2. But are not all these truly Delectable? Is there not a real Delight to be had in them? Let any man, that hath tried, consult his experience; yea, let any one that hath not besotted his Soul, and infatuated his understanding, but seriously consider the very Idea's of these things, and revolve the notions of them in his mind, and then soberly judg, whether they be not delightful? And, if so, when there is an actual sense of pleasure and sweetness in the communicated power, and in the practice of them, Why is not this delighting in God? Admit that he is not actually thought on in some of these exercises; As when I freely forgive a wrong, or relieve a distressed person, or right a wronged one: If yet I do these things, from the radical Principle of the Love of God deeply settled in my Soul, and with a sensible delight accompanying my act, and the disposition I find in mine heart thereunto: Here is not, 'tis true, the very act of delighting in God, formally terminated upon him as the Object; But it's he that gives me ⟨p. 154⟩this Delight, and is the material Object (as well as Author) of it. The communication is from him, whereby I am delighted, and enabled to do the things that are further delightful. As if I converse with an excellent person, my intimate friend, who is at this time incognito, and by a disguise conceals himself from me, or I through my forgetfulness or inadvertency have no present thoughts of this person; but I hear his pleasant Discourse, and am much taken with it, and the person on the account of it: It is my Friend that I Delighted in all this while though I knew it not.
2. But are not all these truly Delectable? Is there not a real Delight to be had in them? Let any man, that hath tried, consult his experience; yea, let any one that hath not besotted his Soul, and infatuated his understanding, but seriously consider the very Idaea's of these things, and revolve the notions of them in his mind, and then soberly judg, whether they be not delightful? And, if so, when there is an actual sense of pleasure and sweetness in the communicated power, and in the practice of them, Why is not this delighting in God? Admit that he is not actually thought on in some of these exercises; As when I freely forgive a wrong, or relieve a distressed person, or right a wronged one: If yet I do these things, from the radical Principle of the Love of God deeply setled in my Soul, and with a sensible delight accompanying my act, and the disposition I find in mine heart thereunto: Here is not, 'tis true, the very act of delighting in God, formally terminated upon him as the Object; But it's he that gives me ⟨p. 154⟩this Delight, and is the material Object (as well as Author) of it. The communication is from him, whereby I am delighted, and inabled to do the things that are further delightful. As if I converse with an excellent person, my intimate friend, who is at this time incognito, and by a disguise conceals himself from me, or I through my forgetfulness or inadvertency have no present thoughts of this person; but I hear his pleasant Discourse, and am much taken with it, and the person on the account of it: It is my Friend that I Delighted in all this while though I knew it not.
