Practical Discourses Volume 2, Discourse 9

Practical Discourses Volume 2 · Discourse 9

p. 3301 Epist. JOHN IV.19.

We love him, because he first loved us.

I Have shewed you in the former Discourses how indispensably necessary it is that we should love God in Order to our being truly religious; and proved to you at large, that of all Principles of Religion whatsoever this is the most operative and effectual. And then to excite this heavenly Affection in you, I have shewn you that the Goodness of God is the principal Motive that engages our Love to him. And now that I may more largely explain the Nature and Measures of this Love as it is our Duty, and engage you to it by this grand Motive of the divine Goodness, I have made choice of this Text, We love him, because he first loved us.

The Greek Word, foreign here may as well be rendered subjunctively, to signify what we ought to do, as indicatively for what we already do; and indeed it seems more suitable to the Context to render it we should, or ought to love him, than we love him. For in the former Verses the Apostle earnestly p. 332presses Christians to love one another upon the Consideration of God's great love to them; and then considering how naturally their Love to one another, would follow upon their mutual Love to God, he concludes, that the most effectual Course to oblige them to love one another, was to excite them to the Love of God upon the Consideration of his great Love to them. For saith he, Vers. 20. If a Man say, I love God, and hateth his Brother, he is a liar; because Light it self is not more inseparable to the Sun than Brotherly-Love is to the Love of God: So that unless we render foreign, we should love him, as we shall evacuate the Necessity of the Apostles Counsel, so we shall disturb the Order and Method of his Argument. For if we render it Indicatively, We love him, it will thence necessarily follow that we shall also love one another, and so there would be no Need of the Apostles Counsel, and then the Words will be wholly impertinent to the Argument; which, as I have shewed, is to excite us to the Love of God, and thereby to engage us to love one another; but what need he excite us to do that which he himself confesses we did already? If therefore we render the Word subjunctively, as it seems most reasonable we should, this will be the Sense of the Text, p. 333We are bound in duty to love God, because he first loved us; according to which Sense here is,

First, a Duty, We ought to love God.

Secondly, a Reason of it, because he first loved us.

I. I begin with the Duty, We ought to love him. In handling of which I shall do these two Things.

1. Shew you what it is to love God. 2. In what Degrees and Measures we are bound to love him. And in explaining what this Love of God is I shall shew you,

First, Wherein the Being and Essence of it consists.

Secondly, What are its essential Chararacters and Properties.

1. Wherein the Being and Essence of our Love of God consists? To which I answer in general, that this Love of God consists in a rational, fixed, affecting Delight and Complacency in the divine Goodness and Perfections. But that we may the better understand the Nature of this heavenly Virtue, and more exactly distinguish it from those wretched Counterfeits that commonly usurp its Name, and are too to often mistaken for it, it will be necessary to explain the several Terms whereof its Definition is composed.

p. 3341. Therefore I say 'tis a Delight and Complacency.

2. It is a rational one.

3. A fixed.

4. An affecting one.

5. 'Tis terminated on the divine Goodness and Perfections.

1. The Love of God consists in Delight and Complacency. And indeed this is the proper Act of Love, as it is distinguished from all other Passions. For we find by experience, that the first Act of our Minds upon the Apprehension of a lovely Object, is Delight and Complacency in the View or Contemplation of it; and when any amiable Object presents it self to our Sense, or to our Minds, or Fancies, it causes our Thoughts to pause and stay themselves a while upon it till we have viewed it round about, and drawn its Picture in our Minds, and when we have done, the very first Expression of our Love to it, is to be well pleased with the Contemplation of it; and while we review it over and over, to be sweetly ravished and delighted with the charming Prospect of its Beauty. And from this prime and essential Act of Love arises all those consequent Affections of Hope, Benevolence, and Desire of Fruition: For the reason why we wish well to, hope for, or desire to enjoy any p. 335Object, is because we are well-pleased with it, and do find a sweet Content and Satisfaction in that Picture or Idea of it which we have drawn upon our own Minds. So that the very Essence of Love, you see, consists in a Well-pleasedness arising from the apprehended Goodness and Congruity of the Thing beloved; and 'tis meerly by Accident that there is any other Emotion intermingled with this grateful Affection. For if it were not for the Want of what we love, if there were no Distance between us and the Objects of our Affection, our Love would be all but one pure continued Act of Complacency and Delight; for if all our Needs were fully satisfied, we should love without either Desire or Hope, both which imply Want and Absence from the Objects of our Love; which is a plain Evidence, that Complacency is the very Essence of Love, since there may be Love without Hope, or Desire, or any other Passion mingled with it; but without Complacency there can be none. 'Tis true, the Degrees of Love's Complacencies are much greater in the Fruition of its Objects, than they are in the Pursuit of them, but still 'tis of the same Kind; for 'tis the Delight we take in an Object that makes us desire to enjoy it; but in the Enjoyment our Desire expires into an higher p. 336Degree of Delight and Satisfaction. For Desire and Delight are only the Wings and Arms of Love, those for Pursuits, and these for Embraces; but 'tis the Arms that give the Wings both Motion and Rest, the Delight we take in the Objects of our Love, that both inflames and quenches our Desire. So that though in this indigent State Hope and Desire are inseparable to our Love, yet that is by Accident; but as for its Essence and Definition it wholly consists of Delight and Complacency. And therefore if our Love of God hath the common Notion of Love in it, as questionless it hath, it must necessarily consist in our being well-pleased and delighted in the Beauty, and Goodness, and Perfection of his Nature. And accordingly we find in Scripture that our Love to God and God's Love to us is expressed by delighting in one another; so Prov. iii.12. For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a Father the Son in whom he delighteth, i. e. whom he loves. So also our Love to God is expressed by delighting in him, Psal. xxxvii.4. Delight thy self also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine Heart.

2ly. The Love of God is a rational Delight and Complacency in him; by which it is distinguished from those sensible Emotions p. 337of bodily Passion which many times are nothing else put the natural Effects of an over-heated Fancy. For I make no doubt but a Man may be wrapt even into an Extasy of sensible Delight and Complacency in God; that is, upon an amiable Representation of God, his Spirits may be made to flow in a sweet and placid Torrent to his Heart, and by their nimble Motions about it to sooth and tickle it into a most sensible Pleasure, till it opens and dilates its Orifices, and the grateful Flood breaks in and drowns it in Delight and Ravishment. And yet in all this mighty Storm and Commotion of Passion there may not be the least Spark of sincere Love to God; For all this not only may be, but many times is nothing else but the mere Mechanism and Natural Effect of a warm and vigorous Fancy, which being flushed with such brisk and active Spirits as are most apt to be figured into amorous Phantasms and Ideas, can with these without any Assistance from Reason raise great Commotions of Joy in the Heart; especially where the Temper is soft, and the Passions easie to be wrought upon. And of the Truth of this the Histories of the Devotos of all Religions will furnish us with sufficient Experiments. For even among the Turkish and Heathen Saints there are as p. 338notorious Instances of these sweet Incomes and Manifestations, as among our own; and the same sensitive Complacencies which ours too often mistake for the Sealings and Witness of the Spirit, they frequently experience in their Communion with Mahomet, Bacchus, and Apollo. So that to conclude that we love God from those corporeal Passions, is very unsafe and dangerous; and we may almost as certainly judge of the Hunger of our Souls after Righteousness by the Hunger of our Bodies after Bread, as of the Love of our Souls to God by our bodily Ravishments and Passions. For bodily Passion differs according to the Temper of the Body; some Tempers are so soft and impressive, that the most frivolous Fancy will affect them; others so hard and sturdy, that the greatest Reason will hardly move them; and consequently Persons of this Temper, though they should love God much more than the other, and have a much higher Esteem of, and more rational Complacency in his divine Perfections; yet will have much less of corporeal Passion intermingled with it. I do not deny, but even this sensitive Passion, when prudently managed, may be of great Advantage to a rational Love; for the Passions being soft and easie, and apt to follow the Motions of the p. 339Soul, do naturally intend and quicken them, and render them more vigorous and active; and we have very much Cause to bless God even for that sensitive Joy and Complacency which accompanies our Love to him, since this, I doubt not, is many times excited by his own blessed Spirit, to quicken and invigorate our rational Affection, and render it more active and vivacious. But that which I aim at is only this, if possible to beat Men off from measuring the Strength or Weakness, the Truth or Falshood of their Love to God by any corporeal Passion whatsoever; since Men may, we see, and many times have a vehement Passion without any Reason, and all those Ticklings and Ravishments of Heart which too many Men mistake for the Love of God, are very often nothing else but the necessary Effects of a chafed and overheated Fancy. But that which is really the Love of God is always founded in a rational Conviction of the Beauty and Goodness of his Nature, and proceeds from an high Esteem and profound Veneration of his Perfections. For no Man loves God, but can give very good Reason why he loves him; he is not moved to it by a Musical Tone, or a gaudy Metaphor, or an unaccountable Impulse of Fancy; but by the real Charms and Attractions of the divine Goodness p. 340and Perfections, which darting through his Mind, like the Sun-beams through a Burning-glass, have kindled his Affections, and made him love with infinite Reason; so that 'tis his Vnderstanding that inamours his Will, and that which makes him a Lover of God is the deep Sense of his Reason, how much he deserves to be beloved. He hath seriously considered how lovely God is in himself, how kind and loving unto all his Creation, and what particular Obligation God hath laid upon him to return him Love for Love; and this gives Fire to his Love, and affects his Will with Delight and Complacency; and though perhaps he may not feel those passionate Soothings and Expansions of Heart which sensitive Joy is wont to produce, yet he finds himself highly pleased with God, and his Will acquiesces in the Thought of his Goodness and Perfections with a Calm and even Complacency: And thus his Will is inflamed with the purest Light of his Understanding, and his Love is nothing else but the warm Reflection of his Reason. Thus Psal. cxvi.1. I love the Lord, saith David, and then he goes on to enumerate the vast and important Reasons why he loved him; because he hath inclined his Ear, &c. And in the 1 Cor. viii.3. If any Man love God, the same, i. e. God, is p. 341known of him; intimating that all true Love of God is founded in the Knowledge of him.

