A systeme or body of divinity consisting of ten books : wherein the fundamentals and main grounds of religion are opened, the contrary errours refuted, most of the controversies between us, the papists, Arminians, and Socinians discussed and handled, several Scriptures explained and vindicated from corrupt glosses : a work seasonable for these times, wherein so many articles of our faith are questioned, and so many gross errours daily published / by Edward Leigh.

CHAP. VIII. Of Gods Affections, his Love, Hatred.

THe Affections, which the Scripture attributes to God, are

1. Love which is an act a of the Divine Will, moving it self both to the most excellent good in it self, and to that excelling in the reasonable crea∣ture, approving it, delighting in it, and doing good b to it, Iohn 6. 16, 35. Rom. 5. 8. In which definition two things are to be noted.

1. The Object of Gods Love.

2. The Effect or Manner of Gods Love.

The primary object of Gods Love is himself, for he taketh great pleasure in him∣self, and is the Author of greatest felicity and delight to himself. The Father, Son and holy Ghost, love one another mutually, Matth. 3. 17. and 17. 5. Iohn 3. 33, 35. and 5. 20. and 10. 17. and 15. 9. and 17. 24. The secondary Object of Gods love is the reasonable creature Angels and men. For though he approve of the goodnesse of other things, yet he hath chosen that especially, to prosecute with his chiefest love: for these Reasons.

• 1. For the excellency and beauty of the reasonable creature, when it is adorned with its due holinesse.
• 2. Because between this onely and God, there can be a mutual reciproca∣tion of love, since it onely hath a sense, and acknowledgement of Gods good∣nesse.
• 3. Because God bestows Eternity on that which he loves; but the other creatures besides the rational shall perish.

Gods love to Christ is the foundation of his love to us, Matth. 3. 17. Ephes. 1. 6.

God loves all creatures with a General Love, Matth. 5. 44, 45. as they are the work of his hands; but he doth delight in some especially, whom he hath chosen in his Son, Iohn 3. 16. Ephes. 1. 6. Psal. 106. 4.

God loves his Elect before they love him; his Love is actual and real in the pur∣pose of it to them from Eternity. There are four expressions in Scripture to prove this:

• 1. He loves his people before they have the life of grace, Ephes. 4. 5. 1 Iohn 4. 19. Rom. 5, 8.
• 2. Before they have the life of nature, Rom. 9. 11.
• 3. Before the exhibition of Christ, Iohn 3. 16.
• 4. Before the foundation of the world was laid, Ephes. 1. 3. 2 Tim. 1. 9. There∣fore God loves the Elect more than the Reprobate, and our love is not the motive of his love.

Object. How could God love them when they were workers of iniquity, Hab. 1. 13. Psal. 5. 3, 4. He loved their persons, but hated their works and wayes. God loved Christs person, yet was angry with him when the guilt of our sins was up∣on him.

He loves his people, 1. Before conversion, Amore benevolentiae, with a love of good-will and of pity, which is properly shewed to one in misery, Ezek. 16. 5.

2. After Conversion, with a love 1. Of sympathy, Isa. 63. 9. Heb. 4. 15. and 5. 2. 2. Of Complacency and delight, Psal. 16. 10, 11. that Psalm is a Prophecy of Christ, see Ephes. 2. 5. This love of his delight is discovered four wayes:

1. By his valuing of his people, Since thou wast precious in my sight thou wast hono∣rable.

2. By his commendation of his Church and people, as often in the Can∣ticles.

3. By his frequent visits, Luke 1. 68. Rev. 3. 20.

4. By revealing his counsels to them. Iohn 15. 15.

2. The effect or manner of Gods love is, that God makes the person happy whom he loves. For he doth amploy reward that joy and delight which he takes in the holinesse and obedience of the Elect, while he pours plentifully upon them all gifts, both of grace and glory.

This love of God to the Elect is:

• 1. Free, Hosea 15. 5. he was moved with nothing but his own goodnesse, Ezek. 16. 8.
• 2. Sure, firm, and unchangeable, Rom. 5. 8, 10. 1 Iohn 4. 10. Iohn 13. 1. and 31. 3. Infinite and Eternal, which shall never alter, Iohn 3. 16. It is without cessation, Psal. 27. 10. Diminution, Cant. 8. 7. interruption, Rom. 8. 35. to the end, or alteration, every created thing is imutable.
• 3. Effectual, as is declared both by his temporal and eternal blessings, 1 Iohn 3. 1. Dei amare est bonum velle.
• 4. Sincere, It is a love without any mixture, love, and nothing but love. This is the motive which perswades Gods to communicate himself, and act for his people Isa. 63. 9. Rev. 3. 19. and hath no motive but it self, Deut. 7. 6, 7, 8. 1 Iohn 4. 8. God hath no need of us, or our love, nor doth not advantage himself by loving us, Iob 22. 2.
• 5. Great and ardent, Iohn 3. 16. and 15. 13. Rom. 5. 6, 7. God bestows pledges of his love and favor upon them whom he hath chosen, and sometimes he sheds the sence of his love abroad in their hearts, transforms us into his own image, Cant. 4. 9. and 6. 5. see Zeph. 3. 17.

