SERMONSupdn Serm. IX. Do& That the wifdom of the Flefb is downright oppofition and enmity to God. To evidence this, take thereConfiderations : 1. 'Tis pollible that Humane Nature may be fo far forfaken, as that among men there fhauld be found haters of God, and enemies to him; We biefs our felves from fo great an evil : And men fcarce believe that there are fuch profligate and forlorn wretches in the World, as to profefs themfelves to be enemies to God, who is fo good, and the Fountain of all goodnefs; and for our own part, are ready to defie thofe that charge it upon us : But the matter is clear : The Scriptures (hew exprefly, that there are hateri of God, Rom. i. 3o. otorurrs : and Pfal. 139. 21. Do not I hate them ( O Lord) that hate thee ? And Pfal. 13. 2. They that hate thee, are rifen up againfi a without a caul. And we need not go among the Pagans and Infidels to Peek or find out them that are haters of God : There is an oppofite party to God nearer at hand 5 and they are all thofe that walk contrary to him, Col. 1. 21. enemies in your minds by evil works: And Pfal. 68.21. He will wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy fcalp of fuck as go on fìill in their trefpagis. Now many fuch live within the Verge of the Church, and are not to be fought among Turks and Infidels only. 2. That hatred and enmity to God may be determined by Three things: 1: If we love not God at all. 2. If we love him not as much as we ought to do. 3. If we rebel again fl him, and difobey his Laws. I. If we love not God at all For not to love, is to hate, in things worthy to be belo- ved. Surely in divine matters there is no medium : He that is not with God, is agaioft him, Mat. 12. 30. And he that loveth him not, hateth him. To be a Neuter, is to be a Rebel, becaufe God doth fo much deferve our love, and we are fo much obliged to him, and depend upon him. So'tis faid, Prov.8.36. All that hate me, love death : he that finneth againfl me, wrongeth his own foul. They that do not Peek afterW ifdom, hate it 5 they care not for God, whether he be pleafed or difpleafed. You fpeak all manner of mifery to that man of whom you may fay, that he loveth not God. So Chrift brandeth his enemies ; I know that you have not the love of God in you, John 5. 42, Men are in a woful cafe, if void of the love of God. Love being the Fountain of defiring all communion with him, and the root of all obedience to him : Therefore if men, blinded by the delufionsof the Flefh, or diverted by the World, love riot God, being fo deeplyengaged to God, and God fo deferving their love, they are enemies to him, 1 John 2. 15. If any man lovethe world, the love of the Father u not in him. a Cor. 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord fefus Chrifl, let him be Anathema Maranatha. 'Tis danger enough not to love him, tho we break not out in open oppofition agaieft his ways. 2. If we love him not fo much as we ought to do, or not fo much as we love force other thing : For in the facred Dialect, a leffer love is hatred : As for inftance, in the Notion of the Law of the hated wife, Deut. 21. 15, 16. If a man have two wives, one beloved and another bated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated, &c. Not that the was not loved at all, or abfolutely hated ; but the that was not loved as much as the other, is called the bated wife. So in that Proverb, Prov. 14.20. The poor is even hated of his own neighbour; but the rich bath many friends. There hatred is ta- ken for Bighting, or a leffer degree of love. So in this cafe between us and God, Mat. 1o. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me. But in Luke 14.26. it is; If any man hate not father and mother, and brothers and fillers ; yea, and his own life, he cannot be my difciple. There the lower and Idler love is called hatred: For Chrift's Religion teacheth us not to be unnatural; but in companion of Chrift, we (hould hate them, trampleupon the comforts and benefits which refult from fuck Rela- tions, if they be fnares to us : So Mat. 6. 24. No man can ferve two mailers, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or hold to the one and defpife the other. re cannot ferve God and Mammon. God is of that excellent Nature, that to efteem any thing above him, or equal with him, is to hate him. Now becaufe men love the World, and the things of the Worldover much; yea, more than God, they hate him, are ene- mies to him. All carnal men are guilty of this, as they are lovers of pleafure more than lovers of God. This over -love of fenfual fatisfa&ions, or Terrene and Earthly Things, is the higheft contempt and affront that can be put upon God, in comparifon o
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