3dly, The Love of God is a fixed as well as rational Complacency in him, by which I distinguish this heavenly Affection from those short and transitory Fits of Love, that like Flashes of Lightning come and go, appear and vanish in a Moment. For thus upon some affecting Providence, or passionate Representation of the Divine Goodness, it is very ordinary for Men to be chafed into an amorous Fit, and touched with very tender Resentments of the Loveliness and Love of God; so that at present they seem to be in Raptures of Affection, and, with the Spouse in the Canticles, to be wondrous sick of Love; but alas! It commonly proves but a sudden Qualm, that after a Pang or two goes over, and so they are well again immediately; for upon their next Encounter with Temptation, or Intermixture with secular Affairs, their hot Love begins to languish, and quickly dies into a cold Indifferency; and notwithstanding all the Reasons and Obligations that they have to the contrary, their fickle Hearts unwind again, and by Degrees decline and sink into their old habitual Aversation to God and Goodness; which is a plain Evidence that that which at first lookt like the Love of God p. 342in them, was only a sudden Blush of Passion, and not the true Complexion of their Souls. For when once a Man is brought to love God upon Principles of Reason and Consideration, 'tis much more difficult to extinguish this, than any Virtue whatsoever; because of all the Virtues of Religion this is founded in the greatest Reason, and accompanied with the strongest Pleasure. For Love it self consisting in Delight and Complacency, where the Object of it is an infinite Good, there is not only infinite Reason to Love, but infinite Occasion of Pleasure and Complacency. When therefore our Love of God is back'd with so much Reason, and sweetned with so much Pleasure, how is it possible we should extinguish it without doing the greatest Violence to our selves? For I am verily persuaded, that one of the hardest moral Changes that can be made upon a rational Creature, is from a Lover to become an Enemy to God; for wheresoever this heavenly Affection is, it sweetens and endears it self by its own appendent Pleasures, which are in themselves a sufficient Counter-charm against all Temptations to the contrary. So that when once it is kindled in the Soul, like a subtil Flame 'twill by Degrees insinuate farther and farther, till it hath eaten into the Center of the Soul, p. 343and turned it all into its own Substance. Wherefore this we may certainly conclude upon, that he who can suddenly or easily entertain an Aversation to God and Goodness, did never truly Love; for Love, saith the Wise Man, is strong as Death, and many Waters cannot quench it, Cant. viii.6, 7. Wheresoever it lights it clings, and can never be torn away again without violent Spasms and Convulsions. So that whatsoever Passion we may have for God, we can never conclude it to be hearty Love till it fixes and settles in our Souls; till our Wills are habitually pleased with God, and do entertain the Thoughts of his Love and Loveliness, with a constant Complacency and Delight; and then we may venture to call it Love, and to rejoyce in the Nativity of this heavenly Flame within us.

4thly, 'Tis an affecting Delight and Complacency in God; by which I distinguish it from a mere Liking and naked Approbation. For God is a Being so infinitely amiable and benevolent, that 'tis impossible almost for any reasonable Creature to know him, and not like, and approve of him. But though in all Approbation there is some Degree of Complacency, yet there is no Doubt but a Man may approve of what he doth not Love, and there is no Doubt but there are p. 344many Men that do approve of God as the most glorious and excellent of Beings, and the most worthy of Love and Veneration, who yet have not one Spark of real Love towards him. For thus St. Paul, we find, when he was a Jew in Religion, approved of the Law as holy, and just, and good, Rom. vii.12. and that in this Approbation of his there was some Degree of Complacency and Delight, for saith he, I delight in the Law of God according to the inward Man, Vers. 22. but all this while he was very far from having any real Love and Affection for it; for in the next Verse he tells us, that he had a Law in his Members warring against the Law of his Mind; that is, he had an inward Repugnancy and Aversation against this excellent Law, which his Reason did approve of as holy and just and good; and no Degree of true Love could consist with such an Aversation. And there is no doubt but most Men who have right Conceptions of God, do in their Mind and Reason as much approve of, and delight in the Perfection of his Nature, as St. Paul did in the Perfection of his Law; and yet their Wills are as repugnant and averse to the Holiness and Purity of the one, as St. Pauls then was to the Justice and Goodness of the other. Wherefore to constitute us true Lovers of p. 345God, it is necessary that our Approbation of, and Delight and Complacency in him should be such as doth powerfully affect our Wills and reconcile them to the Nature of God. For whilst our Wills are averse to that immaculate Purity and Goodness which is so inseparable to his Nature, it is impossible we should heartily love him; and though in our Minds we may approve of him as a most glorious and excellent Being, yet in our Hearts we shall still retain a secret Antipathy against him. And I doubt not but the Devils themselves do so far approve of God, as to acknowledge him altogether amiable and lovely; for if they do not, I am sure they are very shallow Spectators; but yet we see this Approbation of theirs accompanied with an inveterate Rancour and Enmity against him. And till our Wills are so affected by our Reason as to consent and eccho to its Approbations, to take Complacency in that divine Purity which our Reason acknowledges to be the Crown and Ornament of God; whilst we reverence him in our Minds, we hate and despise him in our Affections. So that he only is a Lover of God, whose Will is reconciled to true Goodness.

5thly. And lastly, This Love must be terminated on the proper Goodness and Perfections p. 346of God; and hereby I distinguish it from that Love which we too commonly terminate upon a God of our own making. For it is very ordinary with Men to set up Idols and false Representations of God in their Minds, and then fall down and worship them: And it is no great Wonder if they are extreamly fond of these Idol-Divinities of their own making, since commonly they are nothing else but the Pictures and Images of themselves. Thou thoughtst, saith God to those profligate Persons, that I was such a one as thy self, Psal. l.21. Men have always been prone to cast all their Ideas of God in the Mould of their own Tempers, and to fashion the Divinity whom they Worship, according to the Model of their own Inclinations. Thus Men of ungovernable and imperious Tempers are apt to represent God in their own Likeness, a Being that governs himself and others by a meer blind omnipotent Self-will, that wills Things merely because he wills them, and is no way concerned to regulate his own Motions by any antecedent Rules of Justice, Wisdom, or Goodness. So also Men of wrathful and revengeful Tempers are apt to look upon God as a froward, furious, and implacable Being, that is to be pleased or displeased with Trifles, that frowns or smiles as the p. 347Humour takes him; that when the froward Fit is upon him Breaths nothing but Revenge and Fury, and whose Love and Hatred is fickle and mutable, and never constant to the same Reasons. And to name no more, thus Men of fond and indulgent Natures are apt to represent God to themselves as one that dotes invincibly on those who have once the Luck to be his Favourites, and in Christ, at least will hug their very Deformities, and connive at their greatest Treasons and Rebellions. And since these false Representations that Men make of God are nothing but the Reflections of their own Images, in loving him they only love themselves; and 'tis no wonder that they are more devoutly affected towards such an imaginary Divinity than towards the true God himself clothed with his own Attributes, and circled about with his own Rays of unstained and immaculate Glory; since the former is nothing but their own Shadow, which Narcissus-like they gaze upon and fall in love with. But whatsoever Love we may bestow upon these false Representations it is not terminated upon God, but on the Spectres and Images of our Fancies, which have nothing of God about them but the Name. Wherefore to constitute our Love truly divine, it is necessary that it p. 348should respect God as he is in himself, and not as he seems to be in these disfigured Idols of our own Fancies. We must blot out of our Minds all these false Conceptions, which like the Aethiopian Idols, are nothing but our own Resemblance, and portrait him in all those fair Ideas wherein he hath represented himself unto us; and when we have righted him in our own Opinions, and formed such Notions of him as are agreeable to his native Perfections, then we must love him for what we see in him, even for the Mercy and Goodness, the Righteousness and Purity of his Nature. For unless we love these his moral Perfections, which are indeed the only Objects of Love in him, all our kind Pretences are base Flatteries, and in stead of him we only Love a Mock-God of our own making. And thus I have shewed you at large wherein the Essence of this heavenly Virtue, our Love of God consists. But because Things are better understood by their essential Characters and Properties than by their naked Essences, and we may much more easily discern whether we truly love God or no by the former than by the latter,

2. I proceed in the next Place to shew you what are the essential Properties and Characters of our Love of God: And these p. 349are to be fetched from the Nature of Love in general, the Properties whereof when it is determined on a Person, are chiefly these four:

1. Benevolence to the Person beloved.

2. Desire of enjoying him.

3. Imitation of his Perfections.

4. Conformity to his Will.

1. Benevolence is an essential Property of our Love of God; by which I do not mean wishing of any additional Good or Happiness to God which yet he wants; for that is Extravagance, to wish that a Being who is infinitely happy should be more happy than he is; since his Happiness would not be infinite if it could admit of Addition or Increase. By our Benevolence to God therefore I only mean our hearty Desire that he may be pleased by our selves and others; that all his Creation may conspire to serve and glorify him in that Method which he hath prescribed; and that his Will may be done upon Earth, as it is in Heaven. And this must necessarily be the hearty Wish of every sincere Lover of God; and when he sees himself defeated of his Wish by the wicked Lives and Manners of Men; when he considers how God is offended every Day, how his Authority is affronted, his Laws trampled on, his Name vilified and blasphemed by bold p. 350and insolent Sinners, he cannot forbear grieving at it, to see him his Soul loves, loaded with so many Indignities and Dishonours. For thus did David, that great Lover of God; Rivers of tears run down mine Eyes, because Men keep not thy Law, Psal. cxix.136. So that what the brave Portia said to her dear Brutus foreign, that can every Lover of God say; Lord! Thou knowest that I sympathize in all thy Pleasures and Displeasures; when thou art pleased, I rejoyce; and when thou art offended, I am grieved.