We must love God Appreciativè, love him above all things, and in all, Psal. 73. 24. Mat. 10. 37. Intensivè and Intellectivè, with all our might and strength. Affectu & Effectu, love him for himself, and all things for the Lords sake: else it is not, 1. A Conjugal love, 2. Not an equal love, to love the gifts, and not the giver.

We should love:

• 1. All the Divine persons in the Trinity, 1. The Father, Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. 2. Christ, for taking our nature upon him. He gave himself to us, and for us, Cant. 5. 16. 3. The Holy Ghost, for drawing our hearts to the know∣ledge of this great mystery, Rom. 5. 5.
• 2. All the Divine properties and excellencies, whereby God makes himself known to the sons of men: Love him for his holiness, Es. 6. beginning, fidelity, 1 Cor. 10. 13. Omniscience and Dominion, The Scepter of thy Kingdom is a Righ∣teous Scepter.
• 3. We should love all his Ordinances, Psal. 27. 4. and 84. beginning, and all his discoveries to us in his word, 2 Thess. 2. 10.

We should expresse our love to him by our care in keeping his Commandments, 1 Iohn 2. 3. Iohn 14. 25. and 15. 10. and earnest desire of his presence, Psal. 4. 2, 3.

2. Our love should be conformed to Gods, in loving the Saints, Psal. 16. 3. Gal. 6. 10. Iohn 3. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 21. and Christ above all, desiring to be united to him, 1 Cor. 5. 44. 1 Pet. 1. 8.

3. We should admire the love of God, 1 Iohn 3. 1. For the sureness, greatnesse, and continuance of it, it passeth our knowledge, Ephes. 3. 19. he hath given his son for a price, his spirit for a pledge, and reserves himself for a reward.

That Tantus so great a God, should love Tantillos so little creatures as we before we were, Rom. 9. 11. tales when we were Enemies, Rom. 5. 10. tantum so much.

Means to love God: 1. Beg this love much of God in Prayer. 2. Study much to know him, his nature, attributes, excellencies. 3. Labour to injoy communion▪ with him. 4. Mortifie other loves contrary to this, inordinate self-love, and love of the world, 1 Iohn 2. 15.

There are many promises made to the love of God: 1. Of Temporal blessings,

Psal. 91. 14. Rom. 8. 28. 2. Spiritual, all the comforts of the Gospel, 1 Cor. 2. 9. 3. Of heavenly and eternal blessings, Iames 1. 12. and 2. 5.

1. God is Maximè amabilis, he is truly lovely. 2. Consider the great bene∣fits we receive from him, Psal. 116. 12. 3. He desires us to love him, Deut. 10 4. Mark 12. 33, 4▪ This affection onely and joy abide for ever, 1 Corinth. 13. ult.

The second affection in God, contrary to love, is Hatred, which is an act of the Divine will, declining, disproving and punishing of evil', prevailing and reign∣ing in the reasonable creature.

In which definition three things are to be noted:

• 1. The object of Gods hatred.
• 2. The cause and condition of the object hated.
• 3. The effect of Gods hatred.

• 1. The object of Gods hatred is the reasonable creature, for that onely sins. He hateth iniquity, Psal. 71. 59. Hab. 1. 13. Prov 11. 1. and the creature which ob stinately and stubbornly persisteth in evil, so that he doth rejoyce in the calamity and destruction thereof, Psal. 11. 5. and 5. 6. Prov. 16. 5.
• 2. The cause and condition of the object hated, is sin; for which God abhors the delinquent creature; onely the reasonable creature hath left his station, and defiled himself with the filth of sin; all the rest of the creatures, whether brute beasts or insensible creatures, persist in the state of goodnesse wherein they were created, although perhaps not in the same degree of perfection and excellency for mans sin: But although God cannot hate the creature, unlesse as sinful, yet not every degree of sin, but a high measure of it, makes the person hated. It is true that God abhors the least sin, yet he doth not abhor the persons of the godly, in which are the reliques of sinne, as he doth those of the wicked in whom sinne reigns.
• 3. The effect of Gods hatred is to punish the person whom he hates, Psal. 9. 11. whom when once it is rejected by God, troops of evil do invade, God both per∣mitting and commanding; and this actual hatred or outward manner of mani∣festing it, it may not unfitly be referred to the Divine justice. Hatred in God is a vertue and fruit of his justice, and not a vicious passion.

Consider, 1. The unsupportable horrors of conscience, Prov. 18. 14. 2. The painful death of little children, Rom. 5. 14. 3. How grievously God punisheth the sins of the Elect in his own Son, when he was made sin he was made a curse. 4. How small sins have been punished: The Angels for one aspiring thought were cast into hell; Uzza struck dead for touching the Ark, fifty thou∣sand Bethshemites for looking into it. Mr. Peacock felt a hell in his con∣science for eating too much at one meal. 5. The appointing of everlasting tor∣ments.

