Flow 'Bad men are to be Lwed. Of LolJe of :BenelJOlence and Complacence. God as_God, nor have any Love but {elfip, and Idolatrous. By this you m1y perceive the nature of Love. , ~dt. 3· But may none ~e loved_ above the meafvrt of his Goodncfs ? How then did God love m ~eft. 3· rrbtn n:ttvereuot, IT Were bu cnemtt!? Andhow muji JIJ'tlovethe wic~rd? Andbow mujl a;t U11godly pe,.fon love himftlf? Anfw. If only Good as fuch, be the objec!t ofLove,then certainly none fhould be loved but in propor– tion to his Goodncfs. But you muft dif\ingui{h between rneer natural and fen{ttive Love or appetite, and Rational Love; and between Love, and the Ejfells ofL ove; and between Nawral Goodmfi in rhe objed: and Moral Goodnefi. And fo I further anfwer, I• There is in every man a natmal and fcnfi~ tivc love of himfelf and his own pleafure and felicity, and an avcrfencfs to death and pain and for~ row, as there is in every Bruit : And this God hatb planted there for the prefervation of the crea– ture. This fallcth not under commands or prohibitions dircttly, becaufc it is not free but nect{– fary: as no m;n is commanded or fOJbidd.en to be hungry, or thidly, or weary, or the like : It is not this Love which is meant when we are commanded tO Love our neig~bour aJ our felvu : ·For I am not commanded tfil fed hunger and thirfi, nor tO defire meat or drink by the fen{i tive appetite for my neighbour : Nor fenfitively to feel his pain or pleafure, nor to have chat natural averfation from death and pain, nor fcnfitive dcfire of life and pleafure, for him as for my feJf, But the Love here fpoken of, is that Volitio;z with the due alfed:ion conjunct, which is our Raticmal Love; as being the act of our highefi faculty, anc3 fllling under Gods command. As to the jfnfitive Love, it procecdcrh not upon rhe fcnfc or cfiirnate o[ <Soodneji in the pcrfon who loveth hirnfelt or any other ( as Beafis love their )'Oune ones without refpect ro their excellency). But it is Ration~l Love which is propor– tioned to the efiimated Goodnefs of th< thing beloved. 2. Phyfical Gocdn•fi m•y be in an object which hath no Moral Goodnrji; and this may contain a tapaclty of moral goodndS: And till eh of them is amiable according to its nature and degree. 3· Brneficence is fomctimcs an effect of Love, and fume time an effeCt of wifdome only as to the objeCt, and of Love to fomething elfe: but it is never Lov~ it [elf. Ufually benevolence is an atl of Love, and btnefictnce an effeU, but.not alwayes. I may do good to another without any love to him, for fome ends of my own, or for the hke of another. And a man may be obliged to greater beneficence, where he is not obliged .to greater Love. And now ro the infiances, I further anfwcr, x. When we had no bei.nJ{, God did not properly love us in effe reali ( unlefs you will go to our co-exifi:ence in eternity: f'or we were not in effe r.tali : ) But only as we were in rffc cognito: which is bur to love the Idea in himfelf: But he purpofcd to make us, and to make us lovely, and to do us good; and fo he had that which is called Amor ~enevnlenlie, tous: which properly was not Love to 111, but a Love to hirnfclf, :md the Idea in his own eternal mind, which is called a Loving us i11 e([e cognito, and apurpofe to 1.1akc us good and lovely: That which is not Lovely is not an object of Love : Man was not Lovely indeed, when he was not: Therefore he was not an objrc!t of Love: ( but in cffi cogHito. ) The fame we fay of Gods loving us when we were enemies: He really loved us with complacency, fo far as our Phyfreal goodtu[t made us lovely: And as mor~lly lovtly he did not love us, otherwile than in cffe cognito. But he purpo[ed to make us morally lozJeiy, and gave us his mercies to that end ; and fO loved us with a Love of benevolence as ir is called: which fignificth no more than out of a complacence (or Love) Apology ~o ~imfrlf,. a_nd to M, as PhyficaVy good, to pu_rpofe to make us morally good_ and happy. As to the aglinlf mc1denr d1fficulty of Love beginning de novo mGod, I have fu1ly rdolved 1t elfewhere. Dr. I(mdall. 2· So alfo we mull Love a wicked man with a Love of bemvBicnce : which properly is hut ro love bim in hi1 phyfical worth, and hM cap1city of moral goodncfr and happinefs, and thereupon, ( but cfpe~ cially through the Love ofGod) to dcfire his happinefs. 3· And as to the loving of QUr fclvu, ( Befides the fenfitive Love before mentioned which re– fpcClcth [•If as {<If, and nut as Good,) a wicked man may rationaVy love bimfelf according to his phyfica1 goodnefs as a man) which containeth his capacity of moral goodmji, and fo of being holy and ferviceable to God and to good men, and happy in the fruition of God. But beyond all fuch Goodnefs ( which only is amiablentjj) no man may rationally love himfelf or any other,wirh"the true formal act of Love, which is complacence : Though he may wijh good to himfelf or another be~ yond theprefont goodnefs which is in them; nay, he wijhtth them gBod, not becaufe they halJe it, but becaufc they have i111ot. And he may be bound to do good) not becaufe they art good, but be~ Cilufe they want good. And though tome define Loving, to be bene vrlle alicui m illi. bene fit, to defire anothers welfare, C 'f b yet indeed this may be without any true formal Love at all. As I may defire the welfare of my ref~h~ed~:y call Horfe, without any proper love to him, {Vt'n for my fclf and ufe. When God from eternity willeth meer henevo– to make Paul, and to convert and favc him, ut illi bene fit, it is called ~ove ofbmevolence: But pro• lence by rhe . perly it is only to be called, A will to mak..e Paul good and lovely; It btmg only God him[tlf who is ,am_eofLo.,.e, the original and ultimate end ot that will and purpofe; and himfelf only which he then 1oveth; there ~o~r~~dn3.~~ut being nothing bur himfelf to Love: till in that infiant that Paul_is lxijient, and fa really lovely. For a na 1 n.e. Paul in rffc cognito is not Paul: Yet no reality dot~ oriri de novo mGod ; but a new refpet1 and de~ nominatiun, and in the creature new elfdh. (Of wh1chelfcwhcre ), . Q.!_eft. 4· Mujt I love lvery one a! much aJ my [elf in degree, or only [ome? ~lft• 4• Anfiv. You mufi love every one impartially at your [elf, according to his goodnefs: and you mt1f\ wi{\i as wdl to cvczy one, as to your felt : Bur you rnuH love no man complacemialJ fo much as ycur
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