37. Our Saviour there calls it the first and great Commandment not only because it is of prime Obligation but moreover because it is the main Genuine spring whence all Acts of Obedience to God do naturally flow INDEED Solomon tells us That the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom Prov. 9. 10. And doubtless the consideration of God's Power and Justice is a very necessary thing to keep People in Awe nay the only thing that is a Check upon those who would not stick to commit Iniquity with greediness and run out into all manner of Excesses were it not for fear of God's Judgments in this World and of Hell Torments in the next But though this be a good restraint and highly needful in its kind yet it is far from being so excellent a preservative of Virtue and Religion as the Love of God is For this Fear is in some Men the Effect of an Absurd Slavish Disposition Proceeding purely from Self-Love and from a Natural Principle of Self-Preservation which makes them forbear those Sins for their own sakes only which otherwise they would readily Commit were there no Danger And as for those positive Acts of Obedience to the Divine Commands which they perform they proceed too from the same servise Principle so that it is at best a Forc'd and Unwilling Obedience extorted meerly to Pacifie a terrible God that is Arm'd with Power to Revenge the Contempt of of his most Sacred Authority And tho' there is and ought to be in the very Best and most Holy People a Fear of God or a Dread of his Displeasure and of Eternal Punishment A Fear that is well pleasing unto God and very useful to themselves yet in those Pious Hearts it is attended and mixed with a very Ardent Love and so it is an Ingenuous Fear a Filial Reverence like that Awful Regard which Dutiful and Affectionate Children have for their dear Parents at the same time they are afraid of their Displeasure and Obey but Obey with Chearfulness and Delight It is Love that most generous Affection of the Soul it is that which makes Fear such a good and kindly Principle of Action and the warmer our Love is the more Extensive Hearty and Acceptable will our Obedience be Therefore that we may Answer the Love of God to us by a chearful performance of those things which of his great Mercy and Goodness he hath proposed to our Practice that thereby he may fit us for true Happiness in Heaven To Answer I say this his unspeakable Love to us all we should use all possible endeavours to Enflame our Souls with such a Love towards him again as wrought so vigorously in the Saints of Old who counted not their very Lives dear to them So that they might finish their Course with Joy as St. Paul said of himself Act. 20. 24. In the closing of this whole Subject which began with the Contemplation of God's Love and is now to end with the Consideration of ours It will be requisite for me to shew these two things First How we may acquire Secondly How we are to Express that Divine Affection which I now speak of 2dly First then The way to Acquire this Love is to represent God to our Minds as the best of all Beings and that in a two fold Respect 1. As the most Desirable Delightful and Amiable good in his Nature and 2. As a Being that is most Communicative of Goodness and Happiness to us 1st First We should represent God to our Minds as the most Amiable Good in his Nature Some Perfections are very indearing and Attractive of our Affections tho' we be supposed to be never the better for them As that Perfection of Body which consisteth in External Beauty and Loveliness inviteth the Spectators Affection though the Person so Accomplish'd is and is ever like to be an utter Stranger to him The Beauties of the Mind are much more Attractive of a Rational Affection Wisdom Truth Sincerity Faithfulness Gentleness Meekness Patience Righteousness Mercy a Condescending Temper and whatever comes under the notion of true Goodness these are Amiable Vertues and Dispositions which we cannot but Love one another for though they are in us but in a scanty Measure and are mixed too with many Infirmities Such as they be they are Derived also We are beholding for them to that Supream and first Cause who is the Fountain of all Excellencies and therefore they must needs be most Amiable in God because in Him they are Absolute and Infinite nor can we conceive any Perfections Intellectual or Moral in the most Excellent Creatures no not in the Blessed Angels themselves but what are transcendently Glorious in the Father of Spirits whose Excellencies admit of no boundaries or Abatement
him as our Supream Good in feeding our Desires with the Ravishing Ideas of him in Delighting and being highly pleased with the Sense of him and in such other Beatifical Acts which are answerable to Rational Appetites Every Divine Lover hath something of all this in this Present Imperfect State 't is the Fruition which now Crowneth our Affections that Spiritual Fellowship of Communion with God which we enjoy in this Life To Express therefore our Love to him in this respect we should have him always in our Minds be full of worthy Conceptions of him and make the thoughts of his Glorious Essence and Attributes to dwell in our Hearts daily We should Exalt him in our Minds above all things and make our Souls sensible that we have none in Heaven but Him none upon Earth to be desired in Comparison of Him We should take Pleasure in Divine Contemplations and endeavour constantly to Satiate our Souls more and more with Delights of that Nature We should every day possess our Hearts with such Affecting Meditations as These O God! How Excellent is thy Name How Radiant is thy Glory How Adorable are thy Perfections How Wonderful are thy Works How Beautiful are all thy Ways How Righteous are