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First, The nature of the Love of God; the fruits of this Love; and when a man may properly be faid to love God with all his heart, and foul, and mind, and ftrength?

Secondly. The love of our neighbour, with its happy confequences.

Thirdly. The love of ourselves, and the benefits attending it. I. Of the Love of God, and the fruits of this love. LOVE in general, may be faid to confift of three parts, Efteem, Defire, and Delight; and has been described as "The great inftrument of nature: the bond and cement of fociety: the fpirit and Spring of the universe an affection which cannot fo properly "be faid to be in the foul,, as the foul to be in it. In a word, "it is the whole man wrapt up in one defire."

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The Greek word Αγαπη, from 'αγαπαω to love, is fuppofed to be compounded of ayar and mo, to act vehemently or intenfely; or from ayeur xata war, because love is always active, and will act in every poffible way; for he who loveth, is with all his affection and defire carried to the beloved object, in order to poffefs and enjoy it. Some derive it from ayay and Tavolas, to be completely at reft, or, to be intenfely satisfied; becaufe he who loves is fupremely contented with, and refts completely fatisfied in that

which he loves.

The ancient author of a MS. Lexicon in the late French King's library, feems to have taken precifely this view of the fubject: Under the word Αγαπη, is the following definition, ασπατος προθεσις επι τη φιλία τε φιλουμένου, "A pleafing furrender of friendfhip to a friend: Eva, An identity or fameness of soul. A Sovereign preference given to one above all others, prefent or abfent. A concentration of all the thoughts towards a fingle ob ject, which a man prefers to all others.". Apply this definition to the Love which God requires of his creatures, and you will have the most correct view of the fubject.

The love which we owe to the ever bleffed GOD, is, a love of religious homage and adoration, of obedience and gratitude, of entire confidence and complacency.

But feeing it is a matter of fuch vaft importance to love God, an Apofle having declared, "If any man love not the Lord Jefus (Christ, let him, be accurfed;" and as fo many are deceived in "and this; imagining they love God, when, in truth, they do not; it will be highly neceffary to confider this subject more par ticularly. :

If we confider man as a fallen creature, and under the dif pleasure of the Most High GoD, on account of his actual tranfgreffions; and actuated by the carnal mind, which is enmity with God, we cannot fuppofe him capable of loving God while in fuch a ftate, For the love of God is a gracious principle implanted in the foul by the Holy Spirit, which inclines it highly to esteem, earneftly to defire, and greatly to delight in the God of all Grace, its chief good, and the fountain of all perfection and excel

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lency. This being the cafe, we cannot properly be faid to love God till we are acquainted with him, as a God reconciled to us in Chrift Jefus. For as by nature the mind is alienated from God, and we have no faving knowledge of him, there is an abfolute neceffity that he fhould manifeft himself unto us, as our Father and our Friend.

Doubtless, much may be known of God from his works of creation and providence. Yet the Apostle afferts, 1 Cor. xiii. that it is poffible to be a most profound philofopher, to understand all myfteries, and at the fame time be deflitute of the love of God. A man may contemplate the wonderful works of God in nature, and be highly delighted with them too; he may also see much of the wildom, power, and goodness of God, difplayed in his government of the world, and yet be a ftranger to that love of God which Chrift recommends. Nevertheless it is true, that knowledge of this kind to a pious mind is exceedingly useful, and we may fay upon good ground, Supremely happy is the man, who being bleft with the love of God, is alfo favoured with clear views of his wonderful works; fo that he can trace the hand of an infinitely wife, good and powerful God, in the conftitution and prefervation of the universe. But though the invifible power and Godhead of the Supreme Being may be fatisfactorily discovered in his works, yet much more may be known of Him from his Word, as he has therein clearly and fully revealed himfelf to us, as a God of unbounded mercy, love, and goodness. And yet the Apostle fuppofes it poffible for a perfon to have all knowledge, even in the Word of God, and to be a ftranger to this love. To understand the Word of God aright, is a great bleffing, when duly improved; and a pious mind can never be overstock'd with fcriptural knowledge: But it is very poffible to have a large fhare of fpeculative knowledge, and orthodox notions, while at the fame time the mind is alienated from God.

