to the EPHESIANS. as Woers do for their Brides, to bring them home to their Father's Houfe: it is~ fpoken in the Language of Kindnefs. And then he takes them, and brings them erm. XX. to his Father's Houfe : In my Father's Houfi are many Manjons, and there I will~ entertain you, faith he; all fpeaks Kindnefs. In John 20. 17. when Mnry would have corn€, and familiarly have embraced him, whether his Feet or otherwife, faith he, To11ch me 11ot, for I am uot yet afcended. Tis not a Reproof, fo much asa fraying her from the prefent enjoyment, _with the Hint of aTime, ~herein Kmdnefs was to be !hewn yet to come; and IS as Jf he had fatd, There ts Ttme enough, we !hall be familiar in Heaven ; but now thou art to go about thy Bufifiefs, now tell my Difciples that I am rifen : This I take to be the bell: Meaning of that Place. In Pfal. 36. 8. How exceUent or precio111 i< thy Loving-Ajndnefs, 0 God! He fpeaks of the Loving-kindnefs which he !hews to them that trufl: in him here, having compared thiS wtth that ordmary Favour whtch he !hews tp Man and Beaf! in the Words before, and !hewing how it excells. But his !hew. ing Kindnefs indeed is yet to come, whereof this here is but the Love-token; for what follows ? They JbaU be abundantly fatisfed with the F•tnefl of thy Houfc, and thou jhalt mahg the11z dri11k., (it is a paffive word, as t faid before) with the River of thy Pleajitres. He fpeaks in the Language of Kindnefs !hewn us, En– teminmem. Jefus Chrifl: brings them to his Father's Houfe, and there the bell: things he hath he.brings forth, there they !hall have a Banquet, yea, the choicefl: Banquet, that which God himfelf liveth upon: Thy Pleajitres, faith he, he brings them all forth, becaufc he fpends the Time in Kindnefs. Henceforth (faith Chrilt) I wiU 1101 dri>Tk., a11y more of the Fmit of the Vi11e, tiU I dri>zk., it new with yo~t in my Father's Kingdom. This is all the Language of Kindnefs, and of Entertainment. And this,my Brethren, isit which makesthe Entertainment fo fweet in Heaven, all the Colt and Glory there fo fweet, it is the Kindnefs, the Sweet– nefs of a Friend, and of God a Father, and of Jefus Chrifl, a Bridegroom, that rejoyceth over us to do us good. I !I Prov. 15. 17. A Dinner of Herbs with Love, how fweet is it! How much more to be at a continual Ftafl:, with the River of God's Pleafures, to drink thereof, and to be fed with the Famefs of his Houfe, and all this out of infinite Loving-kindnefs? This is better than Life, it is better than the Glory and Happinefs it felf,fimply confidered, for it is this which makes it to be Bleflednefs. When you were firfl: turned to God, how kind per– haps was God to you then, or have you found him in fome Paffages of your Lives! and you think, If God fhould be always thus ·kind to me, how would it ravifh my Heart! Thou !halt have enough of it in Heaven. God is angry fometimes here, and feems to take things unkindly at our hands, but in Heaven nothing but Kindnefs. It is an excellent place, and it is the meaning of it, in 'Pfa!. 30. 6. Hir Anger enduret!J b11t for a moment, b11t in his Favo11r ir Lift. Life is there oppofed to a Moment, it is Life for ever, eternal Life. You have the like in Ifa. 47· 7· My brethren, in Heaven there are no Affections, but Love and Kindnefs on both fides, on God's part, and ours. In us there is no Affetl:ion elfe fl:irring ; There is no Sorrow for Sin, tho that be fweet, for all Tears are wiped away from our Eyes ; there is no Fear, for perfect Love cafl:eth out Fear; there is no Defire, for there is continual Satisfaction. There is nothing but thefe three things in a Man, the Knowledg and Sight of God, the Love of God, and Joy in God ; there is this Trinity (if I may fo fpeak) of Difpofitions in the Soul. On the other fide, in God, tho there be Power, and Jufl:ice, and all Attributes in him, yet they all have a Tincture of Loving-Kindnefs. Therefore God is not faid fo much to be Wifdom in refpect of us, as Love; where have you Him called Juflice, or Power? But be is called Love. And tho God is All in All, and all in Him is ours, yet it is all in Loving·kindnefs: He jhews forth the Richer of his Grace, in ICindnefl towards tl.l, in thofe Age.s to t·onJC, in Chrifl ]e[111. I might add this, In Chrift Jef11.1 ; for tho God be All in All in Heaven, yet it is God's Love in Chrifl to us, that cloth make the Union everlaf'cing, and is the Foundation of it. The Creature could not fl:and under that Love of God, if it were not conveyed to us in Chrifl:, it would be too weighty for it. God chofe
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