I John

iv. 17.

SERM. Apoftle is plain, for in the foregoing Verfe XIV, he tells us, Herein is our Love made perfect, that we may have Boldness in the Day of Judgment, i. e. This is a certain Proof of our Love to Chrift, that it will enable us to confefs him before the Tribunals of temporal Princes, for (as it is presently added) perfect Love cafteth out Fear; from whence it is evident that the Love of God is confiftent with a reverential Fear of him; hay, they always go Hand in Hand and mutually imply one the other: He, that truly fears God, will admire his tranfcendent Perfections, and retain a grateful Refentment of his unmerited Favours; and he, that truly loves God, cannot chufe but honour and reverence him, and, like a dutiful Child, be fearful of offending his tender and indulgent Parent. But farther,

2. THE Love of God doth imply our affectionate and earnest Defire to be united to him; for when once we come to have our Minds affected with the glorious Attributes of God, especially his Goodness and Mercy; and are duly fenfible, how defirous God is of our Welfare, how ready to supply all our Wants, to do us Good in every Capacity, and to communicate to us as much Happiness as we are capable of receiving; when we confider how troubled

and

and grieved God is, when we wilfully and SERM. perversely ruin and destroy ourselves, how XIV. unwillingly he proceeds to that strange Work, the Execution of his Vengeance; fuch Contemplations as these will incite in us an earnest Defire and vigorous Endeavour to approach nearer to fo good, fo gracious, and fo merciful a Being, to give ourfelves up intirely to his Conduct, and to be united closer to him in the Bonds of Love, that fo the Light of his Countenance fhine the brighter on our Souls, and we may partake more plentifully of his Goodnefs.

may

How affectionately do good and holy Men in Scripture represent their Love to God? What do thofe Expreffions mean of Panting after him, Thirsting for him, Stretching forth their Hands towards him, but their earnest Defire to have God for their Helper and Defender (who is indeed a very ready Help in Time of Trouble) to enjoy the Affiftance and Comfort of his Holy Spirit, to have the Pardon of their Sins fealed to them, to be poffeffed of Peace of Confcience, and all the Bleffings of Grace here and Glory hereafter? This is that comfortable and happy Condition, which is the Effect of our Union with God, and therefore must needs be very defirable to that

Perfon

SERM. Person who has once tafted how good and XIV. gracious God is.

3. THE Love of God doth imply, that we prefer him before any other Thing which comes in Competition with him. For God is the fupreme and most excellent Good, and therefore to be preferred before all the good Things of this World; and he that will not for fake Father, Mother, Wife and Children, nay, doth not lay down his Life when God requires him so to do, is not worthy of him. God is a jealous God, and will admit of no Rival in our Hearts; he requires the whole Man, that all the Faculties of our Souls, all the Powers of our Bodies fhould be dedicated to his Honour and Service; we must love the Lord our God with all our Heart, and with all our Soul, and with all our Mind, and with all our Strength, i. e. The Love of God must have the ruling and commanding Power over our Souls, both over our intellectual Faculties and our inferior Appetites which are the Inftruments of Action; the chief Business and Defign of our Lives must be, to promote God's Honour and Renown, and to make his Glory more confpicuous in the Eyes of Men, and more lovely and amiable in our own Value and Efteem.

It is certainly not only lawful but com- SE RM. mendable to receive with Thankfulness XIV. and Complacency thofe good Things, which are stretched out to us by the boun tiful Hand of Providence; but then it becomes us to take great Care, that our Affections are not drawn out in an exceffive Measure after them, and that we do not regard them more than that God, who is the Author of them, and from whom we receive every good and perfect Gift. And the Way to know, whether we pay too great a Regard to them, is by confidering what Use we make of those good Things which God has bestowed upon us, and whether we apply them to those Ends for which we received them: As alfo whether we are ready to forego all the Advantages of this Life, rather than offend God? Whether, if our Cafe were the fame with the young Man in the Gofpel, and it was put to our Choice, whether we would renounce our Faith, or part with our great Revenues and Poffeffions, we should not make Shipwrack of a good Confcience, and go away fad from Chrift? We may perhaps fay, with St. Peter, that we would rather die than deny our Saviour; but yet it is evident that thofe Perfons who prefer the Gratification of their finful Appetites, VOL. II. before

Y

SERM, before their Duty to God, and their own XIV. eternal Welfare, would never give so noble

and generous an Inftance of their Love to God, as to facrifice their Lives in his Service; and yet it is as evident, that, if our Love to God will not bear this Test, it cannot be true and genuine; and therefore fince this is a Bufinefs of fo great Weight and Confequence, and yet a Matter in which we are too apt and inclinable to impose upon ourselves, and to take it for granted that we love God, when our Works make it evident that we hate and deny him; I shall endeavour to make this Matter more plain by setting down the neceffary Effects of the Love of God, and what Fruits it will produce in our Souls.

1. If we fincerely love God, we shall readily fubmit our Wills to his divine Will; we shall confider that God is not only good in his own Nature, but alfo gracious to us; and though we cannot understand the Reafon of his Difpenfations, to what End the Wheels of his Providence move, yet this we may be affured of, that all Things fhall work together for the Good of thofe who love God, that there are no Events but God has confulted well and wifely about them, and