2ly. Another Property of divine Love is an earnest Desire of enjoying God. For so when we love a Friend, we desire to enjoy as much of him as we are able; that is, we would fain be more intimately acquainted with him, we would love him more, and be more beloved by him, and resemble him in all those amiable Qualities for which we love and admire him. And thus if we have chosen God for our Friend, we shall still be breathing after a more intimate Fruition of him; our Thoughts will be often imployed in the Contemplation of his Beauty and Glory; and our Minds will be perpetually longing after a clearer Knowledge of, and more intimate Acquaintance with him. We shall never think we love him sufficiently; and never think we can p. 351do enough to endear our selves to his Favour; but shall always feel in our selves both Want of Love to him, and Want of Desert to be beloved by him. We shall incessantly covet more and more to resemble him in those adorable Perfections for which we love him; that so if it were possible, he might have the same Reason to love us, as we have to love him. We shall earnestly hunger and thirst after Righteousness, and vehemently wish that all those amiable Characters of Purity and Justice, Mercy and Goodness, for which we do admire and love him, were more fairly imprinted on our own Natures; that so by partaking of these Perfections, we may grow more and more god-like, till we are arrived to a most perfect Resemblance and Conformity of Natures with him. Thus to enjoy God must needs be the Desire of every true and hearty Lover of him. And indeed this is the only Enjoyment we are capable of; for we cannot enjoy God's Essence, because we cannot possess it, it being neither communicated nor communicable; and therefore all that our Enjoyment of him can include, is to know and love, and be beloved by him, and to resemble him in those charming Beauties of Purity and Goodness which render him so infinitely lovely; and it is essential to every p. 352faithful Lover of him thus to desire to enjoy him.

3ly. Imitation of his Perfections is another essential Property of Love to him: and this is necessarily consequent to the former; for if we love God, it is either for the good he doth us, or for the Beauty and Loveliness of his Nature. If we love him for the good he doth us, we must needs be sensible that it is a lovely Thing to do good, and this must strangely incline us to imitate him in doing all the good we are able. If we love him for the Beauty and Excellency of his Nature, we cannot but desire to be like him; because whatsoever we esteem lovely in another, we desire to partake of out of love to our selves; and if we desire to partake of what is lovely in another, that must needs engage us to imitate him, since we have no other Way to partake of anothers Excellencies but only by a constant Imitation of them. So that 'tis impossible we should love God for the Beauty and Perfection of his Nature, and not hearily desire to partake of it; and 'tis impossible we should heartily desire to partake of it, and not endeavour to transcribe it by a constant and vigorous Imitation. So that whatsoever good Reason we love God for, it must necessarily terminate in our Imitation of those amiable Actions or Perfections p. 353for which we love him; and therefor any Man to pretend to love God while he acts contrary to the Reasons for which he loves him, is plainly to contradict himself, and baffle his own Pretensions. For to say that I love God for doing good, or for being just, holy, and benevolent, while I take no Care to do good my self, but take Pleasure in Impurity, Injustice, or Vncharitableness, is to say that I love him for those Things which I plainly declare I do not love. If therefore we heartily love God as we pretend to do, it will be visible in our Imitation of him; for unless we endeavour to be pure as he is pure, and holy as he is holy, and just and merciful as he is just and merciful; all our Pretensions of Love to him are Cheats and fulsom Hypocrisy.

4thly, and lastly. Complyance with the Will of God is another essential Character and Property of our Love to him. For if we sincerely love a Person, we must needs desire to please him, that so thereby we may endear our selves to him; and if we really desire to please him, to be sure we shall readily comply with his Will in whatsoever is just and reasonable. And hence the Scripture makes our Obedience to the Will of God essential to our Love of him; For this, saith St. John, is the love of God, that p. 354we keep his Commandments, 1 Joh. v.3. and this is love, that we walk after his Commandments, 2 Epist. vi. If ye love me, saith our Saviour, keep my Commandments, Joh. xiv.15. that is, give me this Token that ye love me; for without this I can never believe that you have any real Kindness for me whatsoever Pretensions you may make; for so Vers. 23. he adds If any Man love me, he will keep my Commandments, intimating that between our Love of, and Obedience to him, there is a necessary and inseparable Connection. So that we may as soon be Men without Risibility, as Lovers of God without sincere Submission to his Will. For Lovers have one Will and one Soul; they conspire in the same Designs, and drive at the same Interests; their Affections are perfect Vnizons, and do in the same Likes and Dislikes resound and eccho to one another; and so far as they love, there is such a perfect Agreement between them that they seem mutually to lend and borrow Wills and Souls with one another. And so if we love God, there will be a sweet Harmony between our Wills and his, at least so far as we love him; for if we love him, we shall love to please him, by complying in all Things with his heavenly Will, and rejoyce that we are able to do any thing that we are sure will be acceptable p. 355in his Eyes, and certainly endear us to his most tender Affection. Whilst therefore we live in wilful Disobedience and Opposition to his heavenly Will, all our Pretences of Love to him are rank Dissimulations, and like the Kisses of Judas are only Prefaces to our succeeding Treasons and Rebellions. And thus you see wherein the Essence of our Love to God consists, and what are its essential Properties; by a serious Review of which you may easily conclude whether in reality you are Lovers of God or no.

2. I now proceed to the next Enquiry, namely what Measures and Degrees of this Love are Matter of indispensable Duty to us. For answer to which we must consider, that this as well as all the other Virtues of Christianity are required of us by a twofold Law; the first is the Law of Perfection, the second is the Law of Sincerity; both of which it will be necessary for us to explain before we can exactly determine what Degrees and Measures of Love to God are Matter of indispensable Duty.

1. First therefore there is the Law of Perfection, which requires the utmost Degrees of every Christian Virtue that in the several States and Periods of our Lives we are capable of attaining. For thus we are enjoyned, p. 356not only to do, but to abound in the work of the Lord; not only to have Grace, but to grow in it; to perfect holiness in the fear of God, and be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect. And indeed the Nature of God is the only Standard of that Perfection whereunto we must aspire, and we are still bound to be growing on till we are infinitely holy; which, because our finite Natures can never arrive to in any Period of Duration, therefore I doubt not but it will be our Duty to be growing on eternally. So that this Law having prescribed no Limits to the Degrees of our Growth in Virtue, hath thereby cut out work enough to imploy our Faculties for ever. Not that we are Sinners against this Law so long as we are short or defective of the utmost Degree of Perfection; for it requires of us no more than what is within our present Possibility, and our Possibility encreases together with our Improvements. When we have but one Degree of Virtue, it is no Sin against the Law of Perfection that we do not immediately leap to six or seven; because it is not in our Power, and no Law can oblige a Man to that which is impossible; but when we have acquired one Degree we have Power to acquire a second, and when we have acquired that, we have Power to acquire p. 357a third; and so on ad infinitum; and consequently our Obligation to be more and more perfect, increases according to the Improvement of our Power. A Babe in Christ, or Beginner in Religion hath not the Strength and Power of a Man, that is, of one that hath made a considerable Progress; and consequently he is not immediately obliged by this Law to the same Degree of Growth and Perfection; but whatsoever Degree is within his Power in the different Periods of his Growth and Progress, that he is actually and immediately obliged to, and while he continues defective in it he sins against the Law of Perfection. So that in short, this Law requires us to be in all Respects as good in the several Stages of our Christian Progress as at present 'tis possible for us to be; and so far as we fall short of any Attainment that is within our Power, we are guilty of violating its righteous Obligation. 'Tis true, this Law doth not oblige us under the Pain of eternal Damnation; and indeed if it did, no Flesh could be saved, since there never was any mere Man but might have possibly been better than he was, had he been so diligent as to improve himself to the utmost Degree of his Power. The proper Sanction therefore of this Law is this, that we should actually do p. 358all the good, and acquire all the Degrees of Virtue that are at present within our Power, under the Pain of losing some Degree of Happiness in the other World, which otherwise we should have attained; which is no more than what naturally follows upon all sinful Defects. For every sinful Defect is a Privation of some Degree of Goodness, and Goodness is so essential to Happiness, that there cannot be a Privation of the one without a Diminution of the other. But besides those Defects of Happiness that are naturally consequent to our Defects of Virtue, the Scripture plainly assures us that God himself will substract from our Reward hereafter in Proportion to our moral Defects and Nonimprovements in this Life; for he which soweth sparingly, saith the Apostle, shall reap sparingly: And he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully, 2 Cor. ix.6. And Luke xix. our Saviour by way of a Parable doth expressly teach us, that our Reward shall be apportioned to the Degrees of our Improvement; for there he represents himself as a Master coming to take Account of his Servants, among whom he had intrusted a Stock of Ten Pounds, giving every one of them an equal Share; the first by an extraordinary Diligence had improved his Pound into Ten, and he is rewarded accordingly p. 359with the Government of ten Cities, Vers. 16, 17. The other had been faithful, though not altogether so diligent, and by his one Pound had gained five, and proportionably is made Lord of five Cities, Vers. 18, 19. By which he plainly declares that so much as we come short of the utmost Improvement in Virtue, so much will he substract from the utmost Degree of our Reward. So that in short the Sense of the Law of Perfection is this, as thou wouldst not incur the Forfeiture of some Degrees of thy Happiness in the other Life, be sure to imploy thy utmost Diligence in improvlng thy self in every Grace and Virtue of Religion. But then

