1. The first Affection to be acted is Love; the object of it (as I have told you) is Goodness: Here then, here Christian, is the Soul reviving part of thy work; Go to thy Memory, thy Judgment, and thy Faith, and from them produce the excellencies of thy Rest; take out a copy of the Record of the Spirit in Scripture, and another of the sentence registered in thy Spirit, whereby the transcendent glory of the Saints is declared: Present these to thy affection of Love; open to it the Cabinet that contains the Pearl; show it the Promise, and that which it assureth: Thou needest not look on Heaven through a multiplying Glass; open but one Casement, that Love may look in: Give it but a glimpse of the back parts of God, and thou wilt find thy self presently in another world: Do but speak out, and Love can hear, do but reveal these things, and Love can see: Its the brutish love of the world that is blind; Divine love is exceeding quick sighted. Let thy Faith, as it were, take thy heart by the hand, and show it the sumptuous buildings of thy Eternal Habitation, and the Glorious Ornaments of thy Fathers house; show it those Mansions which Christ is preparing, and display before it the Honours of the Kingdom: Let Faith lead thy heart into the presence of God, and draw as near as possibly thou canst, and say to it, *Behold, the Ancient of days; the Lord Jehovah, whose name is, I am: This is he who made the Worlds with his Word; this is the Cause of all Causes, the Spring of Action, the Fountain of Life, the first Principle of the Creatures Motions; who upholds the Earth, who ruleth the Nations, who disposeth of events, and subdueth his foes, who governeth ⟨p. 732⟩the depths of the great Waters, and boundeth the rage of her swelling Waves; who ruleth the Winds, and moveth the Orbs, and causeth the Sun to run its race, and the several Planets to know their courses: This is he that loved thee from Everlasting, that formed thee in the Womb, and gave thee this Soul; who brought thee forth, and showed thee the Light, and ranked thee with the chiefest of his earthly Creatures; who endued thee with thy understanding, and beautified thee with his gifts; who maintaineth thee with life, and health, and comforts; who gave thee thy preferments, and dignified thee with thy honours, and differenced thee from the most miserable and vilest of men: Here, O here, is an object now worthy thy love;
1. The first Affection to be acted is Love; the object of it (as I have told you) is Goodness: Here then, here Christian, is the Soul reviving part of thy work; Go to thy Memory, thy Judgment, and thy Faith, and from them produce the excellencies of thy Rest; take out a copy of the Record of the Spirit in Scripture, and another of the sentence registred in thy Spirit, whereby the ••anscendent glory of the Saints is declared: Present these to thy affection of Love; open to it the Cabinet that contains the Pearl; shew it the Promise, and that which it assureth: Thou needest not look on Heaven through a multiplying Glass; open but one Casement, that Love may look in: Give it but a glimpse of the back parts of God, and thou wilt finde thy self presently in another world: Do but speak out, and Love can hear, do but reveal these things, and Love can see: Its the bruitish love of the world that is blinde; Divine love is exceeding quick sighted. Let thy Faith, as it were, take thy heart by the hand, and shew it the sumptuous buildings of thy Eternal Habitation, and the Glorious Ornaments of thy Fathers house; shew it those Mansions which Christ is preparing, and display before it the Honors of the Kingdom: Let Faith lead thy heart into the presence of God, and draw as neer as possibly thou canst, and say to it, *Behold, the Ancient of days; the Lord Jehovah, whose name is, I am: This is he who made the Worlds with his Word; this is the Cause of all Causes, the Spring of Action, the Fountain of Life, the first Principle of the Creatures Motions; who upholds the Earth, who ruleth the Nations, who disposeth of events, and subdueth his foes, who governeth ⟨p. 732⟩the depths of the great Waters, and boundeth the rage of her swelling Waves; who ruleth the Winds, and moveth the Orbs, and causeth the Sun to run its race, and the several Planets to know their courses: This is he that loved thee from Everlasting, that formed thee in the Womb, and gave thee this Soul; who brought thee forth, and shewed thee the Light, and ranked thee with the chiefest of his earthly Creatures; who endued thee with thy understanding, and beautified thee with his gifts; who maintaineth thee with life, and health, and comforts; who gave thee thy preferments, and dignified thee with thy honors, and differenced thee from the most miserable and vilest of men: Here, O here, is an object now worthy thy love;
- *He that doubteth whether the Philosophers themselves did acknowledge these Divine Excellencies, Let him read Fernel. De abditis Rerum causis, cap 9. Plato in Epinom. Deos asserit scire, videre, audireque omnia; nihil ipsos fugere; quod aut sensu aut meant percipi posset: Eos omnia posse quaecunque mortales immortalesve possunt: Bonos illos, immo optimos esse. Quicquid mortale est, quicquid vivit & spirat, quicquid usquam est, coelum, terram, maria, ab iis omnia & facta esse & possideri. Et in Parmenide, Nullum nisi Deum supremam habere rerum scientiam, neque illarum cognitione privandum. Et in Epinomide, Ego assero Deum causam omnium esse, nec aliter peri posse. Lege etiam Aristotel. de caelo. lib. 1. Jum nona.He that doubteth whether the Philosophers themselves did acknowledg these Divine Excellencies, Let him read Fernel. De abditis Rerum causis, cap 9. Plato in Epinom. Deos asserit scire, videre, audireque omnia; nihil ipsos fugere; quod aut sensu aut mente percipi posset: Eos omnia posse quaecunque mortales immortalesve possunt: Bonos illos, immo optimos esse. Quicquid mortale est, quicquid vivit & spirat, quicquid usquam est, coelum, terram, maria, ab iis omnia & facta esse & possideri. Et in Parmenide, Nullum nisi Deum supremam habere rerum scientiam, neque illarum cognitione privandum. Et in Epinomide, Ego assero Deum causam omnium esse, nec aliter peri posse. Lege etiam Aristotel. de caelo. lib. 1. Jum nona.