thy Actions How Equal are thy Commands How Precious and Sweet are thy Promises How Infinite is thy Goodness How Astonishing are thy Mercies How Charming is thy Love How Helpfull and Saving is thy Power How Tender is thy Pity How Blessed and Praise-worthy and Desirable art Thou O Thou great Lover of Souls and Redeemer of the World To kindle in us such a Divine Flame and to raise our Desires still touching the Fruition of God we should Form our Hearts into a Devout Temper give our Selves to Prayer and to the Love of it daily Insensate and Careless People know not the Comforts the Pleasures the Divine Enjoyments which Transport the Minds of those who Pray to God with Stay'd Fervent and Affectionate Hearts Certainly what Happiness there is here below Men of Holy Humble and Devout Spirits have it And that our Fruitions thereby may be the greater and the more desirable we should evermore be mindful of Publick and Solemn Devotion Chiefly when Two or Three are gathered together in Christ's Name then is he in the midst of us and then is God with us then we Enjoy him in a more especial manner and measure in the Congregation in the Assembly of the Saints in his House of Prayer There he scatters his Blessings there he gives us participations of himself there he refresheth us with a portion of those Pleasures which are at his Right Hand And this was the Reason of those Raptures Wishes Groans and Longings of the Holy Psalmist which upon the like occasions we should be full of too My Heart is fixed O God my Heart is fixed I will Sing and give Praise Awake up my Glory I will go into this Sanctuary and fall low on my Knees at thy Footstool Like as the Heart desireth the Water-brooks so longeth my Soul after Thee O God My Soul is a Thirst for God yea even for the Living God When shall I come to appear before the Presence of God! O How Amiable are thy Dwellings O Lord of Hosts My Soul hath a Desire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord for one Day in thy Courts is better than a Thousand I had rather be a Door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness Now see how passionate that good Man's Love to God was though for the present Fruition of him And if the Gleanings of the Grapes be so desirable what is the whole Vintage I mean that abundant and Eternal Enjoyment which is Reserved for us till that Day when we shall have duly transacted all our Services here and shall pass from these Houses of Prayer into that Building of God not made with Hands the Everlasting Habitation of his Glory This Future Everlasting Fruition of God ought to be the chief Object of our Desires because it is our highest good and because it is the Ultimate end of the Divine Oeconomy and of all our Labours of Love in this World It is impossible for us truly and earnestly to Love God and not to groan within our Selves whilest we wait for this last Adoption the Redemption of our Bodies that we may be Cloathed upon all over with Immortality and have these our vile Bodies changed and fashioned like unto Christ's own Glorious Body that we may be in every Respect fit to be with that great Lover of our Souls and when we see him may rejoyce with him and with a joy like unto his when after all the Ignominy and Torments of the Cross he had this most Comfortable Reflection It is Finished PRAYERS OLord who never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up in thy Stedfast Fear and Love Keep us we Beseech Thee under the Protection of thy good Providence and make us to have a perpetual Fear and Love of thy Holy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen OGod who hast prepared for them that Love Thee such good things as pass Man's Understanding Pour into our Hearts such Love towards Thee that we loving Thee above all things may obtain thy Promises which exceed all that we can desire through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen ALmighty and Everlasting God who hatest nothing that Thou hast made and dost forgive the Sins of all them that are Penitent Create and make in us New and Contrite Hearts that we Worthily lamenting our Sins and acknowledging our Wretchedness may Obtain of Thee the God of all Mercy perfect Remission and Forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen OAlmighty God who alone canst Order the Unruly Wills and Affections of Sinful Men grant unto thy People that they may Love the thing which thou Commandest and desire that which thou dost Promise that so among the sundry and manifold Changes of the World our Hearts may surely There be fixed where true joys are to be found through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen GRant We beseech Thee Almighty God That like as We do Believe thy only Begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have Ascended into the Heavens So We may also in Heart and Mind thither Ascend and with Him continually dwell who liveth and raigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost one God World without End Amen FINIS Books lately Printed for W. Crook 1. A Practical Discourse upon the Blessed Sacrament shewing the Duties of the Communicant before at and after the Eucharist Octavo Price 3s 6d 2. A Practical Discourse upon Prayer in Octavo Price Is. 3. A Practical Discourse upon Charity in its several Branches and of the Reasonableness and Useful Nature of this great Christian Vertue Octavo Price 3s These three are also bound together having the Title of Dr. Pelling's Three Practical Discourses Vol. 1. Price 6s together 4. A Practical Discourse upon Humility wherein is shewn the Nature Reasonableness and Usefulness thereof together with the ways of Expressing and Increasing of it Price 2s 6d All Written by the Reverend Dr. Pelling Author of this Book