Of Eleelion. pb ce ? It being put upon Chrill his being his Beloved , and our ·Relation to r<>...,.~\,..P"l him, as fuch, I would fUI the quellion, for which of the two it is rh lt G?d Chap. 3. Loves Chrill moll , whether as he is his Cbrill , and our Head ? Or v. herlwr -../"'-.r--J us he is our Jefus, undertaking to redeem us? 'Tis true, he Loves him be: caufe he died for us at his command; Therefore the Father loves me, becaufc I laid,dowo my Life: But let me tell yo~, he loves hml more , bLC•ll1fc he 15 Chrill, t hat he is his Son dwelliag in our nature, that it is that make s h:m the eminently beloved of God. Now if, God's Love to us be in through Chrill, and our Relation ,to him, then that in Chrill, for which G od loves him moll , will prove a Foundation upon wh"h be Loves us mofr. · We find thatthis was it which Chrl(t twice ufeth in the I?lhof .! ohn, to move his Father to Love, and fave his Elect, firll, in Vaf 23. That thry may kuow that thou haft fmt me, midhad loved thtm, M thott hujl lowd me. And Verf. 24. Father I wilt, that thry alfo whom thot~ hafl gzvm me, be withme where I am, that they may behold my Glory, w hich thou h<l[lgiven me,' for thou lovefi mebefo>·e theformdati~n ofthe World. I ask the Q,uefrion. What do you think of Gods loving Chriil here ? Did he love him from the foundati– on of the World chiefly, becaufe he forefaw he would die for us, and be Jtfus, aS,zviottr? No, it was, becaufe he was his Son in our Nawre. Then fay I, if he loved us in his Beloved; then he loved us moa in, and torthat, wherein, and for what he had loved him moll, from thefotmd,ltio" oftbe Tflorld, and us with that kind of love, he had loved him withal; and for the relation we had to him, upon that his love to him; and he contents not himfclf to have fa id this once, but at the conclufion ofhis Prayer, he fpeal<s thus, and it is, as if he had faid, thefe are my lafi words; That the love, wherewith thou h,zfl loved me, .may6r in them, and I i11 them. Whereof I take the meaning to be, that, as in the thing itfelf, Gods love to us, was founded upon his love to him,- it was but the overflow ofGods love to the Perfon of Chrilt, that flows on to us ; UJ there– fore he prays that we might underlland fo much : And upon 11 hat it is, that the love of God towards us, through him, is efpecially lounded, That the love in God, wherewith he had loved him, may be in us; this he prays for, as a matter of the highell moment, and concernment Ior us to know ; and then add we this, that if he loves us, as he loves his Son, who i4 bi4beloved; that then he loves us unchangably, Verf. Zl· Yea, and this unchangablenefs, and fixednefs, is grounded on a due, and equitable ground; for the re lotion "e have to his Son, is it that makes us Sons; and fo God loving him fo naturally, fo llrongly as be doth, it becomes him fo to love them that arc his, as they are called, 1 Cor, 15.2 l· Thofe tht1t areChrifls, and fo are in a near and frrong re– lation to him. That., Chrill foid of his Fathers love to him, that it is greater than all, that nothi~g can fall out 10 remove it, fo it is here, his love being fixt in Chrifr, he may as well ceafe to love his Chrifr, as ceafe to love us. And henco it comes to pafs, that fin cloth not, nor cannot work his heart offfrom us, but it provokes him todellroy it in us. And there is this equitable ground for it; it is certain, he hates not fin fo much (which yet he only hates ) or fo intently, as he cloth love his Son for himfelf, (for then fame contrary affection about what is in rhe Creature, lhould be as great, and as intenfe, as his love to his Son is.) And therefore, he can never be brought finally to hate our Perfons for fin, (or be– caufe that fin is in us, for what is in us dillinct from our Perfons as fin is ) more than to continue to love our Perfons, becaufe we are in his Son. O b– fer ve but the proportion between the one, and the other, and it will invinci– bly hold; for el fe he fhould value his love to his Son at a lower rate, than he cloth the evil of fin, which cannot be. I will not deny, but tlllt to forgive our fins by C hrifr was nece!Tary; yet this I will fay, thut fin could never have wrought his heart off from us, but love to hi• Son, t hat caufed him 10 work fin · out of us: And yet what a valuable confidcrauon there IS for all thls, even m the thing it felf, ofloving tis in Chri(t, II. ET
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