(1.) As to the effects. When the gospel is made successful to our conversion, and his eternal love beginneth to take effect : Jer. xxxi. 3, ' I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore in loving-kind- ness have I drawn thee ; ' and again, Eph. i. 6, ' He hath made us accepted in the beloved, to the praise of his glorious grace.' The people of God are loved from all eternity by his love of benevolence, whereby he willed good unto them, and decreed to bestow good upon them, even when they were children of wrath in the sentence of the law. But there is besides this, the love of complacency, whereby he accepteth of them as being reconciled to him, and acquiesceth in them as his peculiar people, and will bestow all manner of grace upon them.
(2.) As to sense, or our feeling of this love : Eom. v. 5, ' Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts,' when it is evidenced to us that God hath thus sanctified us, and adopted us into his family, taken us for his children, Kom. viii. 16, and we are encouraged to look for the eternal inheritance as our right and portion. The effects we have in our conversion, called therefore effectual calling ; the sense we have by the Lord's confirming grace, or the witness of the Spirit, which God giveth as a reward to his faithful and obedient servants. Experienced, seasoned christians usually have it in a large measure.
Secondly, The people of God apprehend it as a very blessed and comfortable condition ; for here Paul in their name speaketh, that as long as God loveth them, they are not troubled about other things. Death may separate the soul from the body; depth of poverty may separate them, not only from the preferments of the world, but the enjoyment of their own estates ; evil angels may disquiet them with
414 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. XLVII.
temptations, worldly powers exile them from their country, and separate them from their dearest friends and acquaintance ; but as long as they are not separated from the love of God in Christ, they are well apaid and contented ; for the apostle's triumph is not that he did escape the troubles, but that he was not separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Now this cometh, partly from the real worth of the privilege itself, and partly from their esteem and value of it.
1. For the real worth of the privilege itself. Surely God's love can make us more happy than the world can make us miserable. Consider a believer as to his present or future condition ; he is a blessed man. For the present, his sins are pardoned : Ps. xxxii. 1, ' Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.' Their natures are healed : 2 Peter i. 4, ' Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.' Their ways are directed and ordered : Ps. cxix. 1, ' Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.' And for the future they have eternal life : 1 John ii. 25, ' And this is the promise he hath promised us, even eternal life.' Now these are blessings the world cannot deprive us of, and they are the fruits of distinguishing love ; but worldly things, which are subject to the will and power of our enemies, are not : Eccles. ix. 1, 2, 'Love nor hatred cannot be known by these things : all things come alike to all.' These have escaped the greatest misery, and are entitled to the greatest happiness mankind is capable of.
2. Their value and esteem of it above all worldly felicities : Ps. iv. 6, 7, ' Many say. Who will show us any good ? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness into my heart, more than in the time that their corn and wine increased ;' yea, above life itself : Ps. Ixiii. 3, ' Thy loving-kindness is better than life.' They were willing to renounce all to get it, and therefore they are willing to renounce all to keep it: Phil. iii. 7, 8, 'W^hat things were •gain to me I counted loss for Christ ; yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss.' He had counted, and did count, to show that he had not repented of his choice. Man is changeable and fickle, highly conceited, for one thing to-day, and another to-morrow ; but the apostle saw no cause to recede from his choice, he continued still of the same opinion. We often afl'ect novelties ; are transported when we first change our profession, and repent at leisure. Now if he were to do it again, he would freely do it, supposing it to be gainful. But now to have the favour of God, and to be like him, how valuable a blessing is it! None are true christians but those that are like-minded, that value his favour above all things ; for otherwise God is loved with the respect of an underling, and so cannot have the affection from us that is due to the chiefest good : Ps. Ixxiii. 25, ' Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.'