3. Speak as the covenant speaketh that you are under, till your sincerity be more unquestionable. God offers himself to be our God, and Piedeemer, and Father ; Christ to be our Lord and Saviour : Isa. Ixiii. 16, ' Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not : thou, 0 Lord, art our Father,'our Piedeemer ; thy name is from everlasting.' God offered himself to be 60, and God is angry for not owning it: Jer. iii. 4, 'Wilt tiiou not from this time cry unto me. My Father, thou art the guide of my youth ?'
SEEMON X7.
^y^dcll hatli loved us, and given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace. — 2 Thes. II. 16.
We come now to the second branch, the ground of audience and success in prayer : ' Which hath loved us, and given us everlasting con- solation, and good hope through grace.' Where three grounds of acceptance are intimated : —
I. The first is taken from the rise and foundation of all the love of God : he liath loved us.
II. From the matter of our comfort : he hath given us everlasting consolation.
III. From the way whereby we receive it and entertain it : and good hope through grace.
The first rehitelh to our redemption by Christ.
The second to tlie new covenant.
The third to the disposition of our liearts, and how we are aflected in the reception of these things, as will appear more in the explication of each branch.
First, I begin witli the rise and foundation of that grace which we expect and beg of God in prayer : he ' hath loved us.'
2 ThES. II. 16.] THE FIFTEENTH SERMON. 147
Doct. That God's love to sinners, manifested in our redemption by Christ, f^iveth great boldness and encouragement irv prayer.
1, I shall prove this is the love here intended.
2. That this givetli boldness in prayer.
I. That this is the love here intended, for these reasons : —
1. This is a visible effect and demonstration of his love to us : 1 John iii. 16, ' Hereby perceive we the love of God to us, in that he laid down his life for us ;' and 1 John iv. 9, 10, ' In this was manifested the love of God towards us, in that he sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we miglit live by him. Herein was love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.' From these places I gather, that to found our confidence and hope, it was needful that the love God had to us should show itself by some manifest and real proof. How can we tell how God's heart standeth affected to mankind but by the effects ? Whatever benevolence or good-will he has towards us, it is not evident to us till it break forth into some action, and real performance of some great thing for us. Now this was fully manifested in giving his Son to die for a sinful world, that he hath a love fur us, and doth really desire our salvation. There is a hidden love of God, which is his eternal purpose and decree ; and there is an open and declared love, and that is first and most seen in our redemption by Christ. In predestination his love was conceived in his heart ; in redemption it is manifested in the effects ; that was the rise, this the visible demonstration and sign of it. Now the apostle would not reason from what was hidden and secret, but from what is open and manifest.
2. This is not only^the demonstration and visible proof of the reality of his love, but an ample representation and commendation of the greatness of his love : Eom. v. 8, ' But God commendeth his love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' A thing may be demonstrated to be real that yet is not commended or set forth as great and glorious. But God would express his love in such an astonishing instance, that we might admire the greatness as well as believe the reality of it : John iii. 16, ' God so loved the world,' &c. ; that is, so unspeakably, so inconceivably would he express his love to mankind, as to send his Son to assume our nature, and die for our transgressions. He doth not tell you how, but leaveth you to admire
. at it, and rejoice in it. What may we not expect from this love, this great love ? If God loveth us at such a rate, surely he is in good earnest ; his heart is set upon our salvation, or else he would never have taken this course of giving his only Son to suffer an accursed and shameful death. Now when the apostle saith ' God hath loved us/ he meaneth it of the great instance of his love. Analogum perse posi- ium, stat pro suo signijicatu famosiori — words not restrained by the context must be interpreted in the most famous and known sense.
3. This is the first motive to draw our hearts to him : 1 John iv. 19, ' We loved him, because he loved us first.' The first motive of our affection is not his special electing love to us above others, for that we cannot know before we love him ; but his common love and mercy to sinners, and that was manifested in Christ's being sent to be a propitia- tion for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole