and which certainty and stedfastness of it arise from the author, object, ground, and foundation of it. v. Hope of salvation by Christ is compared to an helmet; And for an helmet the hope of salvation, 1 Thess. v. 8. this is a piece of armour that is a defence of the head, a cover of it in the day of battle, and an erecter of it: of such use is hope of salvation by Christ; it serves to defend the head from false doctrines; a man whose hope of salvation is fixed on Christ, cannot give into errors contrary to the proper Deity and eternal Sonship of Christ, to justification by his righteousness, and atonement, and satisfaction by his sacrifice; for these take away the foundation of his hope; and therefore he whose hope is sure and stedfast, cannot easily be carried away with divers and strange doctrines, nor with every wind of doctrine. Hope of salvation by Christ, is like an helmet which covers the head in the day of battle; it makes a man courageous to fight the Lord's battles, and fear no enemy; to engage even with principalities and powers, having on the whole armour of God, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, and particularly having such an helmet, an enemy cannot hurt his head, or give him a mortal wound on it. Hope, like an helmet, is an erecter or lifter up of the head; in the midst of difficulties hope keeps the head above water, above the fear of danger; so that the hoping, believing soul can even glory in tribulation, Rom. v. 3. OF THE GRACE OF LOVE. 1 AFTER Faith and Hope follows Love; for in this order they stand, Now abide faith, hope, charity, or love, these three, 1 Cor. xiii. 13. but the greatest of these is charity, or love; not that it is of greater use than the other; faith is of more use to the believer himself, and such things are ascribed to it, as cannot be ascribed to love; but love is more diffusive of its benefits to others, and is of a longer duration. Love, in order of nature, follows faith and hope, as the effect its own cause, for because by faith and hope we taste how good the Lord is, therefore we love him. Faith receives and embraces the promises of eternal life; and hope, on that, is entertained of enjoying it, and waits for it; hence flows love to God, who has promised it, and gives hope of it; faith spies it 4 in the promise, and hope rejoices in it; and both attract the affections to 4 God, the giver of it. Of which grace of love, there are these three principal branches, and to be treated of, Love to God, Love to Christ, and Love to the Saints. I. Love to God, Jehovah, our God, the one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might: This is what God requires of his people, and enjoins as a command to be obey ed; and it is but reasonable service; What doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to love him? and says Moses, in his name, I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, Deut. vi. 4, 5. and x. 12. and xxx. 16. and this is the chief and principal, the first and greatest command, and entirely agreeable to the law and light of nature and reason. In answer to the lawyer's question; Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Said our Lord, Thou shalt ve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment, Matt. xxii. 36-38. hence the apostle mys, Love is the fulfilling of the law, Rom, xiii. 10. Concerning which love as a grace, for though it is a command to love, it is of grace to keep it, may be observed, 1. On what account God is to be loved, and is loved by his saints. 1. For himself; because of his own nature, and the perfections of it, which render him amiable and lovely, and worthy of our strongest love, and affection; as these are displayed in the works of creation and providence, and especially of gmce, redemption, and salvation; to all which the Psalmist has respect when he says, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name, nature, and perfections, in all the earth! Psalm viii. 1. as God is great in himself, and greatly to be praised! great, and greatly to be feared; so great, and greatly to be loved, for what he is in himself; and this is the purest and most perfect love of a creature towards God, for if we love him only for his goodness to us, it is loving ourselves rather than him; at least, a loving him for ourselves; and so a loving urselves more than him: indeed, such is our weakness and imperfection, that. we cannot come at a view of the divine perfections, but by these means, through which they, and particularly his goodness and kindness, are made known unto us, and with which we are first and chiefly affected; yet hereby we are ied into aview of his nature and perfections, and to love him for the sake of himself; which love, though it is not first in order, it is chief and ultimate, and comes tearest to the love which the divine Persons bear to each other, and to that with which God loves his people; which arises, not from any goodness shewn to him, or received by him. 2. God is to be loved by his saints as their ummum bonum, their chief good; yea, their only good, their ALL in ALL;, and so to be only loved: There is none good but one, that is, God; God, Father, Son, and Spirit, the one Lord God, the object of his people's love; concerning whom they say, Whom have I in heaven but thee ? Psalm lxxiii. 