SERMON I. mufi. defcend from the underftanding to the affeCtions, and the converG.tion: Now the fundamental dut.ics wh~ch we are to pay to G?d, are, love, fear, dependance andfub. miffion to the wtll of hts Law, and of Ius Provtdcnce. 1 . Love : He is the fupream object of love for l1i s excellencies and benefits, Ffol. 5. 11. Let tbem a!fo that liTIJe tby NamereJoyce m tlm; the Name of God imports rhofe glorious Attnbutes whereby he hath exprefi himfelf to us ; all the excellencies of the creature mee~ emmently m him, .and all thetr 1mperfeC.hons are removed; in him there is nothing unlovely. In worldly things how refined loever they be, there is an allay of dregs; tire all that is in them is mixed with corruption ; but in God the all that he is, is perfection ; in the mofi glorious creature as a creature, there is aliquid 11ihili {ome imperfection, it is not exactly fitted for the foul; but God is the Adequate and compleat object of o~r love. The~e is fuch an infinite eminency in God, that we are obliged to a proportionable affectiOn; the firfi and great Commandment is, Matth.n. 36. Jhou fhalt liTIJe tbe Lord tby God with ~11 thy beart, and witb all thy f/rengtb .- all the kmds and degrees of our love are due to him; we mufi put no bounds nor limits to it . in him it_ mull: begin~ in him it mu!l end; a remilfer. love is a degree of hatred; we dif. parage Ius excellencies by the coldnefs of our' affectiOns. 0 had we but eyes to fee his beaury, how would all the excellencies of the creatures become a very Glow-worm that only glitters in the night ! Moreover, God planted this affection in the nature of man, that it might be terminated upon himfelfas its center and treafure. As our natural faculties are fitted for their feveral objects ; the eye for colours, the ear for founds, the palate for tafis; fo ' Iav.e is fitted for God, that being as the Soveraign which fways all our powers. Love is called pomfus animte, that fets all the wheels in the Clock of the foul a going; this fcts the underfianding a-work m the ferious contemplation of the Divine excellencies,. it di· verts the thoughts from other things, and fixes them on God ; it excites firong defires, and earneil: afpirings after him; it fiirs up zeal, which is {lamma amoris, love in a 'flame to remove all obfiacles which hinder the mofi intimate union with him · it produces joy, when the foul repofes its felf in God, and with infinite £\veetnefs poifelfes him; it caufesthe grcatefidiligence, alacriry, and reto!ution in all our waics to pleafe him: for love is ever the fpring and rule of all our actions; fuch as it is, fuch likewife will they be: thus we may fee that God (as there is in him a union of all excellencies) chal. ]enges the mofi intenfe and vehement degree of our love, he being only fitted for it; and that our love being a fuperlative affection, is only proper to God ; and therefore to love any creature without God, or in an equal manner to him, is toDeify the creature, to place it in the room of God, and fo it renders us guilty of Idolatry in a lpiritual fenle. But fuch is the ignorance of mens minds, and the depravednefs of their wills, that few there be who love God; 'tis true, there may be fomething like love in natural men to God, grounded upon the perfwafion of his glorious being, and the goodnefs of his nature, which is not terrible to them ; but when they confider his mercy is a holy mercy, and that it is never difpenc'd to the prejudice ofhisju£hce, though they cannot hate God for his goodnefs directly, yet they hate him with it; for although he is the perfection of beauty and goudnels it felf, yet they being evil, there is no congruity or conveniency between God and them; they love fin, and hate punifl>ment: Now God as Author legis, by the mofi firict Laws forbids fin, and as ultor peccati, infliCts fevere punin1ments ; from hence it proceeds, the mofi lovely and £\vcet Attnbutes of God caonot endear him to them ; no more than the natural or moral excellencies of a Judge, the comelineG of his perfon, or his wifdom and knowledge can draw forth the love of a Malelactor when he is condemned by h;m. Moreover, fince the general nature of fin is an eternal contrariety to the nature and wiU of God ; the love of it mufi needs argue the hatred of God ; for as the Lord )elus requires an univerfal, chearful and confiant obedience, as the mofi cl~ar evidence of love to him ; if you IIT/Je me, keep my Commandments; fo the Argument will be as firong to conclude backward. If you keep not God's Commandments, you hate him; to hve in the practice of known fins, is a vertual and interpretative hatred of God. · >-. The benefits which God befiows upon us deferve our love. How great an endearment did he pafs upon us in our Creati~n ? we might have been admitted into the loweft form of Creatures, and have only enJoyed the hfe of Aies or worms; but he madeus little lower than tbe Angels, and Crowned us witb glory and honour, and gave us dommro'fl. o'l!er an the works of bis bands, Pfal. 8. 0 • Whereas the refi of the Creatures. were the acts of his power ; the Creation of man was an ad of power and w1fdom ; m all tl~c refi there was nothing, but hefpake the word, and t!Jey were made, Pfat. 148. 5· But In .the making of man there was a confultation about it, Gen. I. Let us make man; he~~d
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