and understanding loves it self and God who knows himselfe to be the Best Good cannot but love himself Best and therefore 't is said the Lord made Prov. 16. 4. All things for himselfe 1. The Creation of all things is the Birth of his love to himselfe which he made as mirrours to reflect his own Excellencies when he made those Beauteous Paires of Heaven and Earth he did it to glorifie himself being the Glasses to behold his own wisdome and all mighty Power 2. And when God destroyed the old world 't was out of love to himselfe for therein he glorified himselfe in those waters he saw the Image of his Justice They were the looking Glasse of That Attribute and therefore God is said To laugh at and Rejoyce in the destruction of a Sinner because he is pleased with the Oeconomy of his own Laws and the Excellent proportions He makes of his Judgements to their sins Thus when he destroyed Pharaoh he did it out of a supream love to himselfe and his own great Name And in very deed for this cause I raised Exod. 9. 16. thee up for to shew in thee my Power and that my Name may be declared throughout all the Earth Sinner Take heed and put a stop to thy Race in sin if thou goest on a little further it may be God cannot spare thee for his Names sake He must punish for the Honour of his Name he cannot but love himselfe and therefore cannot but punish Sinners out of Respect unto his Name He is Engaged to punish because he is Engaged to himselfe 3. So he Acts all his works of mercy chiefly out of love to himselfe He loves his people but he loves them for the love he bâ—ars to himselfe and delivers them for the love he bears to his own name His Name being put upon them They in themselves are not worth his deliverances and when their sins plead against their deliverance his own name intercedes for them But I had pity for my holy Ezek. 36. 21. 22 23. Name which the House of Israel had prophaned among the Heathen whither they went c. that is You are worthy no pity yet I will have pity for my holy Name That he might free his Name from Base aspersions and Imputations Secondly God hath love which flows out of him upon the creature I say God hath love for himselfe and he hath love to bestow upon the creature too for the Creature is the Work of his hands 'T is naturall to all men to love their own works and what they have curionsly form'd to spend many a pleasing fight upon it An Artist when he hath made an Excellent and comely piece is in love with it because it is the Elaborate product of his own conception and hath stampt the Image of his Rich Idaea and fancy on it and thus the Scripture brings in God viewing and feasting his eye with a delightfull Complacency upon all his works that he had made and God saw every thing that he had made and Gen. 1. 31. behold it was very good He looks and loves he loves and looks upon every thing that he had made not onely man but Every thing that he had made He looks upon man and loves his morall goodnesse that he had carved in him he looks upon every thing and loves the naturall goodnesse he had stampt upon them Gods Love two-fold This large love of God comprehends all the Creatures in it not 1. Common onely the Rationall but the Inanimate Creatures in the Bosome of it I say his love whereby he will'd their being and still preserves their being and whatever Prints and Characters of himselfe they have takes pleasure in them as an Artist doth in his Rare Composures But there is a Speciall love of God 2. Speciall his choyce love which Elevates and lifts some persons up to a supernaturall state in Jesus Christ this is that love we are speaking of God beholding the lump of fallen man as a vast Dunghill or Heap of Dirt saw no difference of Persons in it but all Equally loathsome and filthy how could it be otherwise for one piece of dung is not sweeter than another one dram of dirt is not cleaner than another I say God casting his Eye upon that Noysome and unsavoury Mixon his wise and good Pleasure thinks meet to have benign thoughts towards some he takes these up into his Divine purpose and in time takes them out of their sordid state with Curious artifice he refines them from their filth and sets up a Fragrant work of Grace in them he writes them his Sons and Daughters and gives them an Estate of Eternall Glory and all in Jesus Christ This is his speciall Love which we must distinguish into his love of Good will and his love of Complacency There is observ'd a difference between these First His love of good will precedes Amor Benevolentiae the work of Grace and goes before it This love finds us Sinners and makes us Saints This love of God is not founded upon Reasons in the Object with this love he loved us first before we being Justified by his Grace could love him This love finds nothing in us for which he ought to love us This love gives us Grace as the Apostle saith God for his great love wherewith he loved Eph. 2. 4 5. us even when we were dead hath quickned us together with Christ This love can have ro Cause but it selfe Secondly This love is free Nullis meritis nisi bonitate amantis excitatus not stirr'd up by any objective Goodnesse in us but onely the self-moving Goodnesse of him that loved us it sees no loadstone in us to draw it out nay it finds sin and sordidnesse upon us and yet he loves us He loves us without Necessity without Attractive and without Engagement nay let me say if there were any motive in us why he loved us it was because we were miserable and Vnworthy his love But the truth is nothing did encline and dispose his heart to us but his own will Of his own will begat James 1. 18. he us and the same will that begat us passed by others Gods love to himselfe is Naturall and Necessary But his love to his Creatures is not he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy It is a free love and a free mercy He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy O! wonder at God all ye his Saints and beloved ones in his mercy to you let it cast you into an high Trance of holy admiration Thirdly This Love of God The love of his good will is equall to all his Saints in many Respects 1. In respect of the act of his will as the Schoolmen say God Equally wills Good to all his Saints though he doth not will Equall Good to all his Saints He doth not more will Good to one than to another though he wills more good to some than to
