294 / 504
C.
X.4,16
Doa:of
Pcrf
or
Sts
its
ufefulnes
to
promote
Gofp.Obedience.
238
2,
Of
their
Love
there
is
thefame
reafon
;Gods
love
to
us
is
of
his
free
Grace; he
loves
us
becaufe
fo
it
feeines
good
to
him
;
Our
Love
to
him,
is
purely ingenerated by
his
Love to
us,and carried on, and increafed by
farther
Revelations
of
his
defireablenefè and
excellency,to
our
foules;Herein
is Love,
not
that
we
loved
God,
but
that
he
lóved
us
ßrft:
There
is
no
Creature
in the.
1eaft
guilty offinne,
that
can
put forth
any acceptable
Aét
of
Love towards
God, but what
is
purely drawn
out
,
upon
the
Apprehenfion
of
his
Love
and
lovelineffe
in
his
Grace and mercy;
A
man,
I
confefiè,
may
love God, when
he
bath no
fence
of
his
Love
to
him in
particular: but
it
mutt
all be
built
up-
on an apprehenfion
of
his
Love
to
finners,
though
he
may come fhort
in
the
Application;
it
is
the
terro
it
of
the
Lord,
that
caufes
us
to
perfwade others,
but
it
is
the
Love
ofChrifi
that
eonfiraineth
us
to
live
to
him. Shee
loved much, to
whom much
was
forgiven; Looke
then,
the
more
abundant
difcoveries are
made
of
the
lovelineffè and defirableneflè
in
the
riches
of
his
Grace, the more
effe&uall is
the
foie
and
only
motive
we
have
to
love him, with
that
filiali
,
chaff,
Holy
Love,that
he requires.
.
For the
Love
of
God
to
his Saints
,
our
Do trine
of
their
Perfeverance,
fets
it
forth
,
with
the
greateft Advantage, for the iíidearement
of
their
foules,
to
drawout their
ftréames
of
Love
to
God;efpecially
Both
it give it
its Glory in
three
things.
1.
In
its
freedonze; Jr
fetts forth
the
Love
of
God
to
his Saints,
as
that
which they have no way
in
the
leaft
deferved,
as
bath been
nianifefted
from
Ifa. 48. 8,9,11.
&
chap.
54.9,
to.
As
he
firft
loved them, not
becaufe
they were
better
then
others
,
being
by
nature
Children
of
wrath
,
and
lying
in
their
Blood
when
he
faid
to
them Live
,
quickning them
when
they were
deadin
trefpaffes
and finnes
:
So
he
doth not
continue
his
love
to
them,
nor
putpofe
fo
to
do,
becaufe he
fore
fees,
that
they
will
fo,
&
fo
,walke with
him
in HoIineffe &
uprightnefle
(for
he
forefees
no
fuch
thing
in
them, but what
he himfelfe purpofeth
of
eC
ually
to
worke, upon
the
account
of
his
loving
them)but
he refolves
to
do it,meerely upon
the
account
of
bis owne Grace;.
He
neither
refolves
to
continue
his
Love to them
,
on Condition
that
they be
fo
and
fo holy
,
at randome, and with uncertainty
.
of
the
Event,
but
freely
Eph.s,4.
that
they
may
and
(hall
be
fo.
And this
is
the Glory
of
Love,
the molt
Orient
pearl
in
the
Cromne,
of
it:
'Tis
not
mercenary
nor
felfe-
ended, nor deferved;
but,as
a Spring
and fountaine,
freely vents
and
powres
out it
felfe
upon
its
owne account: And what ingenuous,
truly noble,Heavenly
defcerided
heart
can hold
out
againft the power
of
this
Love
?
It
is
effe&ually
conftraining
to
all manner
of
futable returnes; let
the
foule
but put
it
felfe in
to the
aluall
Contemplation
of
the
Love
of
God,
as
it
lyes
reprefented in this property
of
it
every way
free,
undeferved,the
great Love
of
God,
to
a
poore
worme, a fanner,
a
not
hing;and it cannot
but
be wrought
to
a
ferious
Admiration
of
it,
de-
light
in
ir, and be pained and ftraitned, untill it make foine fuitable
B..eturnes
of
Love and Obedience
unto God;
If
not,
it
may
well
doubt
itnever
tailed
of
that
Love,
or
enjoyed
any
fruits
ofit.
2.
It
gives
the Love
of
God the
Glory
of
its
Confiancy
and
Vnchangeable
-.
nef¡e;
This
is
another
Starre
of
an
eminent
Magnitude in
the
Heaven
of
Love;
It
is
nota
fading,
a
wavering,
an
altering thing,
but
abides for ever; God
refis
in his Love.Zeph.
3.17.
It
is
a
great thing indeed,
to
apprehend
that
the
great God fhould
fixe
his
Love .upon
a
poore Creature.
But
adde hereunto,
that
he may
love them oneday, and
hate them the
next, embrace them
one
houre, and the next
caft
them into
Hell
,
one
day rejoycing over them
with
joy,
another
rejoycing
to
deffroy them,as
it
is
difhonorable
to God,
and. de
rogatory
to
all his
Divine Excellencies,andPerfeftions :
fo
in
particular,
it
clotheth