(2.) This will be exceeding effectual to endear thy soul unto God, to cause thee to delight in him, and to make thy abode with him. Many saints have no greater burden in their lives, than that their hearts do not come clearly and fully up, constantly to delight and
' Gen. iii. 5. ' 'E(p' J Wvrs; ri/jia^rov, Rom. v, 12.
' Jer. ii. 5, 21, » Isa. xl. 27-29, xlix. 15, 16.
36 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER.
rejoice in God ;— that there is still an indisposedness of spirit unto close walking with him. What is at the bottom of this distemper? Is it not their imskilfulness in or neglect of this duty, even of holding communion with the Father in love? So much as we see of the love of God, so much shall we delight in him, and no more. Every other discovery of God, without this, will but make the soul fly from him; l)ut if the heart be once mv^ch taken up with this the eminency of the Father's love, it cannot choose but be overi:)owered, conquered, and endeared unto him. This, if any thing, will work upon us to make our abode with him. If the love of a father will not make a child delight in him, what will? Put, then, this to the venture: exer- cise your thoughts upon this very thing, the eternal, free, and fiiiit- ful love of the Father, and see if your hearts be not -vvrouglit upon to delight in him. I dare boldly say, believers will find it as thriving a course as ever they pitched on in their lives. Sit down a little at the fountain, and you will quickly have a farther discovery of the sweetness of the streams. You who have nm from him, will not be able, after a while, to keep at a distance for a moment.
Objection 1. But some may say, "Alas ! how shall I hold communion with the Father in love? I know not at all whether he loves me or no ; and shall I venture to cast myself upon it? How if I should not be accepted? should I not rather perish for my presumption, than find sweetness in his bosom? God seems to me only as a consuming fire and everlasting burnings ; so that I dread to look up unto him."
Ansive7: I know not what may be understood by knowing of the love of God; though it be carried on by spiiitual sense and experience, yet it is received purely by believing. Our knowing of it, is our be- lieving of it as revealed. " We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love," 1 John iv. 16. This is the as- surance which, at the very entrance of walking with God, thou maj'est have of this love. He who is truth hath said it; and whatever thy heart says, or Satan says, unless thou wilt take it up on this account, thou doest thy endeavour to make him a liar who hath spoken it, 1 John V. 10.
Obj. 2. " I can believe that God is love to others, for he hath said he is love; but that he will be so to me, I see no gi'ound of persua- sion ; there is no cause, no reason in the world, why he should tm-n one thought of love or kindness towards me : and therefore I dare not cast myself upon it, to hold communion Avith him in his special love."
Ans. He hath spoken it as particularly to thee as to any one in the world. And for cause of love, he hath as much to fix it on thee as on any of the children of men ; that is, none at all without himself. So that I shall make speedy work with this objection. Never any one from the foundation of the world, who believed such love in the
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Father, and made returns of love to bim again, was deceived ; neither shall ever any to the world's end be so, in so doing. Thou art, then, in this, upon a most sure bottom. If thou believest and receivest the Father as love, he will infallibly be so to thee, though others may fall under his severity. But, —
Ohj. 3. " I cannot find my heart making returns of love unto God. Could I find my soul set upon him, I could then believe his soul delighted in me."
Ans. This is the most preposterous course that possibly thy thoughts can pitch upon, a most ready way to rob God of his glory. " Herein is love," saith the Holy Ghost, " not that we loved God, but that he loved us" first, 1 John iv. 10, 11. Now, thou wouldst invert this order, and say, " Herein is love, not that God loved me, b\it that I love him first." This is to take the glory of God from him : that, whereas he loves us without a cause that is in ourselves, and we have all cause in the world to love him, thou wouldst have the contrary, — namely, that something should be in thee for which God should love thee, even thy love to him ; and that thou shouldst love God, before thou knowest any thing lovely in him,— namely, whether he love thee or no. This is a course of flesh's finding out, that will never bring glory to God, nor peace to thy own soul. Lay down, then, thy reasonings; take up the love of the Father upon a pure act of believing, and that will open thy soul to let it out unto the Lord in the communion of love.