2ly. There is the Law of Sincerity, which only requires the Being and Reality of all Christian Graces and Virtues in us, together with the proper Acts and Exercises of them according as we have Opportunity, and doth no farther forbid the Deficiency and Non-improvement of them than as it is gross and continued and inconsistent with Sincerity. Now the Reality of these Christian Virtues in us consists in the universal and prevalent Consent of our Wills to them, to practise them as often as Occasion requires, and not wilfully to commit any contrary Sin upon any Occasion whatsoever; p. 360and so long as this Consent continues and prevails in our Practice, we are just in the Eye and Judgment of the Law, whatsoever Weakness and Defects, Surprizes and Inadvertencies we may otherwise be guilty of. For he who hath so submitted his Will to God as to consent effectually without any Reserve to obey him, is evidently cordial and sincere, though perhaps he may be weak and imperfect. For as he is sincerely chast, whose Will doth prevalently Consent to the Law of Chastity; so he is universally a vertuous Man, whose Will doth prevalently Consent to the universal Law of Virtue; because that very Consent of his includes the Being and Reality of all Virtues, though not the utmost Degrees and Improvements of them. This therefore is the utmost that the Law of Sincerity requires, that we should universally and prevalently Consent to the Will of God so as not wilfully to neglect any Duty which he hath enjoyned, and practise any Sin which he hath forbid; but though this be all it requires, yet this it exacts under the severest Penalty in the World, even that of eternal Death and Condemnation; only this Proviso it admits of, that if we do repent and amend, this dreadful Obligation shall be null and void. So that the great Difference p. 361between the Law of Perfection and the Law of Sincerity is only this, that the Penalty of the later is much more Severe than that of the former; but the Duty of the former is much more large and comprehensive than that of the later.

Having thus briefly explained to you these two Different Laws by which the Love of God as well as all other Virtues are made our Duty, this I conceive will be of very great Use in stating the due Bounds and Measures either of Love or any other Virtue God requires of us: We must understand by what Laws it is that he requires it, and what Measures of it those Laws do require. First therefore, we will consider what Degree of Love to God is required by the Law of Perfection. Secondly, what Degree of it is required by the Law of Sincerity.

1st. What Degree of Love to God is required by the Law of Perfection? To which I answer, that it requires all that Love which in the several Periods of our Growth and Progress in Religion we are able to render him. For it is to be considered that in this corrupt Estate, both our Vnderstandings and Wills are so darkened and depraved, that we do not apprehend the thousandth Part of those Degrees of Loveliness that are in him, p. 362and if we did, yet our Affections are so inveigled by these sensual Goods among which we are placed, that we are not able to render him the thousandth Part of that Love, which those Degrees of Loveliness we do apprehend in him do deserve. But there is no just Law can exact of us beyond what we are able to perform; and therefore this Law of Perfection being just and righteous, cannot be supposed to exact more Love to God from us than we have Strength and Power (all our Circumstances considered) to render unto him. So that he who doth his utmost to understand, and affect himself with the Beauty and Loveliness of God, and to substract his Love from sensual Good, and terminate it on God, is a just and innocent Man in the Judgment of the Law of Perfection. From whence it is evident first, that no Man can be bound by any Law to Love God as much as he deserves to be beloved; because he being infinitely lovely in himself is the adequate Object of an infinite Love, which no finite Being is capable of. 2ly. That no Man is bound to understand how much he deserves to be beloved, because this is beyond the Comprehension of any finite Understanding, especially of ours which are so dim-sighted in their Apprehensions of spiritual p. 363and invisible Beings. 3ly. That in this State no Man is bound actually to love God so far as he apprehends Reason to love him; this indeed we ought to endeavour after, but while we continue in these Bodies it is impossible for us so absolutely to abstract our Love from sense and sensual Things, as not to be in the least diverted by it from loving him to that Degree in which we know he deserves to be beloved. It is, I confess, our Imperfection that our Love to him is not proportionate to our Apprehensions of his Loveliness: but besides this we have many other Imperfections that are our Misery indeed, but not our Sin. For no Imperfection is any farther our Sin than 'tis in our Power to correct it; and there is no true Lover of God did ever attain to that Degree of Love as not to see great Reason to wish that it were in his Power still to love him more; which is a plain Evidence in every Period of this imperfect State that our Affections are so intangled by these sensible Goods about us, that we are not able to raise them to such a Degree of Love as is proportionate to our Apprehensions of his Loveliness. 4ly and lastly, That no Man is bound to love God in the several Periods of his Growth and Progress in Religion with the same Degree p. 364of Affection; for by the Law of Perfection a Man is always bound to love him as much as he can, but in the Progress of our Religion we can love him much more than in the Beginning. For the more we know of God, and the more our Affections are disingaged from these sensual Goods, the more Power and Ability we have to love him; and we are equally bound to love him as much as we can, when we have ten Degrees of Power, as we are when we have but one; and consequently 'tis as great an Offence against the Law of Perfection not to love him as much as we can when we have more Power to love him, as it was when we had less. So that by this Law we are always bound to love him as much as we are able, and to be always augmenting our Ability of loving him, and always to love him more and more as our Power and Ability increases; and under this sweet Obligation perhaps we shall lie to all Eternity. For there being infinite Degrees of Loveliness and Amability in God, our finite Understandings will need an Infinity of Duration to discover them all, and it would be unreasonable for us not to love him more, according as we discover more of the Beauty and Loveliness of his Nature. 'Tis true, in this Life the p. 365Difficulty lies not so much in discovering his Loveliness, as in affecting our Hearts with the Sense of it, and in raising our gross and carnal Affections to a Love proportionate to those Discoveries; and 'tis this that creates us so much Toil and Labour in the Progress of our Obedience to the Law of Perfection; but when once we are arrived into the blessed Regions of Immortality our Affection being perfectly subdued to the Reason of our Minds, and dreined and clarified from all its gross and carnal Love will as naturally flame out more and more towards God upon every new Discovery of his Beauty, as Fire doth when more combustible Fuel is layd upon it; and so without any Toil or Difficulty, the more we know the more we shall Love, and so more and more for ever. If therefore we would know what Measures of Love to God we are obliged to by this Law of Perfection, the Answer is easy, viz. that to all Eternity we are bound to love him as much as we are able, and always to love him more and more as our Ability increases. And this I take to be the Sense of that comprehensive Law of our Saviour, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, Mar. 12.30. that is, thou shalt imploy thy p. 366Faculties, thy Mind, thy Will, and thy Affections to the utmost of thy Strength and Power in loving, delighting, and taking Complacency in the Goodness, Beauty, and Perfections of God. But

2ly. What Degree of Love to God is required by the Law of Sincerity, which is the Law by which we must stand or fall for ever? So that the Sense of the Enquiry is this, what Degree of Love to God is necessary to put us into a State of Salvation, the indispensable Condition of our Salvation being nothing else but our Obedience to this Law of Sincerity. Now as to this particular of our Love of God there are two Things which this Law exacts of us; First, it requires the Being and Existence of this heavenly Virtue in us, that is, it requires not only that we should not hate God, or be indifferent between Love and Hatred in our Affection to him, but that we should really, cordially, and sincerely love him. And hence those eternal Glories and Beatitudes in which our Salvation doth consist, are said to be prepared by God for them that love him, 1 Cor. 2.9. which is a plain Evidence that it is one of the Conditions or Qualifications upon which our Salvation doth depend, and consequently an indispensable Duty of the Law of Sincerity; and St. James expresly p. 367tells us, that the Lord hath promised the Crown of Life to them that love him, Ja. 1.12. And therefore since that Law of Sincerity contains the Condition of that Promise, it hence necessarily follows, that our Love to God is a Part of it, since that Promise is made to those that love him. Nay, so necessary a Part of that Law is this excellent Virtue, that the Apostle tells us, without this the most vertuous Actions whatsoever are insignificant Cyphers in the Account of God; for though, saith he, I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor, and though I give my Body to be Burned, and have not Charity, it profiteth me nothing, 1 Cor. 13.3. where it is plain he takes Charity in the largest Sense for our Love to God and one another. He therefore that doth not really love God, who is not heartily touched and affected with the Sense of his Goodness and Perfections stands condemned by the Law of Sincerity; and without Repentance and Amendment shall have no Part or Portion in the Kingdom of God. But then

Secondly, This Law of Sincerity requires such a Degree of Love to God, as doth, together with the other Motives of Christianity, effectually render us obedient to his Will. For, as I have shewed you, the Scripture every where makes our keeping his Commandments p. 368the most essential Property of our Love of him; for if a man love me, saith our Saviour, he will keep my Words, Joh. 14.23. And whoso keepeth his Word, saith St. John, that is, his Commandments, in him is the love of God perfected; that is, in him it is real, and cordial, and sincere, 1 Joh. 2.5. When therefore our Love to God hath that Power over us, as together with the other Motives of Christianity, to restrain us from the wilful Omission of any known Duty, or Commission of any known Sin, it is then perfected to that Degree which the Law of Sincerity exacts. But before we dismiss this Argument, it will be necessary to give a more particular Account of it.

