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di
HOPEFUL YOUTH
tS6RM.
vli.
sidered
a5
God,
loved him
not
in
that
sense in which the
love
of
God
is
usually
taken;
for
he
had plain
evi-
dences
of a
worldly covetous mind,
and
so
could
not
be
the
object
of
special divine complacency
:
Nor
do
we
find
that Christ
loved
him
so well,
as
to communicate
divine grace
and
salvation
to him.
I
confess
there
may
be
some
sort of
love
attributed
to
God,
with
relation
to
creatures
of
any kind, which have
any thing valuable
in
them
:
So
God
loves all the works
of
his
hands
;
so
he loves
the heavens
and
the
earth,
and
all
the
pieces
of
inanimate nature
;
that
is,
he
approves
his own
workmanship, the
effects
of
his own wisdom
and
power.
God
is
also sometimes said to love those to
whom
lie
communicates temporal
blessings,
or makes
the
offer
of
eternal
ones. So he loved
the whole
nation
of
the
Jews, though
he
did
not
give
all
of
them
his
saving
grace.
But still
it
is
much more
natural
to
expound
the
words
of
my
text
concerning Christ
as
man;
for there
were
some
peculiar qualities
in
this youth, which were
suited
to
attract
the
love
of
human
nature;
such
quali-
ties
as
a
wise
and perfect
man could
not
but
love
:
It
was
sonic
s
;pch
sort
of
love as
our Lord
expressed toward
the
apostle
John,
in
a
way
of
distinction
from
the
rest;
upon
which account, probably,
he was called,
the
dis-
ciple
whom
Jesus
loved;
John
xiii.
e3.
Therefore
I
conceive
Christ
is
here
represented
as
exerting the inno-
cent
and
kind
of
ections
of
human
nature
towards
a youth
so agreeable and
hopeful.
Now
this love implies in
it these
five
things
:
I. A hearty
approbation of
those good
qualities
which
Christ
beheld
in
him
:
For
he being
perfect and
wise,
cannot but
approve
that
which
is
excellent.
He
had a
sharp
eye,
and
great
sagacity
of nature
:
With a
ready
penetration
he
could discern
what
was
valuable;
and
must
necessarily have
a
just
esteem
for every
thing
wherein
his Father's
wisdom and power
did eminently
appear. Whatsoever God created at
first, was
good
;
Gen.
i.
51.
And whatsoever remains
of that
good
work-
manship
of
God, Christ, the
Son
of
God, approved
still,
so
far
as
it
was
untainted
with
sin,
and considered
in itself,,
abstracted
from
the criminal qualities
that
might
attend
it.
..
This
love
of
Christ
to the
young
man, implies
a,
1.