upon Naked Persons but upon Persons Cloathed and deckt with Grace The object of Gods love of Complacency is not Bonum Physicum Entitatirum The Entitative Good or Being of the Creature but Bonum ethicum morale The morall Being or Gracious Goodnesse of the creature Thus as there is in men more or lesse which pleaseth God according to the degrees and Fruits of Grace in them so he loves them more or lesse with his love of Friendship and Complacency First This love of God follows the work of Grace in the Creature They must have Grace stampt upon them before he can take Complacency or delight in them Such as are upright in their Prov. 11. 20. way are his delight In Respect of his love of Good will 't is said We love him because he first loved us 1 John 4. 19. In respect of his love of delight 't is said He that loveth me shall be John 14. 21. loved of my Father In respect of his love of Good will 't is said God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever John 3. 16. believes in him shall not perish but have Everlasting life In respect of his love of Complacency 't is said The Father himselfe loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed John 16. 27. that I came out from God His love of good will is his preventing Amor praeveniens love whereby he loved us before we desired it His love of friendship is his Amor Consequens consequent love which follows not onely his former love to us but also our love to him and therefore saith Christ He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him as the Father and the Son by their first love provoke ours so by their second love they reward ours Gods love of good will makes men love God by his love of good will he makes them righteous with his love of Complacency he loves them being righteous in respect of the love of his Good will they are the effects of his love in respect of his love of Complacency they are the objects of his love If any man saith Christ love me he shall be loved of my Father But How can any man by nature love Christ or love God Therefore I say Gods love of good will facit homines Dei amantes makes men lovers of him His love of good will is the fountain and spring of our love to him it begets our love to him as the image of his love to us To Love God is the gift of God our active love whereby we love him and our passive love whereby we are beloved of him are both the gifts of God and the gifts of his free and first love Yet there is a love of God whereby he loves us not till we love him He cannot love thee with delight till thou art Lovely Gods love of good will makes the object his love of Friendship doth presuppose the object he cannot love thee as his Friend till thou art his Friend There is no Friendship without mutuall love he cannot love thee as his child till thou art his child he doth not love thee as thy Husband till thou art his Spouse I say he cannot love as an Husband till he is thy Husband and he is not thy Husband till thou take him to be thy Husband But doth not Gods love begin to me Doth not he love sinners first and make suit to them as a lover before they love him yes with the love of Good will He bears good will to thee and therefore he breaks his mind to thee in the Gnspell and wooes thee it may be long before thou lovest him but he doth not love thee with the love of Espousalls till the Nuptiall day till thou canst find in thy heart to have him and the marriage-knot be tyed up and thou take him for thine Husband He cannot love thee with this Relationlove till thou come under this Relation-bond Secondly This love of God his Love of Complacency is a necessary love His love of Good will is free his love of Complacency is necessary ah dear God! he loves us freely that he may love us necessarily As 't was free to God at first to make man but if he would make him he must of necessity make him Righteous and love him so made so when man was fallen 't was free to God whether he would shew him any good will or no whether he would repaire his Image again in him or no but if it be his Pleasure to Restore him he cannot but love his own design if it be his pleasure to set up a new Creation he cannot but love his new Creation His love of Good will is as I may say his Rectorall love his love of Friendship is his Foederall love his love of Good will is his love of Dominion whereby he loves whom and where he pleases to love his love of Friendship is his love of Communion whereby he is engaged by Covenant to love his Friends to love those that love him Thirdly This love of God his love of Complacency admits varieties of weather and looks with severall faces upon his Saints It hath its Spring and its Fall it hath its summer and hath its winter it riseth as our obedience riseth and falls as our obedience falleth it grows hot and cold according to the vicissitude of his peoples tempers as they are hot or cold in their affections according to his love of Complacency and Friendship he is said sometimes to smile and sometimes to frown upon us as long as David walkt close with God his love did shine upon him but when David sinned in the matter of Vriah his love of Complacency did retire and draw in its beams from him In respect of this love God is said to forsake and desert his Children his Desertion of them is the departure of this his love in some degree from them as the Phylosophers say There is a lux and lumen light inherent in the Sun and light fluent from the Sun that is ever Perfect and Permanent but this may suffer changes and be obscured so Gods love of Friendship our sins may lessen it and our recoveries make it rise brighter on us Look then to your walkings Lastly This love of God his love of Complacency and Friendship is unequall to his Saints its higher to some it s lower to others its more to some and lesser to others according to the measure and proportion of their Graces Some are Greatly Beloved and some are Not so Greatly Beloved with this love as the Sun shines hotter upon some Climates than it doth upon others and the water overflows some Pastures more than others The Sweeter Rose a Saint is the more deliciously God wears him in his Bosome He doth Enlarge his graces in them and then Enlarge his heart towards them To conclude John the Evangelist was One whom
