ofall tl)e Counfels ofG{)d. 47 ·them, when he ihall beglorifed in his Saints, and eternallY admired in all that !Jelie·ve. But the Bleifed Delight a!Jd fa– tisfactionofGod, was and is, in thofe Counfels themfelves, as they were Acts of his infinite Wifdom and Goodnefs. Herein was the Lord Chrifi his Delight continuallybefore the Foundation of thew·orld; in that in him were all thefe Coun– fels laid, and through him were they all to be accomplifl1ed. The Con~itutionofhis Perfon .was the · only way whereby Divine Tf'i[dom and Goodnefi would act and communicate of themfelves unto mankind, in whic~actings are the eter– nal Delight and Complacency of the Divine Being. )· Lo·ve andGrace have the farrie Influence into the Coun– fels 'OfGod, as Wifdom and Goodnefs have. And in the Scrip– ture Notion of thefe things they fupe'radd unto Goodnefs this Confideration, that their Object is Sinners, and thofe that are unworthy. God cloth univerfally coffitl1~nicate of his .Goodnefs unto all his Creatures, though there lJe an efpecial exercife ofit towards them that believe. But as unto his Love and Grace as they n.re peculiar unto his Eldl,theChurch cho– fen in Chrifl ./;efore the Foundatio.n of the World, [o they re– fpect them primarily in a· Ioil: undone condition by fin, , Rom. ). 8. God commencleth his Love unto us in that whilfl we were yet Sinners Chrifl c(yed for us. God is Love, faith the Apofile, his Nature is effentially fo. And the beil: Conception ofthe natural internal actings of the Holy Perfons is Love. And all the Acts of it are full ofDelight. ·This is, a:s it were, the womb of all the Eternal Counfels of God; which renders his Complacency in them ineffable. Hence cloth he fo won– derfully exprefs his delight and compl~cency in the affings of his Love towards the Church, Zeph, )· 17. ihe Lord thy God in the midfl of thee is t:aighty ;_he will fave ; he will re– jo.;u over thee with joy; he will re.fl in his Love ; he will re– jo;·ce over thee with jinging. The Reafon why in the Salvation ' I
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