Mr. Shepherd speaks of a wicked man,1 who wants an inward principle of love to God and Christ, that he doth all for himself, he sleeps, prays, hears, speaks, professes, for himself alone, that he commits the highest degree of Idolatry, and makes himself a God: And adds this reason; For a man puts himself in the room of God, as well by making himself his finis ultimus, as if he should make himself primum principium: And is there any question at all in this? may not a wicked man (not to say, sleep, which every man doth) but pray, hear, speak, profess? No doubt can be made of it, and if he do so, it must needs be for himself; he having, whilst wicked, no Divine Principle, nothing of grace to elevate him above himself: But Mr. Shepherd would have men go out of themselves to Christ: And this is hard to row against the stream, to hate a mans self: And, saith the Author, this is impossible, this is to root up the very principle of Love: Love to our selves is the foundation of our Love to all other things, even to God himself. To which I answer: No doubt we are to love Christ for the purchased Salvation ⟨p. 607⟩neither doth Mr. Shepherd deny it, but we are not to love him for Salvation, only or supremely, no, but for himself, his infinite goodness and perfection: This is not to root up the principle Love, but to rectify it: Indeed this is hard: Nay, I may add unattainable by lapsed nature in it self: but Grace elevates nature above it self, to love Christ (though not without a respect to Salvation) yet above our selves, and so in a comparative sense to hate our selves for him: Indeed, if love to our selves were (as the Author would have it) the foundation of our Love to God, then it must be the measure of it too; and by consequence we should not need love God above our selves; and our love of God might, for ought I see, centre and ultimately terminate in our selves: But this cannot be allowed; As long as God is God, the supreme good and last end, he must be loved above all, and for himself; that inclination, which is in us to love our selves more than God, is, as Bonaventure well observes, not the perfection, but the corruption of our Natures: But, saith the Author, he that doth not love or care for himself, will not love God. To which I answer: If ⟨p. 608⟩we do not care for our selves in a way of foolish neglect, we are unnatural to our selves, and want true love to God:
Mr. Shephard speaks of a wicked man,1 who wants an inward principle of love to God and Christ, that he doth all for himself, he sleeps, prayes, hears, speaks, professes, for himself alone, that he commits the highest degree of Idolatry, and makes himself a God: And adds this reason; For a man puts himself in the room of God, as well by making himself his finis ultimus, as if he should make himself primum principium: And is there any question at all in this? may not a wicked man (not to say, sleep, which every man doth) but pray, hear, speak, profess? No doubt can be made of it, and if he do so, it must needs be for himself; he having, whilst wicked, no Divine Principle, nothing of grace to elevate him above himself: But Mr. Shephard would have men go out of themselves to Christ: And this is hard to row against the stream, to hate a mans self: And, saith the Author, this is impossible, this is to root up the very principle of Love: Love to our selves is the foundation of our Love to all other things, even to God himself. To which I answer: No doubt we are to love Christ for the purchased Salvation ⟨p. 607⟩neither doth Mr. Shephard deny it, but we are not to love him for Salvation, only or supremely, no, but for himself, his infinite goodness and perfection: This is not to root up the principle Love, but to rectifie it: Indeed this is hard: Nay, I may add unattainable by lapsed nature in it self: but Grace elevates nature above it self, to love Christ (though not without a respect to Salvation) yet above our selves, and so in a comparative sence to hate our selves for him: Indeed, if love to our selves were (as the Author would have it) the foundation of our Love to God, then it must be the measure of it too; and by consequence we should not need love God above our selves; and our love of God might, for ought I see, center and ultimately terminate in our selves: But this cannot be allowed; As long as God is God, the supreme good and last end, he must be loved above all, and for himself; that inclination, which is in us to love our selves more than God, is, as Bonaventure well observes, not the perfection, but the corruption of our Natures: But, saith the Author, he that doth not love or care for himself, will not love God. To which I answer: If ⟨p. 608⟩we do not care for our selves in a way of foolish neglect, we are unnatural to our selves, and want true love to God:
- 1Answer.
