17>e }.{yft€rie of tbe Low of God and our felws, opened. 1 1 • God being declared to him in Jcfus. Chrifi, a God of Love, forgiving fin! and conditionally giving pardon and Hfe to his very Enerme~, as h~ IS hence. t~e eafiiJer Loved rv.'tb 1ha~kfulmfs for· r felvu fa theGoodnt{t of !Ji1 N•Ntrt in htmfelf ts hereby mhnuated and nottfied wtth fome fe– ~et com~1acency to the foul. He is fure Good that is fo merciful and ready to do Good, and that fo wonderfully as in Chrifi is ma~ife~cd. . . . . . . . . 12 , So that as B1ptifm (wh1ch IS but exphcJteJufhfytng faith, or the expreffion of It tn covenantmg with God ) is our Dedication by Vow to all the Three Pcrfons; to God the Father, as well as to the Son and Holy Ghofi ; fo faith it felf is fuch an Heart-dedication. . . _ . , 3 • Herein I dedi_cate my fclf toGod as God, to be Glonhed and Pleafed tn my Jufit~catron, San– .dification and Glonficatwn, that JS, m my Reception at the frults of hts Love, and m my Lovmg him above al\ as God : or to be Pleafed in me, and I in him for ever. , 4 .1n all this the underfianding ackno":ledgeth God to be God ( by Afl'ent) and to beLoved above my fclf, and-theWiU dejireth fo to Love htm : Butthe object of the WtU here dtrectly, IS tts own fu– ture Difpofition and Act ; lt doth not fay, I do already Love God, as God above my felf; but only I would [o Love him, and I would be fo changed as may difpofe. me fo to Love him; I acknowledge that 1 jhould fo love hitp, and that I do Love him for his mer~tes to.my ~elf and others. Nor can it be faid, that Volo Vclle or Vola amart, a ddlrc to Love God as fuch, JS dned: Love to God. Becaufe it is not all on~ to have God to be the object of my· Will, and to have my own Act ofWilling or Loving to bethe obj<Ct of it. And becaufe that a man may for other ends (as for meer fear of Hell ) WiU ta Will or Love, that which yet he dotb not 1f'iUor Love, at leaf\ for it ft!f. 1 5 . In this cafe above all others, it is ma.nifefi that every conviCbon of the underfianding doth nor Jccordingly determine the Will. t,or in this new convert the underfianding faith plainly, God is ro be Loved as God, above my felf; Butthe Will faith, I cannot do i,, though I would. I am focaprivated by felflove,and fo void of the true Love of God, that I can fay no more, but that Propter me vel/em pmare Deum ptopttr [t ; I love my own felicity fo well,' that I love God as my feliGity and Love him under the notionofGod tM< ptrfeGt Good, who is infinitely better than my felf; and ddire a heart to Lgvehimmore than my felf; but 1 cannot fay,, that I yet do it, or that I love him befi or mofi, whom I acknowledge to be btft, and asfuch to be'lofe~l 1 6, Yet in all this there is not only [tmen amor~, a feed of d)tine love to God as God, but the foundation of it laid, and fome obfcurefecrct conception of it beginning, or in fieri, in the foul. for while the underfianding confefl'eth God to be mofi Amiabl~, ' ~nd the Will defireth that felicity, which doth conGfi in loving him above my [elf, and experience· tel~eth me, thlt he is Good to me, and therefore good in himfelf, it can hardly be conceived, but that ln'•'ll this there is feme kind of fecret love to God,as better than my fclf. s 7 . In all this note, that it is one thing to Love 9o~ under the ·notion of the l1tjinite G,od, better tban my [elf and all things , and another thing for the will to Love him more ~ as tbat notion obligeth. . 88. And the reafon why thefe are often fcparat<d, is, becaufe ~efides a flighi inttUeaual apprehen– fion, there is necetfary to the WiUs jufi determination, a clear ami. deep apprehenfion, with a right diJPojition of the WiU, and a fufcitation of the Active Power. • · 8,9. Yea, and every flight Vtdition or Velleity w~ll not conque.r opt;ofin.g Concupifcencc and Voliti..; ons ; nor is every 'Will effectual to command the ltfe, and prcva1l agamfi 1ts contrary. 9 o. Therefore I conceive, that in our fir{\ believing in Chrifi, even to Jufiification, though our Rea– fon tell us that he is more Amiable than our {elves, and we are defifous fo to Love him for the future., and have an obfcure weakbeginning ofLove to God as God, or as fo conceived ; yet r. The flrengtb of fen[rlive felf111Ve, makcth our Love to our felves more paf!ionately jlrang; 2. And that Rea[on, at leafi in its Degree of Apprehenfion is toolntenfe in apprehe~ding our felfimereft, and too remifi in apprehending the Ami~blenefs of Gotl MGod; And fo far even our Rational Love is yet greater to our felver, though as to the Notion, God hath the preheminence: 3· And that in this whole affair of our B1ptifmal Covenanting, Confentor Chrifiianiry, our Love to our own felicity as fuch, is more Porv– trful and effeOual, in moving the foul, and prevailing for our refo1ution for a new life, than is our Love to God as for himfilf, and M God. · !I'• And therefore it is that Fear hath fo great a hand in our firll Change: For all that fuel> Fear .loth, it doth as moved by felf-lovt ; I mean the tear of fuffering and damnation: And yet experi – ence relleth us, that ConverGon commonly beginneth in Fear. And though where [elf-love a.td fear are alone, without the Love ofGod as Good in ~nd for himfelf, thqc is no true grace: yet I conceive that there is true grace initial in thofe weak Chrifiians that have mot'e Fear and filf-lovt in the paffi– onatc and powerful part, than Love to God, fo be it they have not more love to fin, and to any thing that fiands in competilionwith God. • 92. Therefore he that hath a Carnal [elf-love (or inordinate) inclining him to the creature which is fironger in him than the Love of God, is Gracelefs: Becaufc it will turn his heart and tifc from God: But he that bath only a neceffary {elf-love, even a love to his own fpiritual eternal felicity, operating by firong defire and fear, conjund: w.irh a weaker degree of Love to God as Good in him– fdf, I think hath grace, and may fo be Caved ; Becaufe here is but an unequal motion to the {ilmc End, and nor a comptrition. 93• If any dillike any of this decifion, I only deGre him to remember, that on both hands thCI·e are apparent Rocks to be: avoided : Firfl:, It is a dangerous thing to fay that a man is in a flare of grace and f•lvation, who loverh not God as God, that is, better than himfelf : And on rhJ! other hand
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