25. and. may be loved by them as their portion now and hereafter, and as ther shield and exceeding great reward; and yet their love to him not be mercenary. he 3. God is to be loved by his people for the blessings of his goodness cominu-; nicated to them; he is the fountain of goodness to them; he is good, and does good, and therefore to be praised and loved, even for the bounties of his providence; he follows with his goodness, and daily loads with his benefits3, but especially for the blessings of his grace, with which he blesses his chosen in Christ Jesus; as electing grace in him; predestination to the adoption of children by him; acceptance with God, in him, the beloved; redemption through his blood; forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; regenerating quickening, calling, and sanctifying grace, and all things pertaining to life. and godliness. Which benefits bestowed, though they are not in quality the chief motives to love God, as before observed; yet they are in order first, and chiefly strike the affections, and stir them up towards the Lord.4. The various relations God stands in. to his people, do and should engage their affections to him; for he is not only their faithful Creator and kind Benefactor in nature and providence; but in grace their covenant God and Father; and the direction to love him is usually, Thou shalt love the Lord THY God; and David heaps up a variety of titles and characters, under which, and on account of which, he professed to love the Lord; I will love thee, O Lord, my strength! &c. Psalm xviii. 1-3.5. What greatly influences the love of the Lord's people to him, and lays then under obligation to love him, is his great love to them, 1 John iv. 19. which love appeared in choosing them in Christ to eternal happiness, of his own free favour and good-will; in the provision of Christ to be the propitiation for their sins; in the mission of him into the world for that purpose; in the free and full forgiveness of all their sins, for his sake; in drawing thein to himself, in effectual calling, with his loving kindness, having, for the great love wherewith he loved them, quickened them when dead in trespasses and sins; and in openly espousing them to himself in conversion, called, the love of their espousals; with all after manifes tations of his love unto them.-6. The examples of the saints in all ages, might be urged as motives to love the Lord; as of Enoch, Noah, and others before the flood; of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph after it ; with Joshua, Samuel, David, and others; but especially our Lord Jesus Christ, in human nature, who, in the exercise of this grace, as in others, is an example to us, John xiv. 31. 11. The subjects of this grace of love, in whom it is, by whom the Lord is loved, and how they come by this grace. any 1. It is not of men, nor is it in men naturally; it is not in natural man, who is in a state of nature and unregeneracy; such are lovers of pleasures, sinful lusts and pleasures, more than lovers of God; yea, some of them are described as haters of God; and, indeed, the carnal mind, in every man, is enmity against God, not only an enemy to God, but enmity itself; which denotes how great and intense, and what a rooted and implacable enmity there is in a carnal man to God, and all that is good: nor is there any love in the people of God themselves before conversion; they are without God, without any knowledge of God, and love to him; they are alienated from God, and from the life of God, and have no desire after him, nor of communion with him; but are enemies in their minds, in the temper and disposition of them; and which is shewn by their wicked works; and in this state they were when Christ died and shed his blood for them, to make peace and reconciliation for them, which circunstance greatly illustrates the love of God in the gift of his Son to *hem, 1 John iv 10.-2. The grace of love is of God; he is the efficient cause and author of it, as he is of every grace; the apostle John expressly says, Love is of God, of God, Father, Son, and Spirit; it is of God the Father, who' is the God of all grace, and so of this, 1 John iv. 7. and love with faith, are wished for from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Eph. vi. 23, and it stands in the first place among the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22. it is wrought, in the soul in regeneration, when other graces are, and is an evidence of it; for every one that loveth is born of God, 1 John iv. 7. and a man cannot love God until he is regenerated, and renewed in the Spirit f his mind, and is made a partaker of the spiritual circumcision of the heart, which is necessary to it, and which is promised, Deut. xxx. 6. this grace only appears with other graces, and when they do; there car. be no love to God where there is no knowledge of him; according to that known phrase, ignoti nulla cupids; where there is knowledge of him, especially of him in Christ, as gracious and merciful, there will be love to him, 1 John iv. 7, S. where ignorance is there is no love; but it appears where knowledge is, and it accompanies faith: both spring from the same abundant grace, 1 Tim. i. 14. faith, hope, and love go together, 1 Cor xiii. 13. as the subject of love is a regenerate man, the seat of it is the heart not the head, nor the tongue, but the heart; it lies not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth; and true love to God, is a love of him with all the heart, soul, and strength. 