rvfn Expojition of the Epi[Ue ~: if any one comes to accufe him, it provokes him (his love cloth) fo much the more l-V'"V'">-1 not only to pardon him, but tO Ibew hts love to htm.. My Brethren, ifthat God b~angry with us for our Sms, tt ts for <:ur good ; and 11_1 the end they do provoke htm to bids us fo much the more. Thts mull: needs tt mvmctble Love. Who fball Jeparate"' from the Love o(God? who fba/1/ay anything to the charge ofGod's EleCf? In all this we are more than Conquerori. And fo much now for the fecond tl · which is proper ~o this Love in Go:J, .C which the Apoll:Je calls Hi:r Love) a~d~~ no creatures elfe m the World as tt ts m God, name!y, to love thus invincibly and unchangeably as he cloth. Thirdly, [His Love] it is the fame Love wherewith he loveth bisSon yea wherewith he Joveth Himfelf. . ' ' It is the fame Love wherewith he loveth his Son. For that you have a known place in ]ohn 17. 23, 26. At the 24th verfe, faith Chrill:, Thou haft loved me before thefoundation ofthe World, and haft therefore given me a Glory, •nd tho11 haft united me 11nto thy felf; Tho11 art i1l me, and I in thee, ( fo ver.~ r.) and tho11 haft 11niteda company ofThme ([a he calls.,them, ver.6.) 1mto Me, I m them, and thou in Me, (10. faith the o3d verfe) and then what follows? that the World may k._now that thou haft loved them, as tho11 haft loved me. As he is united to God, and we to him fo God Joveth us with the fame Love wherewith he loved him. ' And then again, you have the like expreffion, ver. 26. That the Love wherewith tho11 /ovejl me may be in the~Jt, that is, towards them, fet upon them, derived to them. It is a phrafe of km tO that m the Text, The Love wherewith he ·loved 111 faith the Apoll:le; tf.e Love · wherewith thou /ov'!ft me, faith Chrill:; to note ~ fpecial Love: but that which I quote it for is this, That the Love wherewith tho11 /ovefi me,may be i" them, or on them alfo. .God loved all his creatures: he loved .Adam, but not with that kind oflove wherewith he loved Chrill:; but he Joveth his EleCt with the fame kind of love wherewith he loved him, the fame love is fet and pitch'cl on them. He Joveth him as his Son, and them as Daughters married to him: As a Father Joveth his Son, and a Daughter married unto him with the fame kind of love, and differing from his love to the Servants, or to any elfe that are about him. And therefore you !ball find that ll:ill this.Jove comes in with a dill:in– ction, Rom. 8. nit. Nor heighth, ner depth, nor any other creature, Jba/1 be able to Jeparate 111jtom the Love ofGod which is in Chrifi ]e[111. Mark it,he dill:ingui!beth; there is a Love indeed, which Men pave been, and are feparated from, even Adam in innocency ; but, G1ith he, if it be a Love in Chrill: Jefus, ifGod loveth us with that kind of Love .wherewith he loveth Chrill:, nothing fhall feparate from that. For as we are [aid to be chofen in Chrill:, fo we are !aid to be loved in him ; for EleCtion, or the aCt of chufing, is exprefs'd to us ll:ill by an act of Love, it is all one, they are convertible: Now he is .faid to chufe ·in ChriO:, [o to love in Chrill:; and faith the ApoO:le, Nothing fba/1 Jepmte 111 from the Love of God in Chrifl. He fpeaks it by way of dill:inetion from other Love, which Men may be feparated from; but from this, faitb he, there is no feparation. · Yea, let me go higher, God loving us in Chrill:, his Love is in a manner the fame wherewith he loveth himfel£ There is an Union betw,ixt Jefus Chrill: and us, and there is alfo an Union between God and us, 1ohn 17. 23. ! in them, and thOJ< in me. As our Lord and Saviour Chrill: loved his People fo, as that if his People be hurt, he takes it as if it were done to himfelf; Soul, Soul, why perfe– cutejl thou me? So you !ball find, that God himfelf fpeaks, as if his People and he were all one. It is not only, as in]ohn, Thine they were; and, G"d f<!;orvetb them that ,,re his; (and thefe are great words, they are deep words, and deep ex– preffions): But you !ball find; that God in the Old Teflament fpeaks in the PerfonofhisPeople, aswellasChrill: cloth in the New. Pfa/.81.5. Thishe ordained in Jofeph, for a Tejlimony ([peaking of Goc ) whett he went out of Egypt, meaning his People. . And therefore in Exod. I I. 8. fatth he to J>haraob; ..About midnight I wiD go ont into the midfl of Egypt, and all the Firft-born fball die, &c. A11d after that I will go out, that is, my People !ball go out. So that now, as the Union between Chrill: and his People is fuch, and his Love fuch, * ~
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=