1. Therefore, this Law of Sincerity requires that some Degree of true Love to God should be intermingled with the other Parts of our Obedience to him; because this, as I have shewn you, is one great and essential Part of that Obedience which it requires; and therefore if out of mere Fear of God we should obey him in all other Instances, yet so long as we are defective in this, our Obedience will be lame and partial, and want a great Part of that Intireness which the Law of Sincerity exacts. For since it requires us to love God under the same Penalty of eternal Death that it requires all its other p. 369Duties, we can no more be saved by it without this Virtue than without Justice, Temperance and Chastity; yea, considering how necessary this is both to quicken our Obedience here, and qualify us for Happiness hereafter, we may much better spare any Virtue of Religion than this of the Love of God. This therefore is indispensably necessary, according to the Tenor of the Law of Sincerity, that there should be some Degree of true Love to God intermingled with the other Parts of our Obedience.

2ly. This Law of Sincerity exacts of us only such a Degree of Love to God as, in Conjunction with the other Motives of Christianity, is actually sufficient to enforce our Obedience. It doth not require us to love God in that heroic Degree, as not to need any other Motive to engage us to obey his Will; for if it did, no Man could be in a good State till he were able to obey God purely for his own Sake, without any Respect either to those glorious Advantages he promises, or those endless Torments he denounces; which requires such an ardent Degree of Love to him as I doubt few good Men arrive to in this Life. I know 'tis usually said by those that handle this Argument, that to love God above all Things is the Degree of Love to which the Law of p. 370Sincerity obliges us; but either this must be a Mistake, or no Man can be good till he is so perfect a Lover of God as not to need any other Motive but that of his own Love to oblige him to Obedience. For Men need no Motives to persuade them to chuse what they love best; and therefore if Men loved God above all, they would need no farther Motives to persuade them to chuse what he Wills and Commands against all Persuasions to the contrary. If I love God above my self, I shall certainly chuse his Will before my own: If I love him above all my Pleasures, I shall chuse his Pleasures before my own; and it will be a needless Thing to propose Motives to persuade me to do that which I like best, and chuse that which I love above all the World. So that whilst a Man hath Need of Motives to persuade him to chuse God, and prefer his Will above all Temptations, it is apparent he loves him not above all; and consequently according to this Doctrine cannot be a good Man in the Judgment of the Law of Sincerity; which if it were true, I doubt, the List of good Men would be reduced to a very small Number. Wherefore since loving God above all is a high strain of Piety much above the low Estate of sincere and true Goodness, to make it necessary to a p. 371good State must needs be very dangerous, since it cannot but dishearten beginners in Religion, and perplex their Consciences with needless and inextricable Scruples. I confess, not to love God above all, who doth so infinitely exceed all in Degrees of Loveliness and Amability, is an Argument of great Imperfection, though not of Insincerity; but if my Love to him be such, as that together with my Hope and Fear excited by the other Motives of Religion, it effectually operates on my Will, so as to win it to an universal prevalent Consent to the Will of God, I know no Reason I have to judge severely of my main State, though I should be conscious to my self that my Love singly and apart from those other Motives had not Force enough in it to produce this happy Effect. This therefore I conceive is the utmost Degree of Love to God that the Law of Sincerity exacts, that we should so love him as by our Love, in Concurrence with the other Arguments of Religion, to be effectually prevailed on to obey him.

3ly. The Law of Sincerity exacts such a Degree of Love of us, as together with those other Motives of Christianity is prevalent to sincere Obedience; and in this it differs from the Law of Perfection, which requires p. 372such a Degree of Love of us, as together with those other Motives is productive of perfect unsinning Obedience. For, as I have shewed you, the Law of Perfection requires the utmost of our Possibility, and consequently that we should love God as much as we can, and consider and apply to our selves the other Motives of Religion as well and as closely as we are able, and then proceed upon the whole to serve and obey God to the utmost of our Power and Ability; which if we do, we are perfectly innocent and inculpable; unless you suppose, that a Man may be blame-worthy for not doing more than he can. But should the Law of Sincerity exact thus much of us, I doubt it would exclude the best of Men out of the State of Goodness and Salvation; for what Man is there that doth always love and obey God to the utmost of his present Possibility? Wherefore all that this Law can be supposed to require of us, is only such a Degree of Love as is requisite to render it a concurrent Cause of true sincere Obedience, that is to say, such a Love as in Concurrence with those great Motives of Reward and Punishment produces such an hearty Consent in us to the Will of God as will not suffer us any longer to persist either in carelss or affected Ignorance of it, or in known p. 373and wilful Disobedience to it; and there are no Infirmities or Miscarriages whatsoever inconsistent with such a Degree of Love to God, but what are also inconsistent with such a Consent to his heavenly Will. If therefore we thus love God to the Purposes of a sincere Obedience, the Law of Sincerity acquits us; and as for our Sins of Infirmity, Surprize, or Inadvertency, we are accountable for them only to the Law of Perfection.

4thly, And lastly, The Law of Sincerity requires such a Degree of Love to God as together with those other Motives makes us not only sincere in our Obedience, but also careful to improve it to further Degrees of Perfection. And indeed this is necessarily included in the former; for if our Love of God joyned with the other Arguments of Religion hath so far prevailed upon us as to win us to a sincere Consent to his heavenly Will, we shall not only industriously avoid the known and wilful Violations of it, but be very careful to correct those Flaws and Imperfections that are intermixed with our Obedience to it. 'Tis true, when there is nothing but slavish Fear at the Bottom of a Mans Obedience, that must necessarily contract and shrink up the Sinews of his Care and Endeavours, and render him exceeding narrow and stingy in the Discharge of p. 374his Duty; for having no farther Aim than his own Security, he will do no more than what is necessary to avoid the Danger that he stands in Fear of; and if he can but escape those known and wilful Sins that layd waste his Conscience, and expos'd him to the Wrath of God, that is the utmost he desires or aims at; but as for those Miscarriages and sinful Imperfections which do only fall under the Cognizance of the Law of Perfection, he is not at all concerned about them. But when our Fear is intermingled with such a Degree of Love to God as the Law of Sincerity exacts, that will make us careful, not only to avoid those known and willful Sins that divorse us from the Favour of God, but also to indear our selves more and more to him by correcting even those smaller Defects and Imperfections that do still adhere to our Duties and Natures: For this is plain, that no Man can heartily love God that doth not more and more desire to be beloved by him; and that no Man can sincerely desire to be more and more beloved by God, that doth not honestly endeavour to render himself more and more lovely in his Eyes; that is, to reform all those sinful Defects and Imperfections which stain and blemish the Beauty of his Soul. Whosoever therefore contents himself with this, not to be p. 375hated by God, did never sincerely love him; and whosoever desires more than this, will as well be careful to correct those smaller Imperfections which render him less beloved of God, as to avoid those known and wilful Sins which do expose him to God's Hatred. If therefore our Religion doth not in some Measure improve our Natures, if it doth not render us more patient and humble, more charitable and heavenly minded, it is a certain Sign that it is not acted by Love. For if after having a long while continued in a Round of religious Duties we still return to the same Point, and are in no Degree better than we were when we first began, it is a plain Token that we do not heartily desire to be more beloved of God, and consequently that we do not love him. So that in fine the Sum of all is this, The Law of Perfection requires us to love God with all our Might and with all our Strength, that is, as much as we are able in every Period of our Growth and Progress in Religion; and by how much we love him less than we are able, by so much less shall be the future Reward of our Love. But then for the Law of Sincerity, that only requires of us such a Degree of Love to him as doth together with the other Motives of Religion effectually incline us to obey him sincerely, and p. 376to endeavour to improve our Obedience into farther Degrees of Perfection; and so long as we fall short of this we are bad Men, and the Wrath of God abides upon us. And so I have done with the First Part of the Text, We should or ought to love God.

2. I proceed now to the second Part, viz. the Reason why we ought to love him; and that is, because he first loved us; which though it be but short in Words, yet is extreamly comprehensive in Sense, containing in it such puissant Motives and endearing Obligations as cannot but affect us if we have any Spark of Tenderness or Ingenuity remaining in us. For in this Argument or Reason these six Things are implyed;

1. That he began in Love to us.

2. That he began before we could any Way deserve it.

3. That he began to love us when we deserved his Hatred.

4. That he began when he foresaw he could never make any Advantage by it.

5. He began to love us to such a Degree as to think nothing too dear or too good for us.

6. That he so began to love us as to condescend by all the Arts of Importunity to court us to accept his Love: All which are very powerful Considerations to engage us to return him Love for Love.

p. 3771. He began in Love to us. Had he only engaged himself to re-love us whensoever we began to love him, and in the mean Time remained indifferent in his Affection towards us, this would have been a mighty endearing Obligation. For the great Majesty of Heaven to take Notice of the Loves of such poor Worms as we, and much more to engage himself to repay them with a correspondent Affection, is in it self a noble Expression of his great and generous Goodness; but that he should not only take Notice of, and return our Love, but forestal and anticipate it; that he should condescend to make the first Address and Tender of Love to us, is such an Expression of Goodness as is sufficient to inflame the most stupid and insensible Soul. For he that loves another lays an Obligation upon him, and renders him extreamly beholding; he lends him his Heart and Soul which are much more valuable than Money, and he becomes his Creditor and acquires a just Claim to be repaid with mutual Affection: For not to repay Love for Love, is equally unjust and ungrateful. He therefore that begins to love, doth thereby render the Person beloved his Debtor, and acquires a just Right to be Beloved by him again, though he should have no other Pretence to, or Interest in his p. 378Affections, especially if he be one who is much our Superiour in all endearing Perfections and Accomplishments; because this must needs render his Love more valuable, and consequently augment our Obligation to relove him. When therefore the great God himself shall begin to love us, who doth so infinitely excel us in all Manner of amiable Perfections, how deeply are we obliged and beholding to him? What infinite Sums of Love must we owe him? If he had laid no other Obligation upon us, had neither made, nor fed, nor clothed, nor provided for us; if he had no other Claim to our Love but only this, that he first loved us; yet this is such as we cannot frustrate without being extreamly unjust and ungrateful. For he is so much afore-hand in Kindness with us, hath so much gotten the start of us in Love, that we shall never be able to overtake him. He loved us long before we had a Being, when we existed only in his own Decree to make us Men, and to provide for our Happiness; so that now we are so far behind-hand in Arrears of Love to him, that we shall need, as well as have an Eternity to discharge them; and should we from henceforth every Moment love him more and more to the longest imaginary Period of Duration, yet we shall still owe him all that Eternity of p. 379Love that was due before we began to love him. And shall we grudg to pay him a Mite to whom we are indebted Millions? And is it not high Time for us to begin to love him now, who hath loved us so long already for nothing without the least Shadow of Requital?

