The sanctified man, whose mind is savingly enlightened, can say, I see that goodness in the Saviour, that far surpasseth all the goodness of the Creature; tho the Stars in the coldest night might be seen, yet when the Sun ariseth, they all disappear; so in the night of Ignorance, when my Mind was blind, my Heart hard, and my Affections frozen, I was taken with the goodness of Riches, of Honours, and of worldly Pleasure; yet when the Sun of Righteousness with his radiant Rays did shine into my Soul, and with his warming Influences did thaw my benumbed frozen Heart, when Christ the Day-Star arose in my Soul, then, O then, the glory of these things that did dazzle mine eyes, did presently vanish and wither away; then, in comparison of Christ, I saw an emptiness in all the Creatures fullness, I saw beggary in all its bravery, shame in all its glory, and poverty in its riches. I saw its greatest resplendent lustre to be darkness, its wisdom to be folly, its beauty appeared to me no better than deformity, when once I had got a view of Christ's transcendent loveliness.
The sanctified man, whose mind is savingly inlightned, can say, I see that goodness in the Saviour, that far surpasseth all the goodness of the Creature; tho the Stars in the coldest night might be seen, yet when the Sun ariseth, they all disappear; so in the night of Ignorance, when my Mind was blind, my Heart hard, and my Affections frozen, I was taken with the goodness of Riches, of Honours, and of worldly Pleasure; yet when the Sun of Righteousness with his radiant Rays did shine into my Soul, and with his warming Influences did thaw my benummed frozen Heart, when Christ the Day-Star arose in my Soul, then, O then, the glory of these things that did dazle mine eyes, did presently vanish and wither away; then, in comparison of Christ, I saw an emptiness in all the Creatures fulness, I saw beggery in all its bravery, shame in all its glory, and poverty in its riches. I saw its greatest resplendent lustre to be darkness, its wisdom to be folly, its beauty appeared to me no better than deformity, when once I had got a view of Christ's transcendent loveliness.
