A44697:187
A treatise of delighting in God from Psal. xxxvij. 4. Delight thy self also…
A treatise of delighting in God from Psal. xxxvij. 4. Delight thy self also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. In two parts. By John Howe, M.A. sometime fellow of Magdalen College, Oxon.
London: printed by A. Maxwell for Sa. Gellibrand, 1674
A TREATISE OF Delighting in GOD: From PSAL. 37. 4. Delight thy self… › Part 1
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.
What an ease is it to the spirit of a man, when he hath not himself to seek & serve and care for in any unlawful disallowed sense, when he finds not himself necessitated or urged by his own imperious fleshly inclination so to do; when he perceives himself by a prevailing better principle counterpoised, and the weight and bias of his own Spirit inclines him quite another way; when he finds he hath nothing left him to do, but to serve God, to know his will and do it; & is disburdened of all unnecessary care for himself; That which is necessary being part of his duty, and is therefore done on purpose only for God: and that which is unnecessary and forbidden (which ⟨p. 79⟩part only was burdensome) being supplied by (what hath the greatest ease and pleasure in it imaginable) trust and self-resignation to his pleasure and will whose we wholly are? what life is pleasant, if this be not! Surely wherein it is attained to, it is most pleasant; and hither this gracious heart-rectifying communication is gradually tending.
What an ease is it to the spirit of a man, when he hath not himself to seek & serve and care for in any unlawful disallowed sense, when he finds not himself necessitated or urged by his own imperious fleshly inclination so to do; when he perceives himself by a prevailing better principle counterpoys'd, and the weight and byass of his own Spirit inclines him quite another way; when he finds he hath nothing left him to do, but to serve God, to know his will and do it; & is disburdened of all unnecessary care for himself; That which is necessary being part of his duty, and is therefore done on purpose only for God: and that which is unnecessary and forbidden (which ⟨p. 79⟩part only was burdensome) being supplied by (what hath the greatest ease and pleasure in it imaginable) trust and self-resignation to his pleasure and will whose we wholly are? what life is pleasant, if this be not! Surely wherein it is attain'd to, it is most pleasant; and hither this gracious heart-rectifying communication is gradually tending.