Baxter - BJ1441 B3 1673

The Myfterie of the Low of God and otlr felrves, opened. APPENDIX. 2bt '"" Dollriilt of L 0 V E to G 0 D , to H 0 LINE SS, to 0 V R SELVES and to 0 THE R S opened i11 certain. Ptap.ifitions; E[peciaUy [.1r refolving the !J<:!cflions, wbat [t/f-lovt it lanf•l ? Wlw finf•l? Wbetlm God m•J! be lt(l<d obuvt orer own frlicity? And bow1 Wbether " I..ot:Cthlt felicit.Y,moretban G!'~mayjland with ajfateofj:Jving grace? TYhcther it be a midd!ejlatt between Jcnfual•t) 1 and tbe Dtvme 1tJture, to Love God more for o~tr fllvu than for Himftlfl 1Yhttlm to Love God far our felvu be the /late of a Believer 1Jf he i; under the promi[e of the New Covenant? And w_b~thcr the [pirit aJ~d.fantiif!cation promifld to ~elicveu, be the ~ve of G.ui f/JY' himfclf and [o the Du,me naturt, promif!d to hzm tbat choo{cth Chrift and God by hzm out of Je/f-love for hU own felicity l How Gcd /itppnfeth a1td worlztth on tbt principle of {rlf-love in m.zns Convtrfion l IFizh ·, · many jitch liilf. To avoid tbc tcdicufne[r of a dijlinli debating eacb [tucjlim. THough th& things principally belong to the Theorie, and fo to anOther Treatife in hand, . called Methodzu Theologi~; yet becaufe they are alfo Pra[lical, and h:1ve a great influence up– on the more Prad:ic:al Directions, and the right underlianding of them, may help thi: Rea– der himfelf to determine: a multitude of Cafes. of Cmt{cimce, the particular difcdTion and de– ~ifion of which would too much increafc this Volumn, whith is fo big already. 1 fhall he:re tx– pla'in them in (uch brief Propofitions as yet f11all give light to one anorher, and I hopecontain much of the true nature of Love, which is the mylleric: of the Chrifiian Religion. Propo[. I· The formal ACl: of L 0 V E is C OM PLACE N C I E, exprdf<d by a Plam; which Augujline fo oft callcth Delell•tion. 2· Benevolence or.. detiring the Good of thofl' we Love, is but a fecondary act of Love, or an effect of the prime formal Alt. For to r:pif1J one weU is not to Love him, formally; but we wilh him well becaufe we Love him; and therefore tirH in order Love him. 3· Their definition of Love is therefore inept, and but from an Effect, who f<ly it is, Alicui bene veUe, 1lt ipji bent fit. . 4• Love is either mecriy fcnfitivt and Paffiouau, which is the fenfible Atl and Paffion of the fenfi– tive and phantafiic:al Appetite ; Or it is RatUmal, which is the Ad: of the Rational appttire or wiU. The tirfi is called fenfitive in.-a double refpect, r. Becaufe it followeth toe Apprehenfion of the Senfir, or Phantafie, Loving that which the.y apprehend as Good; 2· And becaufe it is; cxercifed paffionately and feelingly by the fenfitive Appetite. And the other is called R:Hional, r. Brcaufe it is the Love of that ~hich.Re<if"J!!I...!.PP"-hendeth_as_ Good; and 2. Becaufe it is__rhe ~."mplaeency of that wilf which "is a higher taculty than the fenfitive Appetite. S· Sen(itive Love is oft without Rational ( Allwaies in bruirs ) But Rational Love is never re– tally without {(:nfitivt,at lcaft in this life; whether it be bccaufe that the fenlitivc an~ Rational are fa– culties of the fame foul, or bccaufc they arc fo nearly connexcd, as that one cannot here move or act without the other? . , 6. But yet one is predominant in fomc perfons, and the other in orhers. 7· Love is the Complac<ncie of the Appetite in apprehended Good. Good is the {i>rm1l Objr8 of Lov~. 1 Senfttiv.f'fove is the complaccncie of the fenfitive appetite in ftnlible Good, (or jn rh3r. whiCh the Sence ancflmagination apprehendeth as Good ). Rational Love is the Complacencic ot the Rational Appetite ill that whicb Reafon apprehendeth Good : The fllne thin& with Primary Volition. · 8. Good is not only a mans own Ftlicity and the mca111 thereto, c1lled mihi bcnum, Good to me; either as profitable, plea[ant or honourable ( as fomc: th-ink that have unmanaed themklves ) :. Bur there is ~:xtri~ificlt Good which is fuch in it folf, in othtrJ, or for ozbers, which yet is the natural ob· jeCl of matu Love, ( fo far as nature is found ). As the Learning, and Wifdorn, and Jultice, and Charity, and all other perfections of a man at the antipodes whom I never faw, nor hope ro fee, or to receive any benefit by, is yet amiable ro every man that hath not unman'd himfelf. So al(l> is the Good of P1dicrizy, ot CountrifJ, of Kingdoms , of the C!Jttrcb, of the !Vorld, apprehended ~s future when we arc dead and gone: ; yea it we fhould be annihilated, ddirable, and therefore ami– able to us: when yet it could be no benefit to"'' f· SELF-LOVE

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