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
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
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