We should hate sin (for God hateth it) and that with the greatest hatred, even as hell it self, Rom. 129. Sin is the first, principal, and most immediate object of hatred. Paul mentioning divers evils, saith, God forbid. I hate vain thoughts, saith David, our affections must be conformable to Gods. He hateth nothing sim∣ply but sin, and sinners for sinnes sake. 2. Sin is, as most injurious to God, so most hurtful to man; therefore it is in it self most hateful. The ground of hatred of any thing is the contrariety of it to our welfare, as we hate wild, fierce, and raging beasts, for their mischievousnesse, Toades and Serpents for their poyson∣fulness, which is a strong enemy to life and health. Sin is the most mischievous and harmful thing in the world. Just hatred is general of whole kindes, as we hate all Serpents, so we should all sins.

Means to hate sin:

• 1. Pray to God, that his Spirit may rule and order our affections, and set the same against evil.
• 2. Exercise our selves in meditating of the infinite torments of hell, which sin deserveth, and the fearful threats denounced against it in the word of God, of all sorts of evils.
• 3. We should labor to get out of our natural estate, for the unregenerate man hates God, Psal. 81. 15. Rom. 1. 30. Christ, Iohn 7. 7. and good men, eo nomine, as Cain did Abel, 1 Iohn 3. 10, 12. they hate Gods ways and Ordinances, Prov. 1. 22, 29. This hatred is 1. Causelesse, Psa.. 69. 44. 2, Intire, without any mixture of love. 3. Violent, Psal. 53. 3. 4. Irreconcilable, Gen. 3. 15.

Notes

• a

  It is an attri∣bute, whereby God loveth himself above all, and others for himself.
• b

  Amor Dei est, quo se oblectat in ••o quod approbat, eique bene vult, & sibi unit, Wendel. God is first affected toward himself and his own Glory. Passiones Deo tribuntur non quoad affectum, sed quoad effectum. Love is not a passion or perturbation in God as in man, 1 Iohn 1. 5.
• John 14. 23. Ezek. 33. 11. Amor Divinus est. 1. Naturalis quo Deus neces∣sariò amat seip∣sum, 2. Voluntarius, 1. Universalis, quo omnes crea∣turas aliquo mo∣do Deus diligit. Amare enim est velle alicui bo∣num, Matth. 5. 45. 2. Specialis, quo Deus inaequali∣ter amat has & illas creaturas, respectu boni in∣••qualis, quod iis vult; sic magis diligit creaturas rationales, & in∣ter illas electos, & Christum. Wendelinus. Some dispute whether God loves all crea∣tures with an equal love, Ex parte actus divi∣ni, he doth not: Ex parte boni voliti, he wils heaven to some.
• 1 John. 4. 16. John 3. 35. Rom. 5. 8. Mal. 1. 2.
• Ephes. 2. 3, 4. 1 Ioh. 4. 10, 19.
• Ier. 31. 3.
• Rom. 8. 1, 2. and 5. 5. 1 John 3. 1. Psal 36. 7.
• God is the onely imme∣diate and pro∣per object of love. He is dili∣gibilis natura.
• Beatus qui amat te, amicum in te & inimicum propter te. Aug. conf. l. 4. c. 9. Minus te amat, qui te cum ali∣quid amat, quod non propter te amat. Aug. confess. l. 10. c. 29. Vide Ames. l. 4. de conscien∣tia. c. 10. M^r Bradford when others we••e merry at Table, fell a weeping, be∣cause he could not get his dull heart to love God.
• Gods hatred is that where∣by he is ready to do that which we do when we hate, even to separate a thing from himself, Ezek. 33. 11. Rom. 9. 14. Psal. 45. 7. and 5. 6. Isa▪ 1. 14.
• Hatred is of things contra∣ry ••o us, as God hates sin, being contrary to his 1. Nature. 2. Law. 3. Honour. Psal. 45. 8. Gods love hath variety of ob∣jects, he loves himself, his son, his Saints, all his crea∣tures; he hates nothing but sin; and his hatred is as in∣finite as his love: 1. He forbids no∣thing but sin, and all degrees of it, Ier. 44. 4. therefore it is set forth in Scripture by most odious names, whatsoever is shame∣ful or hurtful. 2. All his judgements are denounced against sin.
• Prov. 6. 16. Hatred in a reasonable creature is a motion of the will, whereby it flieth from that which it apprehends to be evil and opposeth it. It ariseth from a disconformi∣ty of the object
• There is a two∣fold hatred: 1. Odium abominationis, a flying onely from a thing. 2. Odium ini∣micitiae, where∣by I pursue what is evil. As much of our original corruption is found in this affection as any.