OF THE LOVE OF GOD,

AND

THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE PASSIONS.

DISCOURSE I.

The Affectionate and Supreme Love of God.

MARK Xii. 30.-Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.AMONG all the teachers of religion that have been sent from God to men, the most eminent and illustrious are Moses and Christ; Moses the servant of the living God, and Christ his only begotten Son. Both of them lay the foundation of all true religion in the unity of God, and both of them make our religion to consist in love. Thus saith Moses in the sixth of Deuteronomy, whence my text is cited, and thus saith the blessed Jesus in the place where my text lies, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love him with all thy heart.

It is no wonder that all the powers of our natures, with all the utmost extent of our capacities, must be devoted to the love and service of this God, since there is but one, since "is God alone, and there is none besides him; Is. xliv. 6. He must reign over the heart and the soul, over all our intellectual and our bodily powers, supreme, and without a rival. Though the love of our neighbour is required by Moses and Christ, as a necessary part of our religion, yet it must never stand in competition with the love of our God.

Some suppose the supreme and intense degree of this love, to be the whole design of Christ, in recommending the love of God to us in all these four expressions, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, viz. to intimate in general that all the faculties of nature should be employed in the love and service of God, with the greatest intenseness and full vigour of exercise.

But if we should distinguish these sentences, according to the different powers of nature, into so many different significations, I think they may be most naturally thus explained: God must be loved with all the mind, that is, he must stand highest in

the esteem of the judgment: He must beloved with all the soul, that is, with the strongest attachment of the will to him: He must be loved with all the heart, that is, with the warmest and sincerest affection And he must be loved with all the strength, that is, this love must be manifested by the utmost exercise and activity of all the inferior powers.

The heart in the language of scripture, and in the common sense of men, is the seat of the passions, that is, of fear, hope, love, hatred, joy, sorrow, shame, desire, and such like, which are usually called the passions or affections of the heart, I shall not stand in this place to give a more exact or philosophical account of them, having done that in another treatise.* If it be enquired, why the heart is said to be the seat of the passions, there is this good reason for it, viz. It is by sensible effects on the heart, that several of the affections do chiefly exert and manifest themselves; and it was chiefly for this reason that Jewish philosophy gave the soul of man its chief residence in the heart, and made it to be the seat of the passions.

The heart also in scripture, and in almost all nations and languages, is used to express or imply sincerity; what is done from the heart is done sincerely, perhaps, because the passions are naturally sincere, and are not so easy to be disguised as the outward actions of men. Now, since it is my design to treat of the exercises of the passions, or affections of the heart in the affairs of religion, I have chosen this sentence as the foundation of my discourses. The plain and obvious proposition contained in the words is this, viz.

"The Lord our God is the proper object of our most sincere affection, and our supreme love." It is not enough for the eye to be lifted up to him, or the knee to bow before him; it is not enough for the tongue to speak of him, or thre hand to act for his interest in the world; all this may be done by painted hypocrites, whose religion is all disguise and vanity: But the heart with all the inward powers and passions must be devoted to him in the first place: This is religion indeed. The great God values not the service of men, if the heart be not in it: The Lord sees and judges the heart; he has no regard to outward forms of worship, if there be no inward adoration, if no devout affection be employed therein. It is therefore a matter of infinite importance, to have the whole heart engaged stedfastly for God. If this be done we shall have a sufficient evidence in ourselves, that we are truly religious, and are beloved of God. In treating this subject, I shall consider these seven things:

I. What is presupposed and implied in the affectionate and supreme love of God.-II. What will be the effects of this

*The Doctrine of the Passions, page 447.

supreme love to God on all the other passions, or how this divine passion will engage all the rest of the affectionate powers in the interests of religion.-III. Of what use and importance the passions are in religion, and what advantage is to be derived from them.-IV. How far the passions may be abused, even in religious concerns, or what is the irregular use of them, and how their efforts should be limited and restrained.-Under each of these heads I shall propose some useful reflections.-V. We shall shew how the affectionate christian may be vindicated, against the cavils and reproaches of men, in his warmest exercises of devotion.-VI. What relief or comfort may be given to humble and sincere christians, who complain that they feel but very low degrees of this affectionate love to God, or of the exercise of pious passions, either in public worship, or in their devout retirements.-VII. What are the most proper and effectual methods of exciting and engaging the affections in religion. Of each of these in their order.

First, "What is presupposed and implied in the supreme and affectionate love of God?" I answer, these five things*.

I. Some good degrees of the knowledge of God, and such an acquaintance with him, as may raise the highest esteem of him in our mind. It is impossible that we should love any. thing that we know not: And it is not to be expected that we should love God supremely, or with all our heart, if we have not known him to be more excellent, and more desirable than all other things we are acquainted with. We must have the highest opinion of his transcendent worth, or we cannot love him above all things.

