Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

and e` 7V1oralWarl.r. 10 5 fhould die or fuffer (were it poffible); but fo as to lovehim as the end of all our lives, and to lovethe pleating of his bledWill in the glori- fyingof him, better than, all things that can and in any competition :] And I think this to be aneceffary truth : I dare not fay that everyman is Godly that had rather die than God, or theSun, or the Earth, or his Country fhould perifh.. God's Being is not, asfilch, our End But his Will (or his Efnce as it is his Will) is the Beginning, Governour, and End of all ; And it is thePleatng of thisWill of God (in the Glory of our holi- nefs and obedience, in which his holinef andotter perfe&ions are refplen- dent) which mull be loved aboveall. As a man may choofe to die, or at leaft lofe all that he hath, rather than his Father Ihould die or be for ever tormented; and yet will not forbear fornication and drunkennefs topleafe his Father's will becaufehe practicallythinketh that the bare difpleafing of his Father doth not fo muchhurt him, ashis finful pleafure doth himfelf good ; fo is it in the prefent cafe. (And I may add that, God is not loved as God, that is, as perfectly holy and juffin governing . theworld and him, by any bad man : But as he is the God and Prefer- verof Nature , Nature may love him; but not as he is a moll: holy Governour) which is effential to the Relative notionof our God: He concludeth therefore truly [That this truefort of Love to God loth put us in a fate of Salvation , and Mortal Sin conffleth not with it.] But I agreenot with himof the impofsibility of being certain that we have thisLove, though I think his words worth the reciting to prove the difficulty of it: fol. 47. N. O. P. [Dico quod licet poffit probabilern' conjelturam habere, quod atlas ills dileláionis info ; non tarnen potefi evidenter cognofcere 6. pro certo :. fuomodo enim feire poterit , quadita Deo fe totem infundir propter fe, i. e. bonitatem & Sanllitatem efts, ut nec Vitam aternam nifr inDee & propter Deemdiligat.? animopara tus', & efficaciter volent , omnia err feipfiim & alia, quum Deo placebit perdere, ut impleatur Sanllavolentas Dei ? Luod etiansmilli creature nec ipfapbilibero aliquo amore adheret in fe in Deo 6. propter Deem; Rue volunteer multo of prior 6. laudabiliorguanovolentasperferendiproChrifo Martyriumprofpe affequendi vitam aternam. Et certe longealiad eEl optare wit Velle,quam fic Deem amare, & de fallofie afeïáum effi, &fic efficaciter velle, flout opto f`1 defidera efficax VelleScientie, feu ad fcientiam: sed ;Ai efficaciter id vellem, manum ad aratrum mittens, labori, vigilüs & id genus operis nonpárcerem-= -Si ponatur per Revelationemcertiorari, non nego fie certum fieri poffe----Necexpedithominem nit valdefciens &doïfus fuerit de his maltunt fe tentare, quoniam dificilimum eh preprias afe6iio- nes metiri. But lure thefe fruits grow not on any common flock , and the Heirs of Heaven and Hell are not fo like as to be undifcernable, nor Gods promifes fuch as no man can be lure that he hath a right to them. It is enough that thefe things do prove affurance difficult and rare. P SECT.

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=