2ly. He began to love us before we could any ways deserve it. For it is impossible for a Creature that ows all to God, the Fountain of its Being, to deserve any Thing at his Hands; because he hath every Thing from him, and so can render him nothing but what is his own already by an unalienable Propriety. But the noblest and most acceptable Sacrifice that we are able to render unto God is our hearty and unfeigned Love; and if it were possible for us any way to deserve his Love, who is so much above us, and hath such an absolute Dominion over us, it would doubtless be Offering up our Souls to him inflamed with Love and Affection; for tis this alone that consecrates all our Services, and renders them valuable in the Eyes of God. If Love, like an universal Soul, be not diffused throughout all our Religion, and doth not act and animate every Part of it, in God's Account all our demure Pretences are nothing but the lifeless Puppits and Images of true Religion; p. 380which though they may speak and move and act like that which they represent and imitate, yet want that inward Form and Principle that gives it Life and Motion; and to have nothing of Religion but merely the Shape and Outside, is as bad, at least in God's Account, as to have none at all. Since therefore 'tis Love that gives Worth and Value to all our other Services, and renders them acceptable to God; it hence necessarily follows, that it self is the most grateful Thing we can render to him, and that when this is wanting, we are so far from being capable of deserving his Love, that nothing we do can be pleasing or acceptable in his Eyes. Wherefore since he loved us before we loved him, it is plain that it was not our Desert, but his own Goodness that first endeared him to us; for when we did not love him, we could have neither Form nor Comliness to attract his Love; our Love to him being the only Beauty that can render us amiable in his Eyes: So that he could have no other Motive to incline him to love us, but only the immense Benevolence of his own Nature. Since therefore he hath loved me without any Desert of mine, can I forbear to love him who hath deserved so well of me? If he had never expressed any Kindness towards me, yet I have infinite Reason to love p. 381him, because of the infinite Loveliness of his Nature; but when I add to this the unspeakable Love he bore me when I had neither Beauty to endear, nor Desert to oblige him; what a tender Care he took of my Welfare, and how big his Thoughts were with Designs of Kindness to me; I am not able to reflect upon my Coldness and Indifference towards him without the greatest Shame and Confusion; especially considering,

3ly. That he began to love us when we deserved his Hatred. And indeed if we consider the wretched Condition in which his Love found us when it first addressed to us, and cast its gracious Eyes upon us; we shall find sufficient Reason to wonder that it did not immediately convert into implacable Fury. For when it first looked down on us from the Battlements of Heaven, it beheld us wallowing in our Blood, all polluted and distained with the foulest Treasons and Rebellions. It saw us unanimously engaged in an unnatural Conspiracy against the blessed Author of our Beings, converting those very Faculties he bestowed upon us into Weapons of Rebellion against him, and arming the Effects of his Bounty against his Sovereign Authority. It beheld our Natures all depraved and vitiated, our Faculties all p. 382disordered and confused, our Minds surrounded with Egyptian Darkness, our Wills byassed with wild and irregular Inclinations, our Affections overgrown with monstrous and preternatural Lusts, and all the beautiful Structure of our Natures most miserably disfigured and deformed; and certainly one would have thought that such a loathsome Spectacle as this might have been sufficient to extinguish his Love for ever, and stifle all his tender Resentments towards us. But so invincible was his Kindness to us, that all the Deformities we had superinduced upon our Natures, all our Unworthiness to be beloved by him, all the rude Affronts and Indignities we had offered, were not able so much as for one Moment to stop or divert the impetuous Current of his Goodness. But in the midst of so many Reasons that he had to hate us, he fixed his Love upon us; and notwithstanding the Continuance of those Reasons doth still persist to love us; and while we are abusing of his Kindness, dishonouring his Name, and trampling on his Laws and Authority, he is continually mindful and active to do us good, and doth incessantly imploy his restless Thoughts, extend his watchful Eye, and exert his powerful Arm to contrive, promote and procure our Happiness; as if he were resolved to be p. 383as obstinate in Love, as we are in Unkindness, to contend with us for Victory, and, if it be possible, to vanquish us with the Charms of an invincible Kindness. And now methinks it should be impossible for any one that hath but the Reason of a Man to be so base and disingenuous, as not to be endeared by such a victorious Love. O blessed God! dost thou love me who have so many ways deserved thy Hatred, and can I hate thee who hast so infinitely merited my Love? Have I not been long enough thine Enemy already, and hast thou not been long enough my Friend at last to thaw my obdurate Enmity, and melt me into a reciprocal Kindness? Barbarous Heart! Canst thou still withstand these puissant Endearments of Almighty Love, that hath so long repay'd thee Smiles for Affronts, and returned thee Favours for Provocations? For shame, if thou hast any Sense of Gratitude or Modesty in thee, be at last persuaded to hearken to the Love of thy Maker, and to return him Love for Love.

4thly. He began to love us when he could never reap the least Advantage to himself by it. Had we been capable either of benefiting or injuring him, of adding to, or substracting from his Happiness, his own Interest might have obliged him to love us, or p. 384at least to have pretended Kindness to us, that so he might the better obtain his Ends upon us, and engage us to contribute more freely to his Happiness. But such a poor Design, as this, is inconsistent with the Notion of a Divinity, which implies infinite Perfection, and consequently infinite Happiness; and for him who is infinitely happy, to design a Contribution of Happiness from his Creatures, implies a Contradiction; because the very designing of a farther Happiness implies a present Want and Insufficiency, which can have no Place in a Being that is infinitely happy already. The Happiness of God therefore being so immense and secure that nothing can be added to, or substracted from it, it is impossible he should love us, for any Self-interest or Advantage, it being out of the Reach of any Power whatsoever, either to benefit or injure him; and his Love to us can have no other Design but only our Happiness and Welfare. He his infinitely perfect and happy in himself, and consequently cannot be supposed to love us for his own Advantage, it being impossible that he who is infinitely happy in himself should be capable of receiving any Advantage from any Thing without him; so that there can be no other End of his Love, but only to render us like himself p. 385compleatly perfect and happy. For when he first set his Heart upon us, and chose us for his Favourites, he knew his own Happiness to be so immense and stable, as that he could never need our Love or Services, either to add more to it, or to continue and perpetuate it, which from Eternity to Eternity was, and is, and always will be commensurate to the boundless Capacity of his Nature. But such was his innate Goodness and Beneficence as would not permit him to be happy alone, to content himself in a solitary Fruition of his own essential Beatitudes; but to gratify the benign Inclinations of his Nature he must have Companions in Happiness, upon whom he may diffuse his Goodness, and imprint his own Bliss and Perfection: And 'twas only this frank and generous Motive that first obliged him to cast an Eye of Love towards us. When we had neither Worth to deserve, nor Power to requite his Kindness, then did his own Benignity incline his Heart to love us, and to invite and receive us into a Participation of his Happiness. He knew well enough that the most we were capable to do for him was only to love and obey, to praise and honour and adore him; and that when we had done all this, it would be impossible for him to reap the least Advantage by it; p. 386that if we did love and obey him, the Profit would all redound to our selves, and that if we did not, our selves only would fare the worse for it; so that whether we did or no, it would be all one to him; his Happiness would be still the same, without the least Addition or Substraction. And yet when Things were in this Posture, when he had no Self-interest to serve upon us, no Motive but his own Benignity to endear him to us, then did he begin to love us, and to express the Earnings of his Heart and Bowels towards us. And now how can we think of this, and not be affected with it? How can we any longer avoid being captivated with the Thoughts of such a generous Kindness? Consider, O my Soul, thy God gains nothing by all his Love to thee, but thou gainest infinitely by thy Love to him; by loving him thou glorifiest thy self, and crownest thy own Desires with Happiness. But he is not one jot the better for loving, nor would he have been one jot the worse if he had never loved thee at all; and yet out of pure generous Goodness he loves thee a thousand times more than thou lovest thy self, or art ever able to love him; and canst thou be such a wretched Thing, so lost to all that is ingenuous and modest as not to return him Love for Love?

