64 The Life ofFaith. greatly to be admired, while the great God is in tight. And it is unfuitable for little thingr, to have great affthionr ; and for low matters to have a high diem. It is the corruption and follyof the mind, and the delufion of the aff.: ions to exalt a Shrub above a Cedar, and magnifie a Mole-hill above a Mountain ; to embrace a (hadow orfpelirrem offelicity, which vamiheth into Nothing, when you bring in the Iight. The creature is nail &nullipotens Nothing fhould have no interelt in us, and be able to do Nothingwith us (as to the motions that are under the dominion of the will.) God is- All and Al- mighty: Aud he that is All, fhould have All, and command All And the Omnipotent (honk{ do All thing! withus, by his Intereff in Morale; as he will do by his force in Naturals. I deny not but we may love afriend : One foul in two bodies will have one mind, and will, and love. But as it is not the bo- dy ofmy friend, that I love or converfe with principally, but thefoul ; (and therefore fhould haveno mind of thecafe, the corps, the empty neff, if the bird were flown) fo is it not the perfon, but Chrill in him, or that of God which appeareth on him, that mull be the principal object ofour love. The man is mutable,and mull .be loved; as Plato did commend his friend to Dionyfros : flee tibi fcribo de boraine, viz. animante naturii mutabili : and therefore muff be loved with a referve. But God is unchangeable, and muff be abfolutely and unchange- ably loved. That life is bell that's likeff Heaven: There G id will be All ; and yet even there, it will be nojd;fhonour or difpleafure to the Deity, that the glorified humanity ofCl r if, and the New Jerufalera, and our holy fociety, arc lov_d more dearly than we can love any creature here on earth : So here, God taketh not that afft5ion as ffoln from bin:, that's given to his fcrvants for his fake., but accepts it as rent to bim by them. Let the creature have it, fo God have it finally in and by the creature ; and then it is not fo properly the crea- ture that hath it, as God. If you cbufe, and love your friends for 'God, you will ufe them for God : not flattering them, or defiring to be flattered by them ; but to kindle in each other the holy flame which will afpirc and mount, and know no bounds, till it reachtheboundlcfs element of love. You will not value them as friends, qui emnia difa &fad vedea laudant,
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