The Myfterie 4 the Lo11e Of God mzd' our fel:Ves, opened. good : Though it is not befi for the poor mi[erablc finner. But the fame cannot be fa!d offin. It is indeedbetter alfo ro rhofe higheft ends, to be a Man though a ]inner ( wlule God contmueth huma. niry ) : Bur not to be aMan and a finnrr: For the latter implyeth Come Good to be in the fin : wJ1ic:h hath no Good, and therefore.God neirher cau[tth it, nor wiUeth it, though he permit it: But though a finful man is better than no man mGods ends, it followcth not, that to be aman) is better than to be a g6od man. Object. IO· If t/>aJ be bejl and mnjlamiable, which is m~ to the glory of God, tbenit it more amjable to be a {inner in HtU tormwt glorijjoing hiJ Jujtice, than not to he 111 aU, or to be a bruit. An(w. J, It is neither of thefe that is offered to your Love and Choice, but to be Holy. All Good is nor matter ofElcdion. But that Good which is in Hell is not the fin, but the puni.fhment. For rhc tin dorh reputatively, and as much as in it lyerh rob God of his glory, and punithmtnt repaireth it. Therefore love the punilhment if tott can,~and- fpue not, fo you love Holinefs betrer : For that would honour God more excellently, and pleafc him more. Object. r J, If I mujllov' to be lik,yGod, ~ r,nufl love to _fe Great, a11d I mujl Lov,e the Grwejl M m,;t like him. . , '.\\ .11• . '· .• ' Anfw. You mull love to be like him in thofe perfections .w}u.ch. you are cap~ble of, and "to the ends and ufes of your proper nature. Therefore yOu mutll:ie' d~firouS ro be lik'"e h'im in your mea~ fure, even in fuch Power and Greatnefs as is fuitable to the Nature and Ends of a Rational foul. Not in fuch fircngth as he givcth aHoriC, or fuch magnitude as he f;iveth aMountain, which is not ro be mofi like him _; But in the vital aftivity and po.wer of an, IntelleCtual frce:~gen~; To be Pl)zvtr{,ul and great in Lrroe to God and all his fervice, and/in all good "*-orks, to ~e profitable to the world ; to be lively and ready in all obedience, firong to ftltfcr, ancl to conquer hn and all temptations: Jn a word, robe Gre~t and Powerful in Wifdom and-true Goodnefs. Thus feek even in Power to be like to God in your Capacities. ,. Object: a. Gcd himfe/f doth not II'Ve mtn only· for their Goodnt.J! , nor Love 1/w luft which i1 btft. For he loveth hU Ele{J while tHemies a'lffi ungodly,' and he teUctiJ 'lfrael, he loved them., becaufe he 1f1QU/.J · .love them, and not becau{t they-were better than otherr: AHd in the womb belavedJil,cob bcfi, when hew~ na hetttr than·Efau. Anjw. 1. D,i\inguifh between Gods Complacence and Benevolence. 2 . Between , the good that is prcftnr, and forefeen good with aprefent capac1ty for it. · ~ ,' , 1. God had agreatet Benevolence to Jacob than Ffau, and to the Ifraclites tban tp other Nations that were perhaps not much worfe. And it is not for our Goodnefs that God d'c:cre~ch to mJ~c. us good, or to give us a double proportion of any of thofe mercies, which he givc[h not as Rector, but asDBminUf,and Bemfallor, as 'an abf?1ute O~ncr an~ free'Bene[aUor. 1 And w_irh thjs Love of Ben~volence he loverh us, when we are hJs enem,es, that ts, he purpbCeth to make us gqod : But this bc– r~cvolcnc~ is but a fecundary ~ove, and fruit of Complac;f"'Y< ioyn,ed;with tfle.Jrf,e uncqu~l djftriblkuon of his own. , . 2· But for Complacency, which is Love in th·e firft add ftridell fenfe, God' fo loverh the wicked though Eled-; no farther than they are Good and Lovely; that is, I· As they liave the Natura!Good– nefs of Rational Creatures. 2• And as they are capable of all the future fervicc they will do him · and glory they will bring him. 3. And as his I,nfinite Wifdom knowerh it lit to choo[e them to tha~ fervice. Or if the Benevolenceof Election do go before his firll Complacence in them above ot5erf as being before his fore!ight that they will ferve and love him better, yet fiill this proper Loy; ., called Complacence, goerh not beyond the worth of the thing loved. · · Object. Doth God love"' ComplacentiaUyin Chrijl, beyond the Good.tl>at ~in us? A_nfw. ~ot beyond our Real and Relative Good, as we are in our felves, by his grace, and as we arc mChnll re~ated to him, and both wayes fuch as demonfirate the Divine perfections, and lhall Love, and Glonfie, and Pleafe him for ever. So much for the opening of the true Nature of L 0 VE to God, our felvtJ and othm, and of ..mans ultimate end, aud of the Nature of Holinefs and Goodnef•, and thofe Myfteries ofReligion whrch are mvolved m thefe points.
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