In order then to love God, it is abfolutely neceffary that we fhould know that God loves us, and is reconciled to us by the death of his Son. How can a man love God while labouring under a fenfe of his difpleafure? But let him only experience the love of God in Chrift Jefus towards him; let him only feel redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of his fins; let him only be juftified through faith, and have peace with God, arifing from an affurance of God's love towards him; and then gratitude towards God will fill his whole foul. The confideration of God's love towards him in receiving him into his favour, when he might moft juftly have caft him into everlasting darkness, will lead him to fay with the holy Pfalmift, "What fhall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me!" The love of God will contrain him cheerfully to obey his Maker in all things: for that power which works in him mightily, will deftroy the enmity of the carnal mind: it will create the foul anew: it will re

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fine and fpiritualize the whole man: it will bring him into an holy heavenly flate: a ftate of union with God, and communion with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit. His defires center in the Fountain of all Goodnefs. The cry of his foul is, Lord, whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I defire befide thee." Thus his affections are fixed upon God, and upon every thing that leads to him. He fears his facred Name, he reverences his holy Word, he very highly esteems his minifters, he greatly delights in his people, he fets an high value upon his ordinances and he greatly profits by them. To him, "wifdom's ways are ways of pleafantnefs, and all her paths are peace:" He rejoices in God, as the God of his falvation; he delights in God as the fatisfying portion of his foul; his Maker is his all in all.

Hence it appears, that by this love the foul refts in God, fupremely pleafed and fatisfied with him as its portion, and acts intenfely and conftantly towards him, and for him. It is (as before obferved) a concentration of all the powers and faculties of the mind in the Lord of the univerfe. It is a pleafing furrender of all that we have and are to him, an identity or fameness of fpirit with him, a being made a partaker of a divine nature, and having the fame mind in us which was in Chrift Jefus. In a word, A dwelling in God and God in us.

Such a love as this, that Being who is infinitely perfect, good, wife, powerful, beneficent, and merciful, (whofe goodness, wif dom, power, beneficence, and mercy, are continually exercifed towards us in every poflible way) merits and requires from his intelligent and redeemed creatures. And in fulfilling this duty the foul finds its felicity and perfection, for it refts in the fource of goodness, and is penetrated with inceffant influences from him who is the center of all that is amiable, the fountain of all folid peace and of all substantial happiness; the God of Grace and the God of Glory.

This is that love which a creature effentially owes to its Creator, a fervant to his Almighty Mafter, a fon to his most affectionate Father. This love is founded upon all the Attributes of the Deity, includes all forts of duties, and obliges every man; calls forth all his powers into action, and directs him to the accomplishment of the most important purposes, and to the attainment of the most excellent ends. To this love of God all fhould fubmit, every thing give place, and to it every thing we take in hand should be referred.

But what is implied in loving God with all the heart and mind, &c. and when may a man be faid to do it?

1. He, loves God with all his Heart, who having an affurance of the love of God in Chrift Jefus towards him, loves nothing comparatively but God: and nothing but in reference to him. Nothing which he is not ready to give up in order to please him: who has in his heart neither love nor hatred, hope nor fear, in

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clination nor averfion, defire or delight, but as it relates to God, and is regulated by him. He is confcious that he has received all his good things from God, he therefore fees his kind and gracious hand in all the bleffings of providence and grace. He fees and he tastes the goodness of God in his health and strength, his food and raiment, and all the comforts and conveniencies of this life.

2. He loves God with all his Soul, or rather & oλng tus duxns, with all his life, who is ready to give up his life for his fake: to endure all forts of torments, and to deprive himself of all earthly pleasure and comfort, rather than in any wife dishonour God. Who ufes the comforts and conveniencies of life with this fimple defire and defign to glorify God in all, and through all, unto whom life or death are nothing, but as they come from God and lead to him. From this divine principle fprang the blood of the Martyrs which became the feed of the Church. They overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and loved not their lives unto the death."

