Book lll. 107 ;~-;alth, ;~ h.:-,~y cftablijh hu Covenant whic!J he fware ltntothy_ Fath:ro. Others, I Dcu<. 8. ,s, k w may have rhe world, but rhey have it not by a Covenanr-nght; tt may be thou h~Ct b~r a little, avery little of the world; well, but thou halt it by a Covenant-right, and fo it isaa earne!t of all the reH. . . . , . As God in rhe Covenant g<ves thee the world, fo m companfon of thee and h1s . other Saints, he cares not what becomes of all the world. I loved thee, faith God, there- lfJ. 43· 4• fore will I j, ive men for thee'· and people for thy life : If ~he cafe be fo, that_a ~an not be well with rhee, bur great evlls mult come upon orhers, kmdred, people and Natwns, I do not fo much care for them, faith God, my bean u on ~hcc, fo ."' i~ compari(on of thee, 1 care not what becomes of all the world: 0 t~lf Love.of God to Ius Samts ! . 3 . God in the Covenant pardons thy lms; rlm Is anotbe.r frmt of Gods Love: Vnto himth.r loved uo.and•vafhedm fromow fins by h!5 own bloud; <t coll: lum dearto pardon our Rev; ,; s. fins. even rhe heart-blood of Chrift: fuch were the tranfactions botwixr God and Cbrill: . if thou wilr rake upon thee to deliver fouls from lin (faith God to his Son) thou muft cdme rhy felf, and be made aCurfe for their !in : Well (faith Chrifl) rby will be done in ir . though I lofe my life, though it cofl me the befl bloud in my bean, yet let me delive; them trom lin : this exceedingly heightens Chrifls Love, that he ll)ould forefee thy !in, and that yet he 010uld lore ; many rimes we fet our love on fome outward unrhankful Creatures, and we fay, could I but have forefeen this untowardnefs, they 010uld never have had my love; but now the Lord did forelee all thy !ins, and all thy ill requitals for love, and yet it did not once hinder his love towards thee, but he puts this ln tbe Covenant~ 1 willforgive their iniquities> and re•nen.ber their fins no more. 4. God in the Covenant gives thee Holinefs and Sanctification. I will fprinklc clean Ezek. 36,15. water 11pon you, a•d )'' fhall be clean from all )'OilY filthin1s, and from all your Idols will I cleanfe you : this holinefs is our excellency in the eyes of men and Angels; this is the Crown and D~adem upon the heads of Satnts; whence Davtd calls them by the name of excellent one<. Holinefs is a Spirit of glo>y, 1 Pet. 4· 14- It is the de:ight of God; as a Pfal. r6 3· Father delights himfelf in feeing hi; own Image in his Children, fo God delights him- 1 Pet, 4· •4· felf in the holinefs of his Saints; God loved them before with a love of benevolence and ; good-will, but now he lovesthemwirh a love of Complacency ;_ 7 he_ Lord takss pleafure ~f,l.t47· '' in thofe th.<t fear him ; rh' Lord tak§s pleafu•·e in h,; people. Holtnefs IS the very effence of l·fal. 1 49• 4• God, the Divine Nature of God: 0 what is this, that God Owuld put his own nature into thee? You arcpartaksrs of the Divim N ature. 0 what a love is this that God lhould put his own life into thee? that he 010uld enable thee ro live the very fame life that he himfelf lives? re:nember thac piece of rl,e Covenant, I wit!put my Law into thei>· inrvard part.r> and write it in their hearts. 5. God in the Covenant gives thee the knowledge of himfelf; it may be thou knewell him before; but 'tis another kind of kn0wledge that God now gives thee than thou hadft before; when God reaches the Soul to know him, it looks on God with another eye; it fees now another beauty in God than ev~r ir flw before;for all that knowledoe that it had before,bred not love; or.ly Covenant-knowledge of God works in the Soula true Love of God. But how doth this Covenant-knowledge work this Love? I /hall tell ' you my own experiences; I go through all the Virrues, Graces and Excellencies that are moll amiable; and I look ift rhe Scriptures, and there I find them in God alone: . If eve,r I faw any excellency in any rmn, or in any Creature, I think with my felf, there is more in God that made that Creature: He that madethe Eye, ]hall not /,fee? And fo he that rt~ade that Lovelinefs, is not be lovely~ Now ·vhen by rhefe Mediums I have prefem:d God thus lovely to my Soul, then I begin ro feel my heart to warm. As when I conce<Ve fuch an Jd,.aof a man, that he is of fuch a carriage, behaviour, difpolition, that he hach ~ mind thus, and thus framed, qualified and beautified, why then I love !urn; fo when I apprehend the Lord aright, when I obferve him as he is defcribed in his VJord; when I obferve hisdoings, and con1ider his workings, and learn from all rhefe together a nghr Jd,a, opinion, or apprehenlion of htm, then my will follows my nnder– ~andmg, and my ,affections follow them both; and I come to love God, and to delight In God. 0 heres a fweet knowledge! furely ir was Gods Love m C.hrifl to put-this bleffed Articleinto the Covenant of Grace; They fl>all all know me from the leaft of them nnto thegrearrft of them, faith the Lord. 6. God mthe Covenant of Grace gives thee his Son. God fo loved the world that he J h c ·gave hu only begotten Son, that whofoever believcth in him j1Jould not perijh, but' luweever- u n ' 3 ' • laftmg !tfe. Nay more , as God bath given rhee his Son, fo he bath given thee P 2. himfelf.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=