111. How, in what way and manner, love to God manifests itself. I. In a desire to be like him; one that loves another endeavours to imitate him, and such that love the Lord are followers of him, as dear children, beloved ones, and walk in love, and are obedient ones, and desirous of being holy, as he is holy, in all manner of conversation; nor can they be thoroughly satisfied and contented until they awake in his likeness. 2. In making his glory the supreme end of all their actions; as this is God's end in all he does in providence, who makes all things for himself, his own glory; so in all things in grace, they are all directed to the glory of it, nor will he give, nor suffer to be given, his glory to another; wherefore, in imitation of him, they that love the Lord, do all they do, whether in a natural and civil sense, or of a religious and spiritual kind, whether praying, or reading, or hearing, or preaching, their end is, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. x. 31. 3. In desiring of, and delighting in, communion with God; longing to appear before God, and enjoy his presence in his courts, thirst for him as in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is, that they may see his power and his glory in his sanctuary; this is the one thing uppermost in their minds, and which they seek most importunately for, that they may behold the beauty of the Lord in his temple; if God lifts but up the light of his countenance on them, this puts joy and gladness into their hearts, more than the affluence of all earthly things can; and if they are indulged with communion with him, they exult and glory, saying, Truly, our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, 1 John i. 3. 4. In a carefulness not to offend him, by sinning against him Ye that love the Lord, hate evil, Psalm xcvii. 10. and they will shew their hatred of it, and endeavour to avoid it, and even to abstain from all appearance of it; and when opportunity offers, and they are solicited by temptations to sin, argue, as Joseph; How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? against God, who has loved me, and I am under such great obligations to love him again! 5. In grief, when he has withdrawn himself, and in a diligent seeking after him until he is found; when he hides his face, and withdraws his gracious presence, a soul that loves God is troubled at it, and complains of it, as the church did; Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me! and therefore such a soul, with Job, expresses its concern to know where it could find him, and takes for it a course like his, goes forward and backward, to the right and left, where he used to work, and was wont to be seen. 6. In parting with and bearing all for his sake, leaving their own people and father's house, country, and kindred, as Abraham dil, to go where he directs; saying as Ruth said to Naomi, Whither thou goest I will go, where thou lodgest I will lodge, thy people shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God: and such that love God are willing to endure all hardships for his sake, to suffer reproach, persecution, and distress of every kind, rather than forego their profession and enjoyment of him.7. In a regard to his house, worship, and ordinances; they that love the Lord, love the habitation of his house, the place where his honour dwells; his tabernacles are amiable and lovely; a day in his house is better than a thousand elsewhere; it is no other, in their esteen, than the gate of heaven; and, like the disciples on the mount, think it good for them to be here, and are for making tabernacles to abide in.. 8. By a value for his word, his gospel, and the truths of it. They that love the Lord receive the love of the truth; not only the truth, but a love of it, an affection for it; it is more to be desired by them than gold, and is more to them than thousands of gold and silver; it is more esteemed of by them than their necessary food; they find it, and eat it, and it is the joy and rejoicing of their hearts; the feet of them that bring the good tidings of it are beautiful unto them. — In love and affection to the people of God; who are, with those that love the Lord, the excellent in the earth, in whom is all their delight; as they love him that begets, they love those who are begotten of him, and bear his image; and they are taught of him to do this in their regeneration, and which is an evi dence that they have passed from death to life, and are born again. 10. By a disesteem of all things in comparison of God: to love the world, and the things of it, in an immoderate manner, is not consistent with the love of the Father, or with profession of love to him; for the friendship of the world is enmity with God; and a man cannot be a friend of the world and a lover of God; no man can serve two masters, God and mammon; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or hold to the one and despise the other. 9. - IV. The nature and properties of the love of God; what it is, or should be. 1. It is, or ought to be, universal; a love of all that is in God, and belongs |