p. 3875thly. He began to love us to such a Degree, as to think nothing too dear, or too good for us. Considering how little we deserve his Love, how much we have deserved his Hatred, and how uncapable we are to make him any valuable Requital; it is sufficient Matter of Wonder that ever he could prevail with himself to love us in the least Degree; but that in the midst of so many Reasons to the contrary he should not only begin to love, but to be so liberal of his Kindness to us, is Matter of just Astonishment. It was a mighty Kindness in him to create us what we are, and make such a plentiful Provision for our comfortable Subsistence here; for wheresoever we direct our Eyes, whether we reflect them inwards upon our selves, we behold his Goodness to occupy and penetrate the Root and Center of our Beings, and discern the lively Characters of his Love in the incomparable Frame and Structure of our Natures; or whether we extend them abroad towards the things about us, we may perceive our selves like Fortunate Islands surrounded with an Ocean of Blessings, containing whatsoever is necessary for our Sustenance, convenient for our Use, and pleasant for our Enjoyment. And is it not wondrous Love in him to make such liberal Provisions for such undeserving p. 388Guests? But this is the smallest Part of his Kindness; for he hath inspired us with immortal Minds, and Stamp'd them with the most fair Impresses of his own Divinity, viz. a Knowledge of Truth, and a Love of Goodness, and a forward Capacity of the highest Perfection, and purest Happiness; and to fill and gratify these our noble Faculties and Capacities he hath prepared for us a Heaven of immortal Joys, and furnished it with all the Delights that this our Heaven-born Mind is capable of; and lest we should fall short of it, he hath sent his blessed Son from Heaven, to reveal it to us, and shew us the Way thither; to die for our Sins, and obtain and ratify the Promise of our Pardon, thereby to encourage us to return to our Duty and Allegiance, without which we are incapable of ever enjoying that beatifical State. And lest all this should not be sufficient, he is always present with us to promote our Happiness; present, by his Providence to reclaim, by his Angels to sollicit us, and by his Holy Spirit to excite and co-operate with our Endeavours: So extreamly careful is he, not to be defeated of his kind Intentions, to make us everlastingly happy. O Blessed God! To what a Degree must thou love us, who thinkest none of these Things too dear and good for us? That dost p. 389not think thy Son too good to redeem us, thy Spirit to Sanctify, thy everlasting Heaven to Crown and Reward us? And now can our Hearts hold when we think of this? Can we be cold and indifferent in the midst of such a vigorous Flame? Good God! What are we made of? What senseless, stony, stupid Souls do we carry about us, that can be Love-proof against so many Charms and Endearments; that can listen to so many Wonders of Love with such unconcerned, such unaffected Minds? Methinks if we had but the common Sense and Ingenuity of Men in us, it would be impossible for us in the midst of so much Love, not to be melted into a reciprocal Kindness.

6thly And lastly, He so began to love us, as to condescend by all the Arts of Importunity to court us to accept of his Love. That notwithstanding all our Unworthiness, he should begin to love us, and that to so strange a Degree, is a most amazing Instance of the infinite Benevolence of his Nature; but that he should condescend to address himself to us, to court and woo us as he doth to accept of his Love, and to be as happy as he would have us, is enough to astonish the most insensible Soul, and even to dissolve a Heart of Rock into Love. For thus the Scripture in the most pathetick p. 390Strains describes the Addresses of this great Lover of Souls, borrowing Metaphors to express his Love to us, from all that is kind and loving in the Creation; even from the most melting Passions in Mankind; from the Relentings of Fathers, and Yearnings of Mothers Bowels towards their dearest Offspring. It paints him in all the charming Postures of an imploring, beseeching, and importunate Lover, wooing and intreating us to be happy, even with Tears of Pity in his Eyes, with Charms of Love in his Mouth, and Tenders of Mercy in his Hands. And when with all the Rhetorick of his Love he can't prevail with us to live, it represents him weeping at our Funerals, and like a tender-hearted Judge pronouncing our Sentence with the Tears in his Eyes. By which Metaphorical Descriptions he represents to us his infinite Concern for our Happiness; how much his Heart is set upon it; and how hardly he can bear a Defeat in his kind and merciful Intentions towards us. For what but an infinite Love could ever have made the King of Heaven and Earth to stoop so low to his rebellious Subjects, as to beseech them to lay down their Weapons of Hostility with which they can injure none but themselves, and to listen to his Terms of Mercy, and accept of his Crowns and everlasting p. 391Preferments? One would have thought it had been enough for him barely to have told us how he loved us, how willing he was to Pardon and Advance us; and that this had been enough for ever to recommend him to the dearest Affections of his Creatures; but that he should moreover condescend to supplicate our Acceptance, to beseech us not to spurn his Love, and frustrate its Designs of Mercy to us; Lord, how can we think of this without being all inflamed with Love to thee! 'Tis true, he doth not come in Person to us, because we are not able to bear the immediate Approaches of his Glory; but many a Message of Love he hath sent us transcribed from his very Heart. He sent his Son from Heaven to us, and clothed him in our Natures, that therein we might be capable of conversing freely with him; and all his Errand was to deliver a Message of Love to the World, and to court and importune them to listen to, and comply with it. And when he returned again to his Father, he instituted an Order of Men to supply his Room, and in his Stead, to woo the World to be happy. For we are Ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, 2 Cor. 5.20. So that you are set upon the p. 392Throne, and not only Men, but God himself lies prostrate before your Foot-stool beseeching you to lay down your Arms, and to be reconciled to your best Friend that never did you the least Injury, unless that be one that he hath loved you better by a Thousand Degrees than ever you loved your selves. And can we be such barbarous Wretches as not to listen to him when he thus humbles himself before us, and even comes upon his Knees to us for Reconciliation? How justly may the whole Creation be astonished to see the great Majesty of Heaven condescend so low as to beseech and entreat a Company of rude, disdainful Rebels, whom he could every Moment frown into Nothing, to accept of his Love, and at last comply with Terms of Friendship? Who would ever imagine, (but that sad Experience evinces the contrary,) that among reasonable Beings there should be found such Monsters of Ingratitude, as to persist in Enmity to God after he hath thus humbled himself, and made so many lowly Addresses only to court and woo us to be happy? And thus you see how many puissant Motives to Love are comprehended in these few Words, because he first loved us; which are such as nothing can ever be able to resist but a Heart that is steeled with p. 393Impudence and Ingratitude. So that if after all these Obligations which God hath laid upon us we do not at last surrender up our Hearts unto him, our Baseness and Ingratitude is such as nothing but our eternal Ruine will be able to expiate. For when with all the Endearments of his Loving kindness he finds he cannnot prevail on us to love him, the very Consideration how much he hath obliged us, and what unworthy Requitals we have made him, will but incense him the more against us, till it hath converted his Kindness into implacable Fury; and when once the Heats of wronged Love take Fire, and kindle into Wrath, it will be a quenchless Flame and everlasting Burning. Wherefore in the Name of God, Sirs, let us endeavour to affect our Souls with the Sense of this dear Love, to warm our Affections at this heavenly Fire till it hath insinuated it self into them, and converted them into its own Substance. And that we may be succesful herein, let us take with us these following Directions.

1. Let us season our Minds with good Opinions of God: For since 'tis his Goodness that is the most immediate Object of our Love to him, whatsoever Opinions do reflect upon that, or any way tend to cloud and disgrace it, must necessarily Damp our Affection towards him. Whilst therefore we look p. 394upon God as a mere arbitrary Being, as one that conducts all his Actions by a blind Omnipotent Self-will, and governs the World and dispenses Rewards and Punishments to his Creatures according to a certain fatal Decree, which he made without Foresight or Consideration; as one that exacts Impossibilities of his Subjects, commands the Lame to run, the Blind to see, and without ever enabling them thereunto is resolved to damn them forever for Non-performance: Whilst, I say, we look upon God through such false Opticks as these, they must needs represent him exceeding unlovely in our Eyes. For though I doubt not but there are many Men that love God heartily, notwithstanding they have entertained these sower and gastly Notions of him; yet I must seriously profess had I such black Opinions of him, I should never be able heartily to love him, though I were sure to be damned for ever for neglecting it. Wherefore, if we would kindle in our Souls the Love of God, let us take Care, as much as in us lies, to purge our Thoughts of all ill Opinions of him, and to represent him fairly to our Minds what he truly is, and what the Scripture represents him to be, viz. a most bountiful Benefactor unto all his Creation, and an universal Lover of the Souls of Men; one that heartily p. 395desires our Welfare, and is always ready to contribute to us whatsoever is necessary thereunto. Let us firmly persuade our selves that he desires not our Ruine, but would have all Men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the Truth; that when he finally destroys any particular Offender, it is in great Mercy to the Publick; that he loves not Punishment for its own Sake, and never inflicts it but for some gracious and merciful End. These are such Thoughts of God as are truly worthy of him, and infinitely apt to endear him to all considering Minds.

