A26896:210
The Christians converse with God, or, The insufficiency and uncertainty of human friendship and…
The Christians converse with God, or, The insufficiency and uncertainty of human friendship and the improvement of solitude in converse with God with some of the author's breathings after him / by Richard Baxter ...
London: printed for John Salusbury, 1693
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But perhaps you will say, that this is not easily attained: How shall we know that he is our friend?
In brief, I answer, If you are unfeignedly friends to God, it is because he first loved you. Prefer him before all other friends, and all the wealth and vanity of ⟨p. 151⟩the world; Provoke him not by wilfulness or neglect: use him as your best friend, and abuse him not by disobedience or ingratitude; own him before all, at the dearest rates, whenever you are called to it: Desire his presence: Lament his absence: Love him from the bottom of your hearts: Think not hardly of him: Suspect him not; Misunderstand him not: Hearken not to his enemies: Receive not any false reports against him: Take him to be really better for you than all the world: Do these, and doubt not but you are friends with God, & God with you: In a word, Be but heartily willing to be friends to God, and that God should be your chiefest friend, and you may be sure that it is so indeed, and that you are and have what you desire. And then how delightfully may you converse with God!
In brief, I answer, If you are unfeignedly friends to God, it is because he first loved you. Prefer him before all other friends, and all the wealth and vanity of ⟨p. 151⟩the world; Provoke him not by wilfulness or neglect: use him as your best friend, and abuse him not by disobedience or ingratitude; own him before all, at the dearest rates, whenever you are called to it: Desire his presence: Lament his absence: Love him from the bottom of your hearts: Think not hardly of him: Suspect him not; Misunderstand him not: Hearken not to his enemies: Receive not any false reports against him: Take him to be really better for you than all the world: Do these, and doubt not but you are friends with God, & God with you: In a word, Be but heartily willing to be friends to God, and that God should be your cheifest friend, and you may be sure that it is so indeed, and that you are and have what you desire. And then how delightfully may you converse with God!