Richard Baxter's dying thoughts upon Phil. I, 23 written for his own life and…

But, O my God, LOVE is thy great and special gift: All Good is from thee: But LOVE is the Godlike Nature, Life, and Image: It is given us from the Love of the Father, the Grace of the Son, and the quickening, illuminating and sanctifying Operation of the Holy Spirit: What can the Earth return unto the Sun but its own reflected Beams? (If those.) As how far soever Man is a Medium in Generation, Nature and that Appetite which is the moving pondus in the Child is thy work; so whatever is Man's part in the Mediate work of Believing and Repenting, (which yet is not done without thy Spirit and grace,) certainly it is the blessed Regenerator which must make us New Creatures by giving us this Divine Nature, holy LOVE, which is ⟨p. 245⟩the holy Appetite and Pondus of the Soul. Come down, Lord, into this Heart, for it cannot come up to thee. Can the Plants for Life, or the Eye for Light, go up unto the Sun? Dwell in me by the Spirit of Love, and I shall dwell by Love in Thee. Reason is weak, and Thoughts are various, and Man will be a slippery uncertain Wight, if LOVE be not his fixing Principle, and do not incline his Soul to Thee! Surely through thy Grace I easily feel, that I love thy Word, I love thy Image, I love thy Work, and O how heartily do I Love to Love thee! And long to Know and Love thee more! And if all things be of Thee, and through Thee, and to Thee, surely this Love to the Beams of thy Glory here on Earth, is eminently so! It's Thee, Lord, that it meaneth! To Thee it looketh: It's Thee it serveth! For Thee it mourns, and seeks, and groans! In Thee it Trusteth! And the Hope, and Peace, and Comfort which support me, are in Thee! When I was a returning Prodigal in rags, thou sawest me afar off, and mettest me with thy embracing, feasting Love: And shall I doubt whether he that hath better clothed me, and dwelt within me, will entertain me with a Feast of greater love in the heavenly Mansions, the World of Love?

But, O my God, LOVE is thy great and special gift: All Good is from thee: But LOVE is the Godlike Nature, Life, and Image: It is given us from the Love of the Father, the Grace of the Son, and the quickning, illuminating and sanctifying Operation of the Holy Spirit: What can the Earth return unto the Sun but its own reflected Beams? (If those.) As how far soever Man is a Medium in Generation, Nature and that Appetite which is the moving pondus in the Child is thy work; so whatever is Man's part in the Mediate work of Believing and Repenting, (which yet is not done without thy Spirit and grace,) certainly it is the blessed Regenerator which must make us New Creatures by giving us this Divine Nature, holy LOVE, which is