Of Eleflion. peared of old tmto me; that is, in former Ages, which is a concd lion to God's r<\..AJ"1 Speech in the foregoing Verje, what he had been to her of old. The people i11 ~ the Wztder1ujJ fomzdgrace, (!;c. True, fay the Lord bath app<ared m former times: 0 but now! What Anfwer doth God return to this? Ter<, 1 have loved thee with an everl<>flzng love. (The wordfaving is nor in the Original, and its being put in hath marred the fcope :) As if he had faid to. her, Agaiq dofl thou fpeak of my Appearances of old to thee, and as if now I had left thee? Yea, my love is of an ancienter date by tar, than my Appearances un· to thee, which thou faye!t are of old; .i. ·e. thofe Appearances you fpeak of, were but a thoufand years ago in the Wildernefs,f!ir. but my love in my heart to thee, hath 6em from everlaffing,e!ic. Everlnjimg is oppofed to old hidden love, unknown love from everlajlwg unto Appearances. It hath fuffered no Ellipfis , no interruption, no pardes between, To rarilie which, God fets his great Ten, or his Amm: Ten, (fays he) I have loved thee with an everlaj/ing love. Which to be all one, that ol· the Apofrle !hews, 2 Cor, 1, 20, ;IU the PromifesofGodare Tea and Amm. 'Tis a g~earyea this, and fer to the greateft thing that ever God did concerning us, which you may fee how himfelf accounts of by it; and it comes in the way of a mo!t punctual Anfwer unto the greatefl Doubts and Thoughts his People ufe to harbour. And further, beGde1hi< own Yea or Affeveration, he gives this Evidence that he had born fuch a continued love unto them,Therefore With /ov111g kind1te_fj have I draum thee, Verj: 2. Now conGdcr, what ihould it be that mov'd me fo to do, when you had nothing but Enmity in you againfl me? Certainly,it could be nmhing but my own meer loving l<indncfs born towards you before, that mufl move me to it ; it mufl be fome aforehand put pofe: And when, or at what time think you did that kindoefs firct begin in me, or that loving fit firfl take me? Was my love ever N<~J, and then after a time becameTea? No, fays he, here I am an everla!ling God, and I have no new purpofes, that are of yefierday, but which are as ot old,as my lelfam: ·For then I ihould have an alteration or change made in me, as you Creatures have; new thoughts to day which I I had not yefierday; and to be fure,in my love towards you, of all tbingselfe, I have not filch: F'or !love like God, ld<e the Great God, where I love. Neither could there be any thing but fuch a love, fo born to you, that could ever move me to call you , for there was nothing in you to draw on my love; for the truth is, I was forc'd to draw you; you were fo backward, and utterlv averfe. And now after I have called you, I am a God that chaflgeth not,Mal. :; •6. For I rtm the Lord, I change not: therefore ) 'e Jons ofJacob arntotco1J· ]i1med. And fo my love is from everlafring to everlafling, l'fat. to1. r 7· But the mere;•of the Lord u from eveHafling to everi:Uting ttpon them th,l/ fttJr him : mtd hu rigbteottjnefltmlo cbildrrns chtldren. R 2 CHAP.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=