Owen - Houston-Packer Collection BT300 .O9 1679

unto t17e Perfon·ofC!Jrifl. . t 7'1. ;is prefcribed it;t t~e ~cripture, yet not;te can be 3;110\yed for an approve~ p'ri~ciple of 'what is not fo .prefcribeei. Wha~ever exceeds the bounds thereof, is refolved in~o th~ Tefi~\nony of eve~y di~~fTipere~ ~inagination:. Nor ~rill 1t ava.tl that thefe_.tlungs amongfi them 3;re fubm1tted u~to ~he Judj– ment_(}f the ch'tirch. For the Church hath no Rule' to judge. by but the S.~riptpre; and it c~r pafs but one Judgmenr of what is not warranted tpereby, namely, tha~ it is t~ be re · ~a~: . :3· As ~t is defcriqep by Fho_fe who appla~d it; it is. not . fmted unto .thefohr Jedate aflmgs of the rattonal faculttes of our fouls. forwh~reas all that God requireth ofus, · is that we love him-w1th all ou,r fouls and all our minds, thefe men cry up a Divine Love by an immediate adhejion Of the Tiflill . qndthe AffeCli(Jpf U!Jt'! f:lod, lfithout any alling,s of ~he J!f~nd and Vnder.flanding qt all. ;Love indeed is the regular a~mg of our whole foul$ by all their faculties and rational powers in an adheren~e un_t,o God. But thefe men have fancied a DivineLove for them whom they would admire and extol, which difiurbs all their regular acHngs, and ·renders them of little or no ufe in that, which without their due exercife, is · nothing but fancy. And hence it is, that under pretence of this Love, fundry ,perfons among them, yea all that have pretended unto it, have fallen into filch ridiculous exce.ffes and open delulions, as fufficiently difcover ~he vanity of the Love it felf pretended by them. . Wherefore we plead for no other Lo·ve unto the Perfon of Chrifl, but what the Scripture warrants as unto its Nature, \what the Gofpel requireth of us as our Duty, what the natu– 'ral faculties of our M inds are fu~ted unto, .· and given us for, . what--they are enabled unto by grace, -an<;l without which in fomedegrc~ of figcerity,no man can yield acceptable Of9edi. enee :unto lHm. · ·, Z 2 .Thefe

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