2ly. Let us frequently consider and revolve in our Minds the numerous Reasons and Engagements that we have to love him. For all Virtue whatsoever begins in Consideration, and it being a rational Accomplishment, cannot be otherwise acquired but only by Reason and Discourse, that is, by considering the Reasons and pressing our selves with the Arguments upon which it is founded. And thus we must do in the Case before us; if ever we would attain to a hearty Love of God, we must be often entertaining our Thoughts with the Consideration of those great Obligations he hath laid upon us to love him; how deeply we are engaged by all the Ties of Gratitude and Ingenuity to repay him in his own p. 396Coin, and to return him Love for Love. Nor will it be sufficient to affect our Hearts with the Sense of those Obligations, now and then to reflect a few slight and transient Thoughts on them, but with holy David we must muse on till the Fire Kindles; we must fix and stay our Thoughts upon the Consideration of God's endearing Love to us, urge and press them again and again till we have wrought and chafed them into our Souls, and a heavenly Warmth diffuses from them and enflames our Hearts with a divine Affection. Wherefore let us frequently revolve such Thoughts as these in our Minds; O my Soul! How infinitely art thou obliged to love thy God, who hath been such a tender Friend and liberal Benefactor to thee, who loved thee before ever thou wast capable of thinking a Thought of Love towards him; yea, and when thou didst most justly deserve to be excommunicated from his Favour for ever, and who had no other Aim in loving thee, but to do thee good, and make thee happy, and thought nothing too good for thee that could either promote or compleat thy Happiness; but is so importunately concerned for thee as to beseech and intreat thee not to reject his Favours? And canst thou be cold and insensible in the midst of so many prevailing Endearments? Suppose that thy Fellow-creature had done for p. 397thee but a thousandth Part of what thy God hath done, and thou hadst repayed his Kindness with nothing but Affronts and Indignities; wouldst thou not call thy self a thousand ungrateful Wretches, and acknowledge thy self infinitely unworthy of his Favours? And is it less criminal to be ungrateful to God, than to thy Fellow-creature? Suppose thou hadst a Friend that began to love thee as soon as thou wast born, and had persisted to love thee, notwithstanding thou hadst offered him a thousand Provocations to the contrary; that had done thee all the good he was able, and constantly repaid thy Injuries with Favours: Would not thy Conscience fly in thy Face, and all that is humane in thee upbraid thy monstrous Baseness? And hath not thy God obliged thee infinitely more than the best Friend in the World? How then canst thou excuse thy Coldness and Indifference to him? Consider, O my Soul, the Eyes of all the spiritual World are upon thee; Angels and Saints are looking down from their Thrones of Glory to see how thou wilt acquit thy self under all these mighty Obligations, which if any mortal Friend had laid them upon thee, and thou shouldst have so ill requited him, all the World would have hissed at thee for a Monster of Ingratitude. And is it less infamous to be an ungrateful Wretch towards God, than towards a mortal Friend? With what Confidence then wilt thou lift up p. 398thy head among those blessed Spirits who have been Spectators of thy Actions, who have seen thy foul Ingratitude towards thy best Friend, and must therefore brand thee for an inglorious Wretch abandoned of the common Sense and Modesty of humane Nature? And if after you have pressed you Souls with all this mighty Weight of Love, you should be still to learn to re-love the blessed Author of it, I know no other Expedient but to send you to the Brutes to be their Scholars; to call for your Spaniels and bid them teach you, and by their kind Returns of your Favours instruct your cold ungrateful Hearts, to make proportionate Returns of Love to your dearest Lord and Master. Thus let us frequently argue with our selves, and repeat these Considerations upon our Minds; and certainly if we have any Sense of Obligations, they cannot fail of warming and affecting our Hearts.

3dly. Let us endeavour so much as in us lies to moderate our Affections to the World. Love not the World, saith St. John, neither the things that are in the World. If any Man love the World, the love of the Father is not in him, 1 Epist. ii.15. that is, if we inordinately love and dote upon the World, if we suffer its Pleasures, Profits, and Honours to creep into, to hamper and inveagle p. 399our Affections into an excessive Delight and Complacency in them, that will so forestal and prepossess us, that we shall find no Room for the Love of God in our Souls: Our Hearts will be so soaked and moistened with sensual Desires and Complacencies, that the pure Flame of divine Love will never be able to take hold of, or kindle upon them. For whilst we immoderately dote upon the World, that will so ingross our Thoughts, so perpetually importune our Desires, that no Friend from Heaven will ever be able to come at us; no good Thought or Consideration that comes to court and woo our Souls for God will ever find Admittance to them; or if now and then they obtrude upon us, and force themselves into our Minds, the World will be so buisy about us that we shall not be long at Leasure to attend to them; but whilst they are addressing to us and importuning our Affections, we shall feel a thousand Rival Thoughts swarming and buzzing about us, and this will be holding, that pulling, the other clasping it self about us and wooing us not to leave and forsake them. And though between these Competitors for our Love, our Hearts may now and then be a little wavering and irresolute; yet our fond Partiality to the World will so vehemently incline p. 400and biass us, that we shall soon reject those divine Thoughts that would so fain court us to a contrary Affection. Wherefore, if ever we would acquire this noble and heavenly Virtue of divine Love, we must endeavour as much as in us lies to wean and withdraw our selves from the World; to rescue our selves from under it's Tyranny and Dominion, into our own Power, that so we may be able to dispose of our Time, our Thoughts and Hearts, as shall seem to us most fit and reasonable. For till we have recovered our Hearts from the World into our own Disposal, how can we resign them to God? Before we can give him our selves, we must be in our own Power, which no Man can be, so long as he is inthralled to the World. Wherefore, if we would become hearty Lovers of God, we must labour so much as in us lies to get such a Sovereignty over our earthly Desires and Affections, as that whensoever we are minded to retire from the World and converse with God, we may be able to keep them off at such a Distance as that they may not be able to intrude upon us, to mingle themselves with our Contemplations, and divert our Eyes from the endearing Prospect of his infinite Love and Loveliness. And then our Thoughts will stay and dwell upon this ravishing p. 401Theme like Bees upon a sweet Flower, and never rise till they have extracted thence the Honey of Canaan, the delicious Sweets of heavenly Love and Complacency; then we shall muse on till the Fire burns, and never take off our Eyes from God till we have gazed our selves into Captivity to his Love and Beauty.

4thly. If we would attain to the Love of God, we must endeavour, by the constant Practice of what is agreeable to his Nature, to reconcile our Minds and Tempers to it. For whilst our Minds are averse to the Perfections of his Nature, to the Justice, Purity, and Goodness of it, the most powerful Motives of his Love and Benevolence will never be able to beget in us an hearty Complacencey in him. We may admire his Love to us, and be sometimes moved by the consideration of it into mighty Transports of sensitive Passion; but 'tis impossible we should ever attain to a fix'd and permanent Delight in him till we are reconciled to his Nature. For all true and constant Love is founded in a Likeness of Natures; and therefore till we are in some Measure god-like, till we are pure as he is pure, just as he is just, good and merciful as he is good and merciful, we have not as yet so much as laid the Foundation of divine Love; nay we are so far from that, that we p. 402are under a prevalent Repugnancy and Antipathy to the divine Nature. Wherefore if ever we would be sincere and hearty Lovers of God, we must resolve to betake our selves to the constant Practice of all those eternal Laws of Goodness that are founded in his blessed Nature; which if we do, and persist in our Resolution, we shall find the Practice of them will by Degrees render them first tollerable, then easie, then delightful, then natural to us. And when once the Laws of God's Nature are thus transcribed and copyed into ours, when our Hearts and his stand bent the same Way, and are for the main alike inclined and disposed; then we are prepared for divine Love, made proper and convenient Fuel to receive that heavenly Flame. For as when God sees himself in us, his Goodness, Purity and Holiness stampt and impressed upon our Natures, he is inclined by his own Self-love to be pleased with, and take Complacency in us; so when we come to see our selves in God, to see all that in him for which we value our selves, and to see it all in the utmost Perfection in him which is yet so imperfect in our selves; our own Self-love will endear him to us and wing our Souls with an active vigorous Love to him. Wherefore, if we would love God, let us live in the Practice p. 403of all god-like Virtues till by accustoming our selves thereunto we have conquered our own Repugnancies and Antipathies to his blessed Nature; and then our Hearts will stand open to his Love, and we shall feel it enter into us, and insinuate it self into our Wills and Affections, like a sprightful and active Flame, till it hath all inflamed them with Love, and converted them into its own Substance.

5thly. And lastly, If we would acquire this heavenly Virtue, to all the foregoing Directions, we must add constant and earnest Prayer to God For when we have done all, it is most certain that without the Assistance of this Grace we cannot love him; but if we do all, and then implore and Supplicate his Assistance, we have as much Assurance of it, as the Promise of Truth it self can give us. If therefore we have a hearty Mind to love him, we shall both do our own Part towards it, and earnestly implore him to do his. For so when we petition for our daily Bread, we do not say our Prayers, and then sit down with our Hands in our Bosoms, expecting that Bread should drop from Heaven into our Mouths; but we presently betake our selves to some honest Imployment, and therein diligently endeavour to obtain what we p. 404pray for. And the same Course we shall take if we desire to love God with the same Sincerity as we desire Food: We shall pray and endeavour, and endeavour and pray; we should be diligent in doing what is in our Power, and be importunate with God to do what is only in his. And certainly did we but know the Worth of this heavenly Virtue, this Soul and Queen of all other Graces, we should count no Prayers, no Tears, no Endeavours too much to purchase and obtain it. Did we but consider how useful and delightful it is, how at once it entices and inlivens Men, what a powerful Byass it claps upon their Hearts to incline them to their Duty, and with what Joy and Chearfulness it carries them through the greatest Difficulties, and turns their Toils into Recreations; how it clears and smooths their Countenance, revives and elevates their Hearts: Did Men, I say, but consider this, they would give neither themselves nor Heaven Rest till they felt their cold and slugish Souls inspired and animated with it. Wherefore to all our Endeavours after it, let us joyn our earnest Prayers to God that he would kindle our stupid Hearts, and touch our cold Affections with an outstretched Ray from himself; that he would conquer our Repugnance to him, and represent p. 405his Love and Beauty to our Souls in such affecting and attractive Forms as may not fail to captivate our Hearts, and subdue our obstinate Wills that have so long held out against all the Storms and Batteries of his endearing Goodness. And if we thus pray, and thus endeavour, and persevere in both, we shall at length most certainly feel this heavenly Grace springing up within us, and growing on to Maturity by insensible Degrees, till at last it hath gotten an entire Possession of our Souls, and subdued all our Powers and Affections to it's sweet and blessed Empire; And then we shall feel our selves acted in Religion by a new Soul, and carried on through all its weary Stages with an unspeakable Life and Vigour; then all our Duty will be naturalized to us, and we shall do God's Will upon Earth with almost the same Chearfulness and Alacrity, as it is done by our blessed Brethren in Heaven. Which God of his infinite Mercy grant: To whom be Honour, &c.