Baxter - BJ1441 B3 1673

The Mjfterie of the Low of God and our felws, opened. as his felicity it fclf) then is the Law written in the Heart; and this Love is the virtual fullfilling cf all the Law; ·And for fuch it is rhat it is fa id that the Law is not made, that is, In that mcafure rhat they Love rhc Good for it fdf, they need not be moved to it wit~ ~hreats or ~romiks of ex~ uintick things, which y;ork but byJelf-love aud fear: Not but that D1vme Authopty muft concur with Love to produce obedience, cfpecially while Love is but imperfetl: but that Love is the highdl principle making the commanded Good connatural to us. 1 o 5 . And 1. think it is this fpirit of. Adopti~n and Love whic~ is_ cal_led 1he Divine l'_lat!'rt in us) as j{ inclineth us to Love God arfd Holmefs for lt felf, as Nature IS Jn'dmeq to felf-love ana CO food and orher neceffaties. Not that the fpecifick-effential Nature, that is, fubllance or form of the foul is changed, and man Deified; and he become a God that was before a man; But his ~umane Souj or Nature is elevated or more perfected (as a fick man by health, or a blind m•n by hts fight ) by the fpirit of God inclining him habitually to God himfdf, as in and for himfelF. ( And this is all which the publitbc:r of Sir H. Vanes notions of the two Covenants and two Natures, can foundly me ·n, and feemeth to grope after ). · rc6. By all this you fee that as the Love of God hath a do~hle fdf-love in us to deal wit!l, fo it dealtth varioufly wirh each : 1. Senfual inordinate feU~love it deflroycth: both as it confitleth in the inordinate Love of fenfual pleafure, and in the inordinlte love of (tl[or life : 2· Lawful and jufl [elf– love it increa!<th and irr.proveth to our further good, Lut fubjeCl:eth it tc1 the highe!l pure(\ Love of God. · rc7. By this you may gathe.r what a confirmed ChrifHan is, even one in whom the pure Love of God as God, and all things for Go~, is predominant and more potent than ( not only the vicious, but alfo) the good, and lawful, and necdfary love of himfelf. , 108. Though Chriflians therefore mu!l Hudy themfi:lves, and keep up a care of their own fal– vation yer mull they much more fiudy God, his Greatmji, 1Yifdom and Goodnefs as {hining in his works'and word, and in his SOn, and as forefeen in the Heavenly Glory: And in this knowledge of ·God and Chrifl is life eternal. And nothing more tendeth to the holy advanc<rnent and per, fedion of the foul, than to keep continually due apprehcnlions of the Divine Nature, Properties and Glorious appearances in his works upon theSoul, fo as it may b(come a con£lam courfe of Contem– plation, and the habit and confiitution ef the mind, and the conHant guide of Heart and Life. rc9. The attainment of this would be a tafl of Heaven on Earth : Our wills would follow the will of God, and Re!l therein, and abhor reluctancy : All our duty would be both quickned and fweet– n:d with Love: Self-interefi would be difabled from either feducing us to {in,or vexing us with griefs, cares, fears or difco.ntents. We Chould fo far trufl foul and body in the Will and Love of God, as ro be more comforted that both, are at his will than if they were abfolutely at our own. And G 0 D being our All, the conflant, fixing, fatisfying object of our Love, our fouls would be con– fiantly fixed and fatistied, and live in fuch experience of t!1c fanctifying grace of ChrH1, as would rnoH powerfully cor.quer our unbelief; and in fuch foretafis of Heaven, as would make Life fwet:t, Death welko1'le, and Heaven unfpeakably defirable to us. But it is not the meer Love of perfonal Goodnt{s as our own perfcliion that would do ail this: upon us. r xo. The foul that is troubled with doubts whether he Love God as God, or only as a means of his own feli,ity in fubordination to felf-love, mufi thus refolvc his doubts. If you truly believe that God is God, that is,the Effi,ient, Dirigent and Final caufe,the jull end ofevery ratitmal agent, the In– finite Good and chiefly to be loved, in comparifon of whom you are vile, contemptible and as no– thing; If you feelingly take your felf as lothforne by fin; If you would not take up with an ever– h.fiing fenfual pleafure alone, without Holinefs if you could have it; No nor with any perfection of your imdletlual nature, mee1ly as fu,h and for your felves, without the Pleafing and Glorifying God in it; lf you pucticatly perceive that every thing is therefore and fa far Good and Amiable, as God {hineth in it as irs cau[e, or as it conduceth to Gloritie him, and Pleafe his Will: If aC~;ording]y you Love that perfon bdl on whom you perceive moft of God, and that is malt ferviceable to · him, though not at all beneficial to your (elf: If you Love the wellfare of the Church, the King– dom, the World, and of th~ Heavenly fociety, Saints, Angels aml Chrift, as 1he Divine Nature, in– terett, Image or imprefs maketh all Lovely in their feveral degrees; and would rather be annihila– ted were it put upon your choice, than Saints, Angels, Kingdom~, Church Chould be annihilated; If your hearts have d<votcd thernfelves and all that you have to God as his own to be ufed to his ut– mo!l fer vice : tf your chief defire and endeavour in the world be to pleafe his bldfcu will; and in that will and the comtemplation of his infinite perfections you feck your refl; If you defire your own everlafiing happincfs, in no other kind, but as confifiing in the perfect fight of Gods Glory, and in your perfect Loving of him, and Qeing pleafant or beloved to him , and this as refiing more in the lntinite Amiablen~fs of God, than the felicity which hence will follow to your [elves (though that alfo muH be defired); H now you deny your own glory for his Giory; if your chief deflre and endeavour be to Love him more and more; and you Love your felves beH when you Love him mo:l; In a word, If nothing more take up your cue thail how to Love God more, and nothing in the whole world ( your telf or othe_rs) feem more Amiable to your fober praCtical judgement, and l:our wills, than the JnfinircGoodnefs of God as {Uch; If all this be fo, you have not only attained imcerity ( which is not now the quefiion), but this Diviue nature, and high confirmed Holinefs; Though withall you never fo much defire your own falvation, which is but ro defire more of this Le ;• : And though your Nature have fuch a fenfitive felfifh defire of Life and Plea!i~re as is brought into [ubjection to this Divine i..ove. 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