The Myfterie of tiJe Lo'lle of God and otlr Jelws, opemd. knowledge. Or if there be a righter notion of God and Holinefs to be Loved for themfelv<S, even ulomarely above our fcnfual pleafure and our fdvt:s, yet th1s IS but an uneffectuaJ dreaming Know~ }edge, producing but an anfwerable lazy with : And it will not here prevail againlt the Hronge Love of fcnluali1y and phantafiical pleafure, nor againfi inordinate felf-love. And it is a fe r. iUal Heaven, under afpiritual Name, which the carnal hope for. n .. 6r. This carnal man may Love God as a Means to this Felicity fo dreamed of; as knowing th:n without him it cannot be had, and tailing corporal comforts from him here: And he may Lov HolindS as it removeth his contrary cal~mides,. and !Is he thinks it is crowned wirh fuch a reward~ But he had rather have that reward of 1t felf without H,/inefi. 62. He may alfo Love and defire Chritl, as a means ( conceited ) to fuch an end : And he may ufe much Religious dmy to that end : And he may forbear fuch fins as that End can fpare !ell they deprive hi;. of his hoped-for feljcity. Yea, he may [uffu much to prevent an endlef; fuf. ttri~g. 63. As Nature necdlini!y Loveth ftlf and ftlffclicity, God and the Devil do both make great Ufe ofthis.natural pondm or neceffitating Principle, for their feveral ends : The Devil faith, Thou Lovett _Pleafiue, therefore take it, and make provilion for ir. God faith, Thou loveH felicity and fcarcfi · mifery: I and my Love are the true felicity, and adhering to fenfual pleafure, dcpriveth thee of bet– ter; and is the beginning of thy mifery, and will bring thee unto worfe. 64. God commandeth mm nothing that is not !or his own good, and forbiddeth him nothing which is not (directly or indirectly) to his hurt: And therefore engageth felf-love,on his fide, for every ad: of our obedience. · 65. Yet this good of our own is not the highefl, nor all the good which God intendeth, and ·.,, muli intend ; but it is fubordinate unto the greater good fore-mentioned. · . 66. As a carnal man may have opini11native UJtejfefrual convillionr, ·that God and his Love arc hH fPirirual felicity ( better rhan ftnfual ) yea, and that God is hi< ultimate End above his owH felicity it [elf, lo the fanctifying of man confif\eth in bringing up the[e convictions to be truly e!feflual andpra- ~W~~~~~~~~~ • 67. Whether this be done by firfi knowing God as the Beginning andEndl above our felves, and then knQwing (effectually ) that he is mans felicity; or whether !elf-love be firfi excited to Love him as our own fel>city, and next we be carryed up to Love him for bimfelf as.our highejl End, it cometh all to one when the work is done; And we cannot prove that God tyeth himfelf confiantly to either of thefe methods alone. But experience telleth us, that the later is the ufual way; and .that as Naturt, fo Grace beginneth with the fmallefl feed, and groweth upward rowards perfection: And that [elf. love and delire of endle[s felicity and !ear of cndlefs mifcry, are the firll notable effects _or changes on a 'repenring foul. . 68. And indeed the flate of fin lyeth both in mans fall from G0 D to SELF, and in the mi· il•k! of his own felicity, preferring even for Himfelf a lenlible §OOd, before a fPirit~t•l, and the Creature before the Creator; And therefore he mull be rectified in borh. • 6p. And the hypocrites unetfectual Love to God and Holinefs is much difcovered in this, that (as. he loveth dead Saints, and their Images and Holy-dayes, becaufe they trouble him nor) Co he bell loveth ( opinionatively) and leafi hateth (practically) the Saints in Heaven, and the Holinels that js far from him, and God as he conceiverh of him as one that is in Heaven to gloritie men; But he hateth (practically, though not profetfedly) the God that would make him holy, and deprive him of all his lintul pleafures, or condemn him for them : And he can better like Holinefs in his Paftor, neighbour or child, than in Himfelf. 70. Therefore lincerity much conlifleth in the Love of felf-holinefi ; but not as for {elf alone ; but as canying felf and all to God. · 71· As the Sun-beams do without any inttrception reach the eye, and by them wirhout interce~ ption our fight "afcendeth and extendcth to the.Sun ; fo Gods communicated Gaodne[I and Glorio 1 u ReVelation extend through, and by all inferiour mediztm.I to our underO:andings, and ourwills; And our Knowledge and Love afcendeth and exrendeth thr_ough all, and by all again to God. And as it were unnatural for the eye illuminated by the Sun, to fee it [elf only, or to fee_the mediate creatures, and notto fee the Light and Sun by which it feeth (nay, it doth leall fee it felf); [o is it unnatural for the foul to u~tderftand and Love it [elf alone ( which it little underllandcth and lhould Love with felf.denyal) and the Creatures only; and not to Love God by whom we know and Love the creature. 72· It is P<>ffible to Love God and Holinefi and Heaven, as a conceited flatc and ·means of our fmfital felicity, and c:fcape"of pain and miiC:ry : But to Love God as the true felicity of the InteOelitul x,z– ture, and as our [piritual Reft, and yet to Lov_e him onf:y or cLiefly for our felvu, and not ratherj;r Himfelf as our bighefl end, implyeth a contradiction. The fame I fay ofHolinefs, as Loved only for our felves. The evidence::: whereof' is plain, in that it is Effential to God, to be not only better than our [elves and every creature, but alfo to be the Ultimate End of all things, to which they fhould tend in all their perfections. And it is EJJential to Holi11eji to be the foul; devotion of it fclf w ~od as God , aJ;ld not only to God as our felicity. Therefore to Love God o11ly or chiefly for our {elvts , is to make him only a mtans to our felicity , and not our chief End ; and it is t6 make our felvts Better , and fo m:Jrt AmiJblt than God , that is , to be Gods par f<lvu. 73· This
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