comfortable Evidences he had of his salvation he answered He had nothing to rely upon but Jesus Christ and he knew no Religion but sincerity 14. He was a great honourer of Godly Ministers he carried them in his bosome of all men in the world they sate next his heart he did hug them in his dearest Embraces I must tell you he was their Sanctuary in Evill Times How oft hath he interposed between them and dangers when sinfull Greatnesse did frown upon them this great man would shew himselfe upon the stage for them When Mr. Pierson was questioned before the Bishop Sir Robert Harley was not afraid to appear constantly in his defence I could tell you that he felt the frowns and displeasures of a near Relation rather than he would desert that Servant of Jesus Christ When Dr. Stoughton and Mr. Workman were in trouble Sir Robert Harley accompanied them to the High Commission which made the Archbishop dart frowns upon him 15. He was also a Magistrate and herein I must tell you he was animated with a most nimble Soul of Zeale against Sin He was full of spirits against all dishonours done to God he was a Terrour to Evill works he knew no Respect of Persons in a businesse wherein God was wronged among other things how would he Vindicate the Sabbath from tempt Prophannesse durst not appear upon the face of it by this means the Congregations were frequented on the Lords dayes and many thousand soules prevented from their sinfull sports sate under the droppings of the word 16. He paid a dear devotion of love to the Lords day that Pearle of the week when the licentious sinfulnesse of times cryed it down how often have I heard him plead it up with Excellency of Arguments And in his own Practice he rose alwayes Earlier upon the Lords day and dayes of Humiliation even to the times of his extream weaknesse He rejoyced still when the Sabbath came and was usually more chearfull that day than others even in his sicknesse He wept much when his servants suffered him to sleep on the Lords day later than he used although he had not rested all that night 17. He was one that did Swim deep in the Tide of Fasting and Humiliation I have seldome seen an heart broken upon such a day as his was wont to be He was one that did stand in the Gap that did sigh and cry for the Abominations done in the Land and for it God set a mark upon his forehead Though his Castle was ruined yet God set a Mark upon him when the naked Sword that Messenger of death walkt the Land and lookt keen upon you And God set his seal of safety upon his dear Lady That Noble Lady and Phaenix of Women dyed in Peace though surrounded with Drums and noyse of War yet she took her leave in Peace The sword had no force against her as long as God preserved her he preserved the Place where she was And the man cloath'd with linnen set a Mark also upon the forehead of his Children for when they with the Castle were surrendred up God made their Enemies to treat them gently he had his Jewells sent safely to him by the hand of Providence 18. He was I know not how oft chosen by his Country to the High Senate and Court of Parliament and there that I may speak within my knowledge He was a bright and glorious Star in that shining Constellation as some Stars are more Excellent than others so was he there He was a Man of fixed Principles Religion and solid Reformation was all the white he shot at He appeared all along for a Setled Ministery and the liberall Maintenance thereof He procured the Ordinance for setling the Ministers at Hereford His Compasse without Trepidation or Variation stood Constantly Right to that Pole the Good of his Country and Gospell which he kept ever in his Eye And though his losse were Vast in those Destroying times yet he labour'd not for Recompence of his private losses nor receiv'd any in the world He was very Zealous against Superstition and Heresie and for Church Government when one of the Parliament said to him Sir Robert Harley why are you thus Earnest for Presbytery you see it is so opposed that it is in vain to seek to settle it he Replyed Let us so much rather be Earnest for it though we gain it by Inches what we obtain now with much difficulty and opposition shall be of use one day when there shall not be heard so much as the sound of a Hammer 19. He could when he was put to it live by Faith In the Wars when the stream of his Estate which should have maintain'd and watred him and his Family was diverted wholly from them he would say often Dear Children it may be God will bring us to want Bread some say it is base to live from hand to mouth but I am of another mind I finde it the best way of living and which was an high Expression Who can be afraid of Gods Providence welcome what the Lord sends if it go well with the Church it is no matter 20. His soul was Paved with humble submission to God in hardest dispensations When after the Wars he return'd into the Country and came to see with what face Brampton look't he rode toward his Castle Gate and seeing the Ruines put off his hat and said God hath brought Great Desolation upon this Place since I saw it I desire to say The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken and blessed be the name of the Lord in his good time he will raise it up again when his House is built God I trust will build mine and observe that he took Care to build this House or Place of worship and let his own lie buried stil in its Woefull Ruines You have had the faire and sumptuous Prospect of his Life which stood alost like a beautious City upon an Hill Let us now follow him to his Sicknesse which you know confined him some years to his Chamber And here I see the seaven stars or seaven Celestiall signes appear in the night of his Sicknesse First The greatest trouble of his sicknesse to him was that it disabled him from Enjoying the Publick Ordinances He dearly loved the solemn Assemblies one day in Gods Court was better to him than a thousand The want of the Publick Ordinances was the sicknesse of his sicknesse Secondly His divine employment Most of his time both day and night whilst he was detained in his Chamber was spent in hearing some good Book or the Scriptures read to him he used very often to hear the 17 Chapter of St. John and the 8 to the Romans read to him and those two Golden Texts in the 8 to the Romans All things work together for Good to them that love God and He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all