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He loves God with all his Strength, who exerts all the powers of his foul and body in the fervice of God. Who for the glory of God, fpares neither labour nor coft: Who facrifices his time, his body, his health, and his eafse for the honour of God, his divine Master; and who employs in his fervice, all his goods, his talents, his power, his credit, his authority, and his influence.

4. He loves God with all his Mind, or with all his Intellect, who applies himself only to know God and his holy Will. Who receives with gratitude and fubmiffion, yea with holy delight and facred pleafure, the precious truths which he has revealed to men. Who ftudies the facred teftimonies with heart-felt fatisfaction, and meditates in them day and night? Who ftudies no Art or Science, but as far as it is neceffary for the fervice of God, and ufes it at all times for his glory. Who forms no projects nor designs, but in reference to God, and the interefts of mankind. Who banifhes from his understanding and his memory, every useless, foolish, and dangerous thought, together with every idea that has any tendency to defile his foul, or turn it for a moment from the center of eternal repose. Who ufes all his abilities, both natural and acquired, to grow in the grace of God, and to perform his will in the most acceptable manner. In a word: He who fees God in all things, thinks of him at all times, having his mind continually ftayed upon him, and is therefore kept in perfect peace. Acknowledges God in all his ways. Discovers his wife and gracious hand in all his conduct towards him, and begins, continues, and ends, all his thoughts, and words, and works, to the glory of his Name. This is the perfon who loves God with all his heart, with all his foul, with all his ftrength, and with all his mind. For" he is crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to him." "He lives, yet not he, but Chrift lives. in him; and the life that he now lives in the body, he lives by

faith in the Son of God." He beholds as in a glass the glory of the Lord; the glorious mercy and boundless love of Chrift Jefus, together with all the exceeding riches of his grace. He is changed into the fame image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Simply and conftantly looking unto Jefus, the Author and Perfecter of his faith, he receives continual fupplies of enlightening and fanctifying grace, fo that he is fitted for every good word and work. O glorious ftate, far beyond this description! which comprizes an ineffable communion between the ever bleffed Trinity and the Soul of Man!

[To be concluded in the next.]

SINCE

The CONVERSION of a DEIST.

[ Concluded from page 279. ]

INCE I have been an inhabitant of this country, God has not ceased to inftruct and to bear with me, ungrateful as I am.. Till now I very imperfectly underflood what it is to do all things to the glory of God, all things for him, and to him. In my reading, meditations and prayers, I had myfelf principally in view; propofing to derive from thofe exercifes fome nourifhment, fome fpiritual confolation. I now began to be more fenfibly convinced that God is moft worthy, for whom and to whom, we fhould do all things, and that it ought to be my principal concern, and the object of my unremitting attention, to fee that God be glorified, in me and by me, as much as poffible. It is now my wish to make it my enquiry every hour, What is the will of God, and how may his glory be moft promoted by me ? to afk myfelf continually, not what my own convenience and comfort demand, but what, the honour of God, and the love of a dying Saviour?

About the fame time I began alfo more clearly to apprehend, and with a moft grateful impreffion of the fubject, to feel what are the unfearchable riches of the love of God in Chrift, which pass all comprehenfion now, and can never be fully known hereafter. Hence I was taught more perfectly my own ingratitude and unworthinefs, and my unfpeakable obligation to live entirely for Chrift, to feek the glory of God in all things, and joyfully to fuffer the fcorn of men, their mockery and perfecutions. Serioufly I prayed and cease not to pray, that Chrift may be the fubject of all my thoughts, the object of my chief defires, that his praises may be my conftant theme, that I may direct all my actions to his glory; And oh that my life, and my prayers, were lefs at

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In the mean time I had to contend with many and grievous fins, efpecially with carnal appetence, with pride and with the fear of man; making, while I enjoyed a heaven on earth, a most unwor thy return for my great privileges and extraordinary confolations.

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