Thus is this whole business stated by the apostle,
Eph. i. 4, “According as he hath chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love.” It begins in the love of God,
and ends in our love to him. That is it which the eternal love of
God aims at in us, and works us up unto. It is true, our universal
obedience falls within the compass of our communion with God; but that is
with him as God, our blessed sovereign, lawgiver, and rewarder: as he is
the Father, our Father in Christ, as revealed unto us to be love, above and
contrary to all the expectations of the natural man; so it is in love that
we have this intercourse with him. Nor do I intend only that love which is
as the life and form of all moral obedience; but a peculiar delight and
acquiescing in the Father, revealed effectually as love unto the soul.