A44697:302
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.
Unholy love declines God; and indeed it is unholy, in as much as it doth so. Whence therefore it is as impossible it should be set on God, remaining unholy, as that it should be another thing from it self, and yet be still wholly what it was.
Although it cannot be another thing in its general nature (as it is not necessary it should), it must be a much altered thing, by the accession of holiness thereto. And this coming upon the whole Soul, even upon all its faculties and powers, doth therein spread it self unto its delight also. Delight in God is not the work of an unholy heart.
And (as may be collected from what hath been said) Holiness consisting in a right disposition of heart towards God, a divine Nature, participated from him, conform to him, and which works and tends towards him, and in it self so delightful a thing; It may thence be seen what holy delight is, or wherein the holiness of it stands.
It must to this purpose be considered, that this holy delight is twofold, according to a