138 fecund Sign PART III. nets to him, in reítoring him to his Reafon and Kingdom, after his dwelling with the Beafts. Gratitude being thus a natural Principle, it renders Ingratitude fo much the mote vile and heinous ; becaufe it Thews a dreadful Pre- valence of Wickednefs when it even overbears, and fuppreffes the better Principles of human Nature : As it is mentioned as an Evidence of the high Degree of the Wickednefs of many . of the Heathen, that they were without natural difea`tien, Rom. 2. 31. But that the Want ofGratitude, or natural Afec`tion, areEvidences of an high Degree of Vice, is no Argument that all Gratitude and na- tural AffeEion, has the Nature of Vertue, or Saving- Grace. Self-love, through the Exercife of a meer natural Gratitude, may be the Foundation of a Sort of Love to God many Ways. .A Kind of Love may arife from a 'falfe Notion of God, that Men have been educated in, or have fome Way imbibed ; as tho' he were only Goodnefs and Mercy, 'and no revenging Juffice ; or as tho' the Exercifes of his Goodnefs were neceffary, and not free and fovereign; or as tho' his Goodnefs were dependant on what is in them, and as it were conftrained by them. Men on fuch Grounds as thefe, may love a God of their own forming in their Imaginations, when they are far from loving fuch a God as reigns in Heaven. Again, Self-love may be the Foundation of an Affection in Men towards God, thro' a great Infenfibility of their State with Regard to God, and for Want of Conviction of Confcience to make 'em snible how dreadfully they have provoked God to Anger;; they have no Senfe of the Hcinoufnefs of Sin, as againft God, and of the infinite and terrible Oppofition of the holy Nature of God againft it And fo having formed in their Minds fuch a God as fuits them, and thinking God to be fuch an one as themfelves, who favours and a- grees with them, they may like him very well, and feel a Sort of Love to him, when they are far from loving the true God. And Men's Affections may be much moved towards God, from Self-love, by fame remarkable outward Benefits received from God ; as it was with Naaman, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Children of Ifrael at the Red Sea.. Again, a very high Affection towards God, may, and often does arife in Men, from an Opinion of the Favour and Love of God to them, as the firft Foundation of their Love to him. After Awakenings and Diftrefs through Fears of Hell, they may fuddenly get a Notion, through fome Impreffion on their Imagination, or im- mediate Suggeftion, with or without Texts of Scripture, or by fume other Means, that God loves 'em, and has forgiven their Sins, and made them his Children ; and this is the firft Thing that caufes their Affections to flow towards -God and Jefus Chrift And then after this, and upon this Foundation, many Things in God may ap- pear
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