14. How to improve and augment all our possible abilities to love God, with all our Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength; and for this I shall give you one general (yet singular) direction (though I must inform, direct, and press several things under it,) and that is, set your selves to love God. Set upon it as you are able; do for the engaging of your love to God, as you would do for engaging your hearts in love to a person commended to you for marriage. Here's a person commended to you which you never saw, nor before heard of. All the report you can hear, speaks a great suitableness in the person, and consequently happiness in the match, you thereupon entertain the motion, and a treaty, to see whether reports be true and affections feasible, though at first you find no affection on either side; yet if you meet with no discouragements, you continue converse, till by a more intimate acquaintance, there ariseth a more endearedness of affection; at length a non-such love becomes mutual. Do something like this in spirituals. I now solemnly bespeak your highest love for God. Perhaps God and thy soul are yet strangers: thou hast not yet met with him in his ordinances, nor savingly heard of him by his spirit: Don't slight the overture, for from thy first entertainment of it, thou wilt be infinitely happy. Every thing of Religion is at first uncouth, the work of mortification is harsh, and the work of hol• ness difficult, but practice will facilitate them, and make thee in love with them, so the more thou acquaintest thy self with God, the more thou canst not but love him, especially considering, that God is as importunate with thee for thy love, as if his own happiness was concerned, whereas he is infinitely above receiving benefit from us, but seeing he is so earnest with thee for thy love, Beg it of him, for him; God is more willing to give every grace than thou canst be to receive it. Acquaint (w)thy self therefore with God, — and thou shalt have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee. What though thou beginnest at the lowest step of Divine love, thou mayst, through grace, mount up to the highest pinnacle. I willingly wave so much as mentioning the several methods proposed, and shall from a modern Author commend to you these five steps or degrees of love to God.
14. How to improve and augment all our possible abilities to love God, with all our Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength; and for this I shall give you one general (yet singular) direction (though I must inform, direct, and press several things under it,) and that is, set your selves to love God. Set upon it as you are able; do for the engaging of your love to God, as you would do for engaging your hearts in love to a person commended to you for marriage. Here's a person commended to you which you never saw, nor before heard of. All the report you can hear, speaks a great suitableness in the person, and consequently happiness in the match, you thereupon entertain the motion, and a treaty, to see whether reports be true and affections feasible, though at first you find no affection on either side; yet if you meet with no discouragements, you continue converse, till by a more intimate acquaintance, there ariseth a more endearedness of affection; at length a non-such love becomes mutual. Do something like this in spirituals. I now solemnly bespeak your highest love for God. Perhaps God and thy soul are yet strangers: thou hast not yet met with him in his ordinances, nor savingly heard of him by his spirit: Don't slight the overture, for from thy first entertainment of it, thou wilt be infinitely happy. Every thing of Religion is at first uncouth, the work of mortification is harsh, and the work of hol• ness difficult, but practice will facilitate them, and make thee in love with them, so the more thou acquaintest thy self with God, the more thou canst not but love him, especially considering, that God is as importunate with thee for thy love, as if his own happiness was concern'd, whereas he is infinitely above receiving benefit from us, but seeing he is so earnest with thee for thy love, Beg it of him, for him; God is more willing to give every grace than thou canst be to receive it. Acquaint (w)thy self therefore with God, — and thou shalt have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee. What though thou beginnest at the lowest step of Divine love, thou mayst, through grace, mount up to the highest pinnacle. I willingly wave so much as mentioning the several methods proposed, and shall from a modern Author commend to you these five steps or degrees of love to God.
- 1How to improve and augment our love to God.
- (w)Job. 22.21, 26.
