PART i. SERMON VII. 3 He forsook Christ and heaven, having great possessions on earth. It is necessary to our purpose, to knowwhether, in the fol- lowing years of his life, he was brought to repentance and salva- tion, though it is most likely that he never was; for if he 'oved his estate and his money, so well in his younger years, that vice probably increasedwith his age. Besides, he stands in thehis- tory of the gospel, as an example of those men, who lose heaven for the love of money. But howsoever it might be afterward, this is certain, that at that time he was in the state of sinand death ; which is sufficient to mypresent design. From thewords ofmy text, set in this light, and compared with the issue of thewhole conversation, betweenChrist andthis youngman, we may derive this doctrine Doct. Our Saviour had some love for a person that preferred this world to heaven, and neglected his salvation. Inorder to improve this thought, we shall consider. I. What is meant by the love of our Saviour to this young man,.and to persons of hischaracter. II. What was there in him that might attract our Saviour's love. III. What remarks may be made upon the sinand folly of a person so lovely, and so beloved of Christ.--IV. Make an address to three sorts of persons, taking the occasion from the character ofthe person in my text. First, What is meant by the love of our Saviour to this youngman, and how far may he be saidto love a person who is voidof true grace, and neglects salvation. Here, I conceive, we are not to look upon our Lord Jesus ,Christ as acting according to his divinity, but only in his human nature ; for it is evident that Christ considered as God, loved him not in that sense in which the love of God- is usually taken; for he had plain evidences of a worldly covetous mind, and so could not be the object of special divine Complacency : Nor do we find that Christ loved him so well, as to communicate divine grace and salva- tion toMin. I confess there may be some sort of love attributed to God, with relation to creatures of any kind, which have any thin.. valuable in them : So God loves all the worksof his hands ; so he loves the heavens and the earth, rind all thepieces of inani- mate nature : that is, he approves his own workmanship, the effects of his own wisdom and power. God is also sometimes said to love those to whom he communicates temporal blessings, or makes theoffer of eternal ones. So he loved the whole nation of the Jews, though he did notgive all ofthemhis saving grace. But stillit is much more natural to expound the words of my text
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