It is granted, we may love or delight in some objects of an inferior nature, as they are instruments of our health or ease, or comfort; so we are said to love our habitation and our food, because they minister to our conveniency or support in the present life. We may love some poor worthless wretches with good-will and compassion, because we design to bestow some benefits upon them. We love our country and our kindred with a sort of natural attachment of the heart, because they belong to ourselves, and we are, as it were, of a piece with them. We love our friends because we esteem them possessed of some valuable properties, and able to confer benefits on us, or to relieve our wants: But unless we see the great and blessed God, as a being possessed of the highest excellencies, and capable of bestowing on us the

I might have described the affectionate love of God here by the love of esteem, the love of benevolence, and the love of complacency, according to the distributions of love in the "Treatise of the Passions," mentioned in the preface; but I chose rather in this place to shew, what acts or operations of the understanding and will, are presupposed and included in the love of God: The more affectionate operations of it are reserved to the next discourse.

richest benefits; unless we see him as an all-sufficient good, we shall never love him with our whole heart: The affection to so unseen and spiritual a being as God is, can never rise high where the esteem is but low: Where the love ought to be superior to all other loves, the esteem must be transcendent.

II. The affectionate and supreme love of God, presupposes some hope of an interest to be obtained in his favour, and the highest advantages to be derived from him. If I lie down in despair of his mercy, I cannot look on God, even in all his supreme excellencies, with an eye of love. The devil, the worst of creatures, knows more of the transcendent glory and worth of the great God, than the wisest and the best of mortals here on earth: But he knows there is no hope for him to obtain an interest in his favour, and therefore he continues in his old enmity. His rebellion has cut him off from all expectation of divine mercy, and therefore he cannot love this God of infinite excellency. A dreadful state indeed for an intelligent being, that he cannot love what he knows to be infinitely amiable.

Hope is the most alluring spring of love. Terror and slavish fear stand opposite to this holy affection: Such fear has torment in it, and so far as we fear God as an enemy, we are not made perfect in his love; 1 John iv. 18. We love him, because we hope that he has, or he will love us: It is the assurance, or at least the expectation of some interest in God that engages the most affectionate love: And, perhaps, the words of my text may have some reference hereto, when it is said, thou shall love the Lord thy God. When we believe or hope that the Lord is our God, we cannot but love him.

III. This love of the heart implies a strong inclination of the will toward God, a steady bent of soul toward this blessed Author of our being and happiness: It implies a choice of him above and beyond all things else, as our most desirable portion and our eternal good. If any thing in this world be the chosen portion of our souls, if any thing beneath and besides God be made our chief hope, our support, and our life, our hearts will run out in strongest affections toward it, for it is our chief happiness; and then we can never love God as it becomes a creature to love his Creator.

The holy Psalmist was a most affectionate lover of his God, and, how often does he call him the "portion of his inheritance, his refuge, and his hope? Ps. xvi. 5. cxlii. 5. and in Ps. lxxiii. 26. Thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Blessed saint! He had chosen God for his

eternal all.

Under this head I should add also, that where the will is thus attached to God, the soul will exert itself in continual wishes for the honour of God in the world: It is the nature of love to

wish well, and to do good to the beloved object; and since God can receive no other good from us, but the manifestation of his excellencies and honours among men, we shall earnestly seek and wish this glory of God, if we are sincere lovers of him.

IV. This affectionate and supreme love of God includes in it an out-going of the heart after him, with most intense longings, and most pleasing sensations! This is what we are wont to call more eminently the love of desire, and the love of delight, which I shall speak of more at large in the following discourse. The heart of a sincere good man is restless till it find God, that is, till it obtain a solid hope and persuasion of his love, a growing conformity to him, and constant delight in him. The heart is not easy without God: It acquiesces and rests in him alone. If I have God for my friend, and my everlasting portion, I have all: If he be absent, O that Í knew were I might find him! Job xxiii. 3. And if he manifest his presence with his divine influences, "Come back, O my soul, from amongst the creatures; come back, and return to God thy

rest." Ps. cxvi. 7.

V. Where the love of God reigns in the affections it will command all the other powers of nature, and all the rest of the passions to act suitably to this sovereign and ruling affection of love: The eye will often look up to God in a way of faith and humble dependance: The ear will be attentive to his holy word: The hand will be lifted up to heaven in daily requests: The knees will be bended in humble worship: All the outward powers will be busy in doing the will of God, and promoting his glory: He that loves God, will keep his commandments, and fulfil every present duty with delight: He will endeavour to please God in all his actions, and watch against and avoid whatsoever may offend him. And while the several outward powers are thus engaged, all the inward affections of nature will be employed in correspondent exercises. Supreme love will govern all the active train of human passions, and lead them captive to chearful obedience.

This brings me to the next thing I proposed: But before I enter upon it I would make these four reflections, which will conclude the present discourse.

[This discourse may be divided here.]

Reflection 1. How vain are all their pretences to love God who know little or nothing of him, who are neither acquainted with the glorious perfections of his nature, nor with the wondrous discoveries of his grace! Love must be founded in knowledge. How vain are their pretences to love God with all their heart, and in a supreme degree, who never saw him to be a being of transcendent worth, or surpassing excellency, and capable of