CONSIDERATION Or THE NATURE OP GOD, 34't -- with the love of God, will, night and day, be exercising itself in and with thoughts of God's glorious excellen- cies, rejoicing in them. This the Psalmist exhorts us unto, Psal. xxx. 4. Sing unto theLord, Oye saints of his, andgive thanks at the remesnbrance of his holiness. And love will do the samewith respect unto all his other properties. See to thispurpose, Psalm. lxiii. through- out. And this will further our likeness unto him; our minds by it will be changed into the image of what we contemplate, and we shall endeavour that our lives be conformed thereunto. Sect. 26.-2. It works by admiration `also. That is the voice of love: Haw great is hisgoodness! howgreat is hisbeauty! Zech. ix. 17. The soul being, as it were, ravished with that view which it bathof theglorious ex- cellencies of God in Christ, bath no way to express its affections but by admiration. How great is his good- ness! how great is his beauty! And this beauty of God is that sweetness and holy symmetry of glory, (if I may be allowed to speak so improperly) in all the perfections of God, being all in a sweet correspondency exalted in Christ, which is the proper object ofour love. To see infinite holiness, purity and righteousness, with infinite love, goodness, grace, and mercy, all equally glorified in and towards the same things and persons, oneglimpse whereof is not to be attained in the worldout of Christ, is that beauty of Godwhich attracts the love of a be- lieving soul, and fills it with an holy admiration of him. And this also is a most effectual furtherance of our con- formity unto him, which, without these steps, we shall labour in vain after. Sect. 27.-3. Again, love gives delight in obedience, and all the duties of it. The common instance of Jacob is known, of whom it is said, that his sevenyears service seemedshort, and so easy to him, for the lovehe bare to Rachel. He did that with delight, which he would not afterwards undergo for the greatest wages. But we have a greater instance: Our Lord Jesus Christ says, concerning all the obedience that was required of him: Thy law, O God, is within my heart; I delight todo thy will. And .yet we know how terrible tonature were the things he did and suffered in obedience to that law. But his unspeakable love to God, and the souls of men, rendered it all his delight. Hence follows intention and frequency in all the duties of it. And where these two are, intention ofmind and spirit, with a frequency of 4 S holy duties, both proceeding from delight, there holi- ness will thrive, and consequently we shall do so in our conformity to God. In brief, love and likeness unto God are inseparable and proportionate unto one another. And without this, no duties of obedience -arc any part of his image. Sect. 28. (Secondly,) There are graces which are declarative of this assimilation, or which evidence and manifest our likeness unto God. I shall instance only in two of them: (1.) And- the first is such, as I shall give many names unto it in its description, as the scripture doth also; but the thing intended is one and the same. This is good- ness, kindness, benignity, love, with readiness to do good, to forgive, to help, and relieve, and this towards all men, on all occasions. And this also is to be consi- dered in opposition to an evil habit of minci exerting it- selfin many vices, which yet agree in the same general nature; such are anger, wrath, envy, malice, revenge, frowardness, selfishness; all which are directly opposite to the grace of holiness, at present instanced in, and pleaded for. And this, I fear, is not so considered as it ought to be: for, ifit were, it would not be so com- mon a thing as it may be it is; for men toplead high- ly for the imitationof God, and almost in all they do, give us a full representation of the devil. For, as this universal benignity and love to all, is the greatest re- presentation of the nature of God on the earth; so is fierceness, envy, wrath, and revenge, of that of the devil. Would we then be like unto our heavenly Fa- ther? would we manifest that we are so unto his glory? would we represent him in and unto the world? It must be by this frame of spirit, and actings constantly suited thereunto. This our blessed Saviour instructs us in and unto, Matth. v. 44, 45. A man, I say, thus good, his nature being cured and rectified by grace, thenceuseful, and helpful, free from guile, envy, and selfishness, pride, and elation of mind, is the best representation we can have of God on the earth, since the human nature 'at' Christ was removed from us. Sect. 29. This therefore we are to labour after, if we intend to be like God, or to manifest his glory in our persons and lives unto the world. And no small part of our holiness consists herein. Many lusts, cor- ruptions, and distempered passions, are to be subdued by grace, if we design to be eminent. Strong bentsand 32 ---'i;-..C' .,- _ - ` ..._. . - ...- --. - ---- . . .__ _._--, a--'."'f: x`: :
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