An Expojition of the EpijUe ,...... -""-""' Smn. XI.• Let us begin firft with the fubjett, and rife, ond original of this Love : He . ~loved: B11t God, for this great Love wherewith [He] loved tu. My Brethr~n all that I fay of this, is but this, That if God will fall in love, and is pleafed 'and delighted to let his love on Creatures, how great muft that Love bel And whom: foever's lot it fallsto, they !hall have enough of it. God that is infinite, hathan infinite Love in htS Heart to b~ftow, and ~hoever it be that hi~ Will is pleafed to cart that love upon, ofwhom It will be fa1d, He hath loved tu, It muft be a great yea, an infinite Love. The Fountain "of Love in God, being, as was fail his goodnefs: for it is in alL rational Creatures, that which makes them love it i; o goodnefs of difpofition in them : The fountain of Love, as was laid, is good– nets, and fo f.1r as any are good, fo far are they apt and prone to love others · and according to the proportion of the goodnefs, fo will the love be alfo and according!y the greatnefs of love in any. Now God, he is fo good, as he is laid only to be good, There is none good lmt God, Mat. 19. 17. that is, with fuch a tranlcendency of goodn;fs ; an? therefore anfwe_rably thereunto, God is laid to be Ltue ; fo J ol.m 3· /i.s none IS good, fo there IS none that loves but he that is in comparifon of him. The goodnefs and kindnefs in God, yea, and all th~ goodnefs that is in him, (as v. 1·) it moved him to love fame-body befides him– felf, that be might communicate his goodnefs to them: And fo his Will refolved to love fi.1ch and fuch Perfons, for he would notcommunicate his goodnefs to thofe whom he did not love; rational wif'.' Men will be fure to lov~ thole whom they do communtcate much to, and fo dtd God. He alfo refolvmg to communicate all his goodnefs to Come, refolves alfo,to love them firfi, and his love fi1all be pro– portionable to his intent of the communication of his goodnefs, and that to the greatnefs of that goodnefs in him. He meant to communicate his goodnefs to the Creature to the utmofl, (for if he will do it, he will clo it as God, or he will not do it at all, he will !hew himfelf to be the chiefefi good,) why then he will love them to the utmofi, and love them like the Great God to. · There is this difference between God's loving and ours: We mufi fee a good– nefs in the Creature that we love, to draw out love from us; but all the love that is in him, he had it in his own power, to fet it where he would, Exod. 33· I wiU be gracious tmt• whom I will be gracious. We can but love fo far as our love is drawn out, our Will doth not intend love to the height, unlefs it runs out in fome natural way; but fo can God fay, I will have fuch and fuch, .and I will bear fuch and fo great an affell:ion to them : And when he doth fo · his Will !hall not only caufe him to communicate all his goodnefs to them, bu~ caufc him alfo to do it with the highefi love, with rejoycing over them, with de– lighting to love : So you have the Phrafe in that place of De11t. 10. I 4· Men may and do do good to others, beyond the extent of their love, for other ends, a Man's Will may caufe him to communicate good to others, beyond what the proportion of love is in his heart : But it is not [o in God: as is his goodnefs, fo is his love ; therefore God is good to Iftael, and he loveth Iftael, it is all one, as in 'Pfd. 73· 1. In one word then, will you go and take the R.ife and the Original of Love in God, the Genealogy of it, and fo by that the Proportion of it? . Firfi, his Goodnefs putteth him.upon communicating himfelf, and then he lo– veth thofc proportionably unto whom he communicateth himfelf; and fo he fets himfdf to love, fingles out the Perfons: This you have in v. 7· Itt hit kjndneft towards 11s, Tit. 3· 4, 5· When he !hews the Caufes of our Salvation, as he cloth here, he begins firft with the fame word ufed v. 7· a goodnefs, a fweetnefs, a p\cafimtnefs ofNature in God, an heroical difpofition of being good umo others, from whence arifcth a Ph)'la11thropeia, a love to Mankind, which tho there it .be cxprefr indefinitely, yet as here and elfewhere, he pitcheth upbn particular Per– fans. Or to give perhaps a more clear place for it, Exod. 33· '9· when as God there would cxpreG his heart to Mojit, and intimate to him that he loved him, ~nd how dearly he valued him, (and therefore this'Mofts his choice is mentioned ~' an inf\ance of the Grace of Elell:ion, in Rom. '9·) what faith God to him? I
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