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
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
holiness in the fear of God because such onely are Capable of his Divine and Special Communications such onely are in a fit condition to Receive them such onely are meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light BUT yet there is a Love which God extendeth unto others also a Love of Benevolence a Sincere True and Unfeigned Affection which he beareth even to the Children of Disobedience although it be not so Extensive and Unmeasurable as that he expresseth to the Children of Light He is good and doth good unto every Man offers happiness unto the very worst of men desires them to accept of his offers intends to make them happy upon their hearty acceptance and doth all things on his part which are necessary and proper for a merciful God a Wise and Holy Lawgiver to do for Reasonable and voluntary Agents so that if they perish after all their destruction is of themselves O that my People had hearkned unto me that Israel had walked in my ways Psal 81. 13. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God Ezek. 18. 23. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his evil way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel Ezek. 33. 11. He will have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2. 4. He is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. These few places of Scripture speak so positively and plainly that unless men will have the Front to Question the Veracity of God which is one of his Essential Attributes necessarily and naturally included in the Notion of a Deity they must needs acknowledge that God loveth all mankind and every one though he be the most Irreligious and Profligate amongst them He hath for all a Love of Benevolence whereby he wisheth every ones Good especially his everlasting Happiness I shall hereafter shew you how it cometh to pass that God's wishes have not their due effect at present my business is to explain the Notion of the Divine Philanthropy and to make it evident to such as are Teachable that more or less the God of Mercy and Compassion Loves us all without Partiality or Discrimination Though his Affections are of a Scantier Measure and a Lower Degree to some who harden their own hearts than they are to others whose Perswasions and ways please the Lord yet to all it is a Sincere Affection Love Unfeigned Inexpressible Unconceivable WHEN therefore our Blessed Saviour said God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son his meaning was that though of Adam's Posterity some that held the Truth held it in Unrighteousness others had given themselves up to Lewdness and direct Apostasy and all were so Corrupt before God that Divine Vengeance might justly have passed upon all yet all their Impieties and Provocations notwithstanding God had so great a Love for all that of his meer Grace and Goodness he determined to do whatsoever was Needful for and Becoming him to act that he might Reclaim them and bring them into the ways of Righteousness and Peace and for that end gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life CHAP. II. The Point to be insisted on viz God's unfeigned Love to all Mankind Proved First from the Command touching the Universal Promulgation of the Gospel AND now the Point which ariseth hence is this That the Son of God's coming into the World was a strong Argument and an evident Expression of God's sincere and boundless Affection to all Mankind FOR the clearing of this important Article there are Two things for me to insist upon First The Amplitude of that Commission which was given the Apostles and their Successors for the Promulgation of the Gospel to all the World Secondly The Extensive Merit of our Holy Redeemer's Death 1. FIRST The Amplitude of that Commission which was given the Apostles and their Successors for the Promulgation of the Gospel The Directions given them when the Lord was ready to depart from them according to St. Matthew's Account runs thus Go ye and Teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded you And loe I am with you always even unto the end of the World Math. 28. 19 20. Though by all Nations here may be meant Primarily all the Tribes of Israel and Christ's Purpose might be that the Apostles should begin their Preaching at Jerusalem and thence Proceed to the Jews that were dispersed among the Heathen yet no Nation under Heaven was to be Excluded but from Age to Age and from one Nation to another the Tidings of Peace were to be carried over all the Earth until the Consummation of all things Therefore not the Apostles onely but also their Successors for ever were intended in this Commission because the Lord's Spiritual Presence and Assistance was to be not for the Apostles time only but Perpetual to the very End of the World Which shews the Universality of the Divine Grace and that the Gospel was to be Preached every where before the close of all things that at the Day of final Account God may Judge the whole World by Jesus Christ in Righteousness according as they have obey'd or disobey'd the Gospel sent unto them Hence the Account St. Mark gives is this Go ye into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every Creature Mark 16. 15. to shew that God's intention was that no People no not in the Heathen part of the World should be passed by But that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be Preached in Christ's Name among all Nations begining at Jerusalem as St. Luke hath it Luk. 24. 47. Accordingly the Apostles went forth and Preached every where saith St. Mark meaning to all People and Nations within their reach because they were to be Witnesses unto Christ both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and in all Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the Earth saith St. Luke Act. 1. 8. And because God Commanded all Men every where to Repent saith St. Paul Act. 17. 30. And were it needful for me to Collect Observations to this purpose out of the Ancient Writers of the Christian Church I could shew you particularly when the Apostles parted Solemnly from one another to Execute their Redeemer's Commission how they took their particular Provinces and went every one into the Country that was assign'd him and how those Apostolical Persons who were engaged in the same weighty Employment some in the Apostles Days and many after all Travell'd into distant places and Territories that the sound of the Gospel might go forth into all Lands and