An Expojition of the Epijlle ~bewould lay, he had chofen Jacob, and refufed Efa!'• bow dotb be expre!i it? ernt. · Jacob have l/111Jed faith he. So m Ront. 9· I3. 1t IS quoted out of M:tt I 2 ~ And afterwards, ;,hen he cometh to fpeak of. the choic~ of the People of lfr~ei, and of their Fathers, both Abraham, lfaac, aqd Jacob, mDeut. IO. I4, I). how doth he exprefs it ? 'Behold, ( faith he) the Heaven, and the Heaven of Heavens ;. the Lord's ; the Earth alfo, with all that therein is: He had thoice enou h. Only (faith he) the Lord had a delight in thy Fathers, to lov~ them; and he c~ofo their Seed lljier them: That IS, as the Septuagmt there bath It, He chafe to love thent. Mark it, he expre!feth his choice, and fets it out by thole fweet words Love, yea, and a delight to love them ; ·a love unto their Perfons, ,and a <Jeli$h~ in that love. So you !hall find, that Love and choice go together; as Pfa/.47·.)· and Pfal. 78. 68. He chofo the T,.,be of Judah, the lnhab1tants of Mon11t Sion· which he loved. And thus in the New Teframent alfo, when our Lord and Savi: our Chrifr, who was eleB:ed by his Father as he was Mediator, as we are, as you have It ~n I Pet. 1. 20. where 1t IS find, that ~e was fore-or~ained before the f 01 m– dation of tf.e world; ~lOW cloth Chrtfr hlmfelf exprefs It ? In John Ij. 24fe.eakmg, of the Glory given h1m, (therefore be fpeaks .of ~redefrination,,) be fa1th, Thmdovedjl m_e before the foun_dat1on of the World; that 1s, Thou·gavefr me' this Glory by a cho1ce, by an Elechon ; and you fee, he expreiTeth it by Love. And, Rom. I 1. 28. They are beloved according to Elel1ion. You !ball therefore not only find EleB:ion called the Counfel of God, and the Purpofe of God, and the Will of God; but Grace joined to it, Purpofe and Grace both put together: So in 2 Tim. I. 9· He bath foved tn, and called tn, according to his own Purpoft and Grace, before the World began. And you have a more exprefs place for it, in Rom. I I. 5· where it is called the Ele&ion of Grace, or Love, (for Grace there is taken for free Love, ) the Soul, the Spirit of EleB:ion lies in that aB: ; and therefore we are faid to be chofen in Chrifr, which is all one and to fay, we are loved in Chrifr ; for to love is to chufe. And fo now I have difpatched that Obfervation, which is previous to what I am to deliver afterwards. Now I come to to thofe two things, which I faid I referved the !all Difcourfe, to be now handled; for there is nothing remaining to be fpoken to in this 4th verfe, but firfr, to !hew you the Greatnefs of this Love; ·and fecondly, the Riches of this Mercy : Two of the greatefr Subjefu, ifone would handle them as SubjeB:s, that is, in the whole compafs of all that might be faid of them, that the whole BookofGod affords. Now where is it that I mull: begin? The trt!th is, Riches of Mercy offers it !elf firfr in the words ; but we mufr give the prero· gative to the GreatnefS ofLove, becaufe, as you heard before, i~ is the foundation of Mercy. Riches of Mercy are brought in here as fubferving his Love, com– manded and difpofed of by his Love ; for the reafon why God lays forth Riches of Mercy to thefe and thefe Perfons, it is becaufe he loveth them. So then that Stock, or that Treafury of Love, which the Will of God was pleafed to fet apart firff, for his Elefr and Children, and lay up in his own Heart, this is that which I am fir(( to fpeak unto, you fee it is in the Text. And let me lay this of it, we . can never fearch enough into this, we may pry too much into the Wifdom and Counfels of God, to feek a reafon of his doings; but we can never pry enough into the Love of God: ·It is a Sea ofHoney, (as one calis it) and if in wading into it, we be [wallowed up of it, and drowned therein, it is no matter. And let me likewife profefs this about it, That of all SubjeB:s elfe, it is of that nature, as cannot be fet out by difcourfe, or in a rational way. It is part of the meaning (I think) of that of the Apofrle, in Eph. 3· 18. where he calleth it, a Love that jitrpaJfetb hpowledg, that is, the humane way of knowledg, by way of Reafon and Dilcourfe, whereby we infer and gather one thing out of another in a rational way, and fo come to the knowledg of them. But ~t is more fully the meaning of tlm in Rom. 5· 5· The Love of God u [foed abroad J in our Hmts, by the Ho!;·– Gbo[t, wi.Jich is give111111to 111. He cloth not C,,y, The love ofGod, which he bath told usof, and fpoken fo great things ofin the Scriptures, ( and.indced you fball upan fearch find the Scripture to !peak ltttle of tt): But he liuth, The Love of God,
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