t o8 a Declaration of the Glorious MYSTERY and charge ; mankind without any regret, loth tacitly condemn them unto greater miferies than thofe which they were delivered from; What then will be the condition of them, whofe hearts are not to affeaéd with the mediation of Chrift, and the fruits of it, as to ingage the bed, the çhoicefl of their affe&ions unto him? The gofpel it felf will be a Savour of death unto fuch ungrateful wretches. (2.) That which the fcripture principally infifteth on as the motives of our love unto Chrift, is his love unto us, which was the principle of all his mediatory adings in our behalf. Love is that jewel of humane nature which commands a valuation wherever it is found. Let other cir- cumdances be what they will, whatever diftances between perfons may be inade by them, yet real love where it is evidenced fo to be, is not defpifed by any but tech as degenerate into profligatebrutality. If it be fo dated asthat it can produce no outwardeffects advantagious unto them that are beloved, yet it commands a refpe& as it were whether we will or no, andforce return in its own kind. Efpecially it doth fo if it be altogether undeferved,and foevidenc- cth it felt to proceed from a goodnefs of nature, andan inclination unto the good ofthem onwhom it is fixed. For whereas theeffential natureoflove con- fifteth in willing good unto them that are beloved: where thead of thewill is real, fincere and conftantly exercifed, without any defed-of it on our part ; no rettraints can poffiblybeput upon our minds from going oat in Tomeads of love again upon its account, unlefs all their faculties areutterly depraved, by habits ofbrutifh and filthy lulls. But when this love which is thus undeferved, doth alto abound in effects troublefome and chargeable in them in whom it is, and highly beneficial unto them on whom it is pla- ced, if there be any fuck affe&ion left in the nature of any man, it will prevail unto a reciprocal love. And all thefe things are found in the love of Chrift unto that degree and height, as nothing parallel unto it can be found in the whole creation. I fhall briefly fpeak of it under two general heads. s.) The foie fpring of all the mediatory adings of Chrift, both in the fufception °four nature, and in all that he did and fuffered therein, was his own mere love and grace working by pity and compaffion. It is true, he undertook this work principally with refped unto the glory of God, and out of love unto him. But with refpe&unto us; his only motive unto it was his abundant overflowing love. And this is efpecially remembred unto us in that inftance wherein it carried him through the greated difficul- ties, namely, in his death and the oblation ofhimfelfon our behalf, Gal. ii. 2c. Epbef. v. 2,----25, 26. h fobn iii. i6. Rsvel. i. 5, 6, This alone en- dined the Son of God to undertake the glorious work ofour redemption, and carried him through the death and dread which he underwent in the accomplifhment of it. Should I engage into the confideration of this love ofChrift, whichwas the means great of the conveying all the effeas of divine wifdom and grace unto the church ; that glafs which God chofe to reprefent himfelfand all his goodnefs in unto believers; that fpirit of life in the wheel of all the motions of the perfon of Chrift in the redemp- tion of the church unto the eternal glory of God, his own and that of his redeemed alfo; that mirrour wherein the holy Angels and bleffed flints Rail for ever contemplate the divine excellencies in their fuitable operations; I mud now begin a difcourfe much larger than that which 1 have patted through.. But it is notfuited unto my prefent defign fo to do. Nor confidering the growing apprehenfons of many about the perfon of (dial, which are utterly deftru&ive of the whole nature of that love which
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