wells without water, and clouds carried about with winds, which do not water and fructify the earth.These predictions have been verified in several ages, by various schemes of religion, whose principal tendency seems to be, to gratify vain curiosity, to intoxicate the imagination, and to puff up men with an over-weening conceit of profound knowledge.

It is true, that perhaps there was scarcely any scheme of religion so made up of mistakes and absurdities, as to exclude all mixture of truth, and every branch of the divine and moral law. And so far as any branches of truth and moral precepts enter into mens' schemes, so far may they produce some good effects, however defective and partial. But as to the deluding parts of fictitious schemes of religion, whatever emotions they produce in mens' hearts, or rather, in their imaginations, it is evident that these things must be as different from divine love, as falsehood is from truth.

What has been said concerning the attainments which bear some resemblance to divine love, or may be mistaken for it, will receive farther light by con sidering the scripture account of the nature and chief characters of that holy disposition of soul.

Seeing we are required to love God with all our heart and soul, and strength; this plainly implies, that all the ingredients of the most perfect love should concur, in the highest degree, in that holy affection. It must include the highest esteem, gratitude and desire: a due esteem of God's perfections, a grateful sense of his benefits, a propensity to suitable acknowledgment of his perfections, in the various manifestations of them; and in a special manner, to suitable acknow ledgments of all the effects of his goodness to us; a suitable desire of his favour, proceeding from a just esteem of his excellencies, together with suitable desire of his approbation; of conformity to him in his moral excellencies, and of the enjoyment of him as our chief good; and a due concern for, and compla cency in, his declarative glory. It deserves particular consideration, that, according to the scripture account

of divine love, a prevalent inclination to universal conformity and obedience to him, is so important an ingredient of it, that all other holy affections, which may be distinguished from that inclination, must conspire to strengthen it. But it is no less evident, that this inclination to obedience to God, must proceed from a due esteem of his excellencies, gratitude for his goodness, and desire of his approbation, and the enjoyment of him.

It is not needful to insist much on particular proofs of these things. They are evident from the whole strain of scripture doctrine on this important subject. As the whole of religion and of scripture instruction, is ofttimes comprehended under the knowledge of God, all the parts of divine knowledge are designed to produce and excite divine love. All the scripture instructions which treat at large of God's various perfections ; of the manifold displays cf them in his several works, in the works of creation, providence, and redemption ; of the various relations we stand in to him, and our absolute dependence on him; of the happiness to be had in drawing near to him with our whole hearts, and of the misery of departing from him; the necessity of glorifying him as God, and of being thankful to him; of giving him the glory due to his name, of fixing our desires on him above all things in heaven and earth, of glorifying him in all things, and of praising him, be cause his name alone is excellent; all these, and the like scripture instructions, contain evident proofs of those ingredients of divine love, which have been al ready mentioned.

It is no less evident, that love to God with our whole heart, must not only exclude all affections that are more directly contrary to it, but also that it must so moderate all our affections which are different from it, that they shall become duly subordinate and subservient to it. It is necessary that the tenor of our thoughts and actions, be suited to that just and noble affection; that it have the sovereignty in our hearts, and that it be the governing principle of our lives. To honour and obey God must be purposed by us, not merely as

a means of some other end, which would imply that there is something else which our hearts are more intent upon, but as itself our highest end. The difference between loving or desiring an object merely as a means of something else, and desiring it as an end, or, for itself, is a very considerable difference. What we love or desire only as a means, is what would be the abject of our indifference, or perhaps of our aversion, were it not for its connexion with some other thing.It is evident, that if we love God with all our heart, we must love him as our chief good and chief end. Whereas, mens' hearts may sometimes be warmed with fictitious affections, or affections relating to things. which they do not believe; it is evident, that the holy affections included in divine love, must be founded on a well informed judgment and sincere faith, or belief of the proper motives of it. And whereas, sometimes men may feel transient and superficial emotions about objects, to which they have no habitual inclination of affection, it is evident that love to God with the whole heart, must be a strong habit, deeply rooted in the soul. Thus, the scripture teaches us that love must proceed from faith unfeigned, and that we must be rooted and grounded in love, 1 Tim. i. 5. Eph. iii. 17.

