1 44 An Expojition of the Epijiie 1 ~ Love be! .We ufe to argue thus, that God is therefore the .~ighi:r'r Goo<r,li"ca\i~ ~ whatfocver 1s.good m any C~eature, .'s emmemly found m li1m. Truly thus d'ofli the Apoftle argue: Love, C11th he, :s of God: All the love that is in all t:rei– turcs, m all Angels and Me~, that JS m the heart of Ch,nfl: hm1fc!f, it.is aJ.I..of God, he is the fountam of tt; therefore whofoever bath h.1e love, his Jove from \vhom all love is, it mufi needs be a great and an infinite love. · As the"Apof\1~ faith, Te med not be wrillw to love one another, ye are ta•gbt of:·God fo to do ; ·.It is Nature in you, fo it is Nature in God. Now what (ollowi ih \Qe next W@rd$.? Love is of God, and every om tl.>at lovetl> is born ofGod, and l~,.noweih God· 'he ihat loveth 1101, k.tJOWeth '!Of God. ltis fuch a Phrafc as'rhis: rf you be ignoi·aot . of what 1s the greatefl: excellency of any one, you do not knc;>w · him; the Man·I; t}1us and thus, ' this is his charal.l:er, and his d1iefefl: charaCl:~~, if you do ~0~ know that, you do not know the Man : So fi1ith he of GoCJ, 'God if fov.e and there is no Man that cloth know him, but he finds lo mucH love ·in him tq;vards him, 'that he mufl: oeeds love 01hers ; and he that doth not love 1 knows hin 1 'n,or.,. for love 1s h1s Genua. And as to love one another, ts the great commandment that Jefus Chrifl: gave us ; fo for God to love us, it is the greatefl: and mail emi– nent difpofition in the great God. ' Will you have a definition of God ? . Why, f.11th the Apofl:le, God u lvve; and he contents nqt htmftlf to have f1id it once but he 6ith it again, v. 16. Now then, great mufl: needs that love be, wbich·i; his love. ' Mark thot emphails: For [his J great love wbercn:itb ~e lovecl1u. , . ft is great alf? in this .refpcl.l:,. as in God, (for Hill I am arg.uing from its being m bun, as he Is the fubJel.l: of tt,) becaufe there IS no other r:fe of h1s love, (be– fidesthat of his goodnefs m~ntiqned ) !:)ut his lov~ ;. his ,own love and g~odnefs 1s a nit to lt ft!£ All love 111 us 1s of God, but all love 1n .h1mfclf mull needj be much more of himfelf; this argues it great, where ever -he pitcheth it :0 F:'Or if he loved us for any thing in qs, it iJ too narrow ; Jor the tru,th js,. (o ht! .loves.a'n creatures, fo £1r as there js any goodnefs ih tl1'em,. fo £1r he loves them l bl)t that he !bould love his Saints thus, it would be' too narrow, 'tpo fcanty a love: , I;fe. loved Adam but thus, plainly ; it was but a providential love, wherewith he loved Adam, take him in that firfl: efl:ate. God faw all'that ":as in the Creatures to be good, and he loved them ; fo he faw that ;v hich wos in Adam to be good, and that was the caufe he loved him. But when love in the great God is the ere– dominant thing, that which commandeth all in God, when this !l~all be a foun– tain to it felf, then it will overflow, it knoweth no bounds, qothing is fo di'ffu– live. Tt is a faying of Bet·,,.rd, and it is an exceeding goo,d one: 'That God ( C1ith he) ' loveth hisChildren, he bath it not elfewhere, from any thiog out ' ofhimfelf; but it is himfclf from whence that love rifeth, his own love is the 'fpring of his own love, and fo is the meafure of the extent of it, and that 'knows no meafure. And therefore he mufi needs love flrongly, Clith he, when 'he is not !aid fo much to have love, as that he is love. And therefore this love, 'which is the fountain oflove it !elf, how great mufl: it be! · . Again, the end of his love, it is bi:It to !hew love, it is the great end of it, rtnd fo large as his end is, fo large mufl: his love be, and his defire to lo~e. Appe-; tifltJ fi'nu efl injinitns : What a Man loveth for an end, he loveth mfinitely. Tbat ;, the Ages to come be migbt Jl>erv the exceeding Ricbes of bis Grace, faith v. 7• that is, of his free love; there is his end. As he hath no reafon why he loveth, but becaufe he willeth ; fo he hath no higher end to love, but bccaufe he will love, and becaufe he doth love, and becanfe he will !hew love. If (o great a Love will make it felf its end, how unfatisfied will that Love be! And fo much for the Subjel.l: of it. I will only add this: Do but only take a fcamling of it, by the Love that is in the Mediator, Jefus Chrifl:, who is God-Man. That J'e 1J14J IQ1o1v, (faith the Apofile,) the breadth, ami length, the depth, and height of the love of Chrifl, Tl'hicp pajfith h,_nowledg. What need I fiand to fet out that Love to you ? It drew him from Heaven to theWomb,and from the WombtotheCrofs; and it kept him upon the Crofs, when any great Spirit in the World would have been provoked to have come down, it was his love ;hat held him there. But now that Love that was in the Heart of the Man Chrilt Jefus, and as he was Mediator, is lefs than * God's
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