Two treatises the first of fear, from Isa. 8, v. 12, 13, and part…

3. Mot. Think how well thou wilt be provided for the worst and difficultest times, when the love of of God shall be well secured to thy Soul; when the love of God, i. e. the sense of his love is once shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, which for ⟨p. 257⟩that end, among others, is given unto us, we shall then be able to glory in tribulation, Rom. 5. 3, 5. We may then bid defiance to all the adverse powers of hell, and earth, and say, Now do your worst: we are out of your reach, and above all your terrors and affrights. Be advised then to sit close to this work: clear but this point once, and the worst is past. O lye at the feet of God night and day, give him no rest, take no denial from him, fill thy mouth with pleas and arguments; tell him, Lord, it is neither for Corn nor Wine that I seek thee, but only for thy love; bestow thy other gifts upon whom thou wilt, only seal up thy love to my soul.

And Lastly, I advise thee, Reader, to be exceeding careful, when God admits thee into the sense of his love, to shut the door behind thee, lest thy soul be soon expelled thence, by the subtlety of Satan, who envies nothing more, than such an happiness as this: that envious Spirit totally despairs of the least drop of such a mercy, and therefore swells with envy at thine enjoyment of it; but if ever thou fasten thy hand of faith upon this mercy, loose not thy hold by every objection with which he will rap thy fingers.

1. If he object the many sharp afflictions, and manifold rods of God upon thee, call not the Love of God in question for that; but remember what •he saith,