to the EPHESI AN S. 1 45 God's love. My Father, faith he, (and he [peaks as Mediator) is greater than "-AJJ I; and Co alCo is his Father's love greater than his: And yet if there were infi- Scr,,,, XL nite Worlds made of Creatures loving, they would not have fo much love in~ them, as was in the heart of that Man ChriO: JeCus. AU love is of God, Co John C1ith ; and the truth is, all the love that ChriO: had was of God, he Cpake to his heart to love us : Thi11C they were, faith he, a11d tho11 gaveft tbem me ; and therefore he loved them. Great therefore muO: this love be, becauCe it is the love of God; it is [ his J Love. I fhould alfo add t111der this Head, that as it is great in it felf, becauCe it is the love of the great God, Co therefore it is greatly endeared to us: For love, be it never Co Cmall, is always heightned by the greatnefs of the Perfon that loves us. The greatnefs of the Perfon cloth no.t heighten MercY:, it fhews a N'?blenefs in J 1 im indeed, as for a Kmg to be merciful ; but for a Kmg to love, this IS a height– ning, an endearing of it to us, for Majeftas and A~tJor do feldom convenire, Ma– jell:y and Love feldom meet, becaufe it is a coming down, a debafing of Majell:y. But I 0Jall not Cpeak much to this Head, becauCe I am not to Cpeak th_ings that may endear the love of God to you, but as it is the cauCe of Salvation. Only I will give you that Scripture in a word; Pfal. 113. 6. He humbletb himfelf, to bebold tbe thi11gs tbat are ;, Heaven, and in Earth. Why is God faid to humble himCelf in this ? Is it a £looping and condefcending in God, to take all things into his om– nifcient knowledg, and to guide and govern the World? Truly he were not God; if he flJOuld not do it; if any Creature lhould eCcape, any motion of a Fly ilJOuld efcape the knowledg of the great God, he were not God; yet he calls it an humbling, a condefcending. 0 my Brethren, what is it then for him to condcfccnd to love ! The Cecond thing in the Text here, by which the greatnefs of this Love is fet out to us, it is the PerCons whom he loveth, [Vs J faith he. And this Cett~th out the grcatnefs of his Love to us, by way of endearment, which therefore I fhall more briefly palS over. He Joveth us, not others; that is clearly the Apoqles fcope. We were by nat11re Children ofWrath, as well aJ others; b11t God, who is •ich in Merry, loved [tH,] not others, and out of that Love he hath tpeiclzned [m,] others are not qnickned ; the whole World lies in Wickednefs, but we know we are of God ; and a few are quickned, it was becauCe he loved us ; a Cpeeial Love, that argues gr'eatnefs too. To fet out the Greatnefs of it in this refpetl:, and to endear it to you: In the firfl place, the great God, when he meant to love, he did not go and fay, I will love Come-body, or I will love indefinitely; no, but he pitched upon the Perfons. That way of the Arminiam cloth exceedingly detrafr from the love of God, (viz.) to make him a Lover of Mankind, and that that is the thing out of the confideration whereof he gave his Son; and that he loves them in common, and loves them indefinitely ; and if they believe Co, God will then !hew love to \hem. God might delight himfelf in Heaven, tho Men had never been faved ; he might there have upbraided them with their unthankfulnefs. No, God goes another way, he direCtly Cets up the very PerCons whom he meant to l~ve, and he Jays forth all the contrivances of his Love, having them dill:infrly in h1s eye; as a Father, that lays out Portions for every one of his Children by name, legally and diO:infrly, bath them in his eye; Co cloth God. 1willhave nJefcJ on whom I will have mercy. That fame [ Olt whom J implies) that it is not indefinite. I will only give you that Obfervation, upon comparing two places, that are both known, and I will bring rhem both together by parallelling of them. Saith Chrift, in 'john 13. 18. I Apow wh01n I have cbofen : The parallel place di– refrly to it is in 2 Ti111. 2. 19. God knoweth who are bis; that is, diO:inCtly know– eth them, he had them in his eye, viewed them, and under the viewing of the Perfons, on them he would beO:ow all, did lay the whole Plot, all the Contrive– ments ofthat Salvation he intended. Which he did to endear his Love the more, havmg the Perfons to whom in his eye; he did not do it indefinitely, that he would love M•nkind, and love Come in an indefinite way. Dare any Man L1y, ~T ilia
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