Though these various characters of divine love be of manifold use for explaining the true nature of it, considered more abstractly; yet, in order to a right view of divine love, as implanted in the hearts of redeemed sinners, it is necessary to consider more par、 ticularly the chief grounds and motives of it, and the impressions they must make on their hearts. A just impression of the chief motives and obligations to the love of God, is a main thing included in the nature of it. These obligations may be usefully divided into two sorts; namely, these that are known by the light of nature, and these that are peculiar to the gospel. We are under infinite obligations to love and honour God, on account of his infinite excellencies, as manifested in creation and providence ; but we are also under new additional obligations on the account of God's incom prehensible mercy in our redemption. It was proved

above, that this divine mercy in our redemption front sin, is that which should habitually occupy the hearts* of redeemed sinners. It is not sufficient for us to con sider in general, that we should have a high esteem of God's perfections, and a grateful sense of his benefits; it is needful to consider more particularly what esteem we should have of the divine glory displayed in our salvation, and what grateful sense we ought to have of that love, whose height, and depth, are incomprehensible. It is not sufficient to consider in general, that the love of God includes transcendent desires after God; that is, after the favour, the image, and enjoyment of God. It is needful to consider in what manner we are to desire, and seek from God so inestimable blessings, of which we are so utterly unworthy.

SECTION III.

Arguments, from experience, for the necessity of Divine

Grace.

IN considering the arguments from experience, for the necessity of sanctifying grace, in order to true holiness, it is necessary to join together the consideration of the following things; namely, of the nature of true holiness itself; the insufficiency of external causes to produce it: and the power of human depravity or corruption, which is so opposite to it. It is necessary to have in view the nature of true holiness itself, to prevent mistakes about the ends and effects, for which sanctifying grace is affirmed to be necessary : this being a subject in which misrepresentations are very ordinary. They who assert the necessity and efficacy of sanctifying grace, do not deny that, with out such grace, men may avoid enormities or perform any external good actions: yet, sometimes men seem to charge that doctrine with such consequences. That, for which sanctifying grace is affirmed to be necessary, is the restoring of the divine image or true holiness, in the heart of a sinner. Though true holiness necessarily includes a prevalent inclination to all acts of obe

dience in the practice, yet its nature consists chiefly) in the inward rooted dispositions of the soul. This is evident, both from the scriptures which treat of the nature of holiness, and those which treat more expressly of the operations of the Holy Ghost. The great design of these operations is, according to scripture, to give sinners new hearts and right spirits; hearts of flesh, so as Christ shall dwell in their hearts by faith; hearts, in which the love of God is shed abroad, and on which the law of God is written. Newness of life and holiness, in all manner of conversation are absolutely necessary; but it is needful to remember that the chief part of the new creature is the new heart.

In considering the necessity or efficacy of sanctifying grace, in relation to good actions, it should be observed, that actions may be called good in two very different meanings; either merely in regard to the matter and the effects of them; or in regard to their inward principle and end, which is always suitable to the inward prevailing dispositions of the heart whence they proceed. In the first large meaning of the word, bad men are so far from being incapable of performing any good actions, that there is indeed no sort of good actions, whether of piety, righteousness, or mercy, which may not sometimes be performed by them; though it is of great importance, in this matter, to distinguish between particular good actions, and the habitual tenor of mens' conduct. The good actions of bad men may flow from two very different principles, that were considered in the former section. Sometimes they flow from these affections, which are evil and corrupt, either in their own nature, or on account of their excess; as many Pharisees are said to have performed acts of devotion and charity, from a principle of pride and ostentation; and Paul speaks of some people, who even preached the gospel out of envy. Sometimes the good actions of bad men flow from better principles; namely, from those common good affections, whose fault lies not in the excess, but in the defect; such as the general desire of perpetual happiness, and escaping misery, which desires, how

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