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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.

John Howe 1630–1705London: printed by A. Maxwell for Sa. Gellibrand, 1674

[16], 365, [1] p. · 101k words · Wing H3043 · ESTC R215977

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A TREATISE OF Delighting in GOD: From PSAL. 37. 4. Delight thy self… › Part 2: A TREATISE OF Delighting in GOD: From PSAL. 37. 4. Delight thy self also in the Lord, a…

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[ Earlier:403–418 of 718

:403p. 175§I

Being therefore now to treat of the Practice of this Duty (whereof the account hath been already given), our Discourse must aim at and endeavour these two things, (the former as leading and subservient to the latter), viz. 1. That we may not take up, and rest, or let our practice terminate in a Religion which is not naturally and in it self delightful. 2. That we seek after and improve in that which is.

:404p. 176§I

1. That which is not so, we have great reason not to acquiesce in, or be contented with, for it is plainly such as will not defray it self, or bear its own charges, as having only cumber and burden in it, no use or end; I mean the dead formality of Religion only. We find it natural and pleasant to carry about with us our own living body; but who would endure (how wearisome and loathsome a task were it?) to lug to and fro a dead carcass?

1. That which is not so, we have great reason not to acquiesce in, or be contented with, for it is plainly such as will not defray it self, or bear its own charges, as having only cumber and burden in it, no use or end; I mean the dead formality of Religion only. We find it natural and pleasant to carry about with us our own living body; but who would endure (how wearisom and loathsom a task were it?) to lug to and fro a dead carcase?

:405p. 176§I

It will be upon this account needful to Insist in showing more distinctly, What sort of Religion it is, that is in it self wholly undelightful. Propound some things to consideration concerning it, that may tend to beget a dislike of it, and so incline us to look further.

It will be upon this account needful to Insist in shewing more distinctly, What sort of Religion it is, that is in it self wholly undelightful. Propound some things to consideration concerning it, that may tend to beget a dislike of it, and so incline us to look further.

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Cited: :406
On this page: :403–418
Section: :395–712
Whole work: 718 passages

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John Howe, A treatise of delighting in God from Psal. xxxvij. 4. Delight thy self also… (London, 1674), pt. 2, §I, p. 176. EEBO-TCP A44697.

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The book

Title as printed: 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.
Author: John Howe 1630–1705
Place: London
Printer: A. Maxwell
Bookseller: Sa. Gellibrand
Year: 1674
Size: [16], 365, [1] p.
Words: 100,581
Catalogue: Wing H3043 · ESTC R215977
Text: EEBO-TCP A44697

Passages: 718
Sections: 9

The author

John Howe 1630–1705

PuritansEngland

Chaplain to Oliver Cromwell; later Presbyterian minister in London.

Transcription key

•

:409p. 177–178§I

2. That a dead Religion may be thought delightful; and through the ill temper of the subject, a pleasure may be apprehended in it, which doth not naturally arise from it; that is, The mere external part of Religion may be flexible, and be accidentally perverted into a subserviency to some purposes which Religion of it self intends not, in respect whereof a delight may injuriously (and as by a rape) be taken in it, as is said by the Prophet of an hypocritical people,¹ Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a Nation that did righteousness; they take delight in approaching to God. ⟨p. 178⟩Therefore, that which is here intended, is not, that the Religion should be rejected, in some present exercises whereof we have not the actual relish of a present pleasure (as that should not be embraced, wherein upon any whatsoever terms we find it); but that which can rightfully, and upon just terms afford us none; and which upon our utmost enquiry and search, cannot in reason (as it is not unfit that spiritual reason should be employed in making a judgment what may) be thought spiritually delectable.

2. That a dead Religion may be thought delightful; and through the ill temper of the subject, a pleasure may be apprehended in it, which doth not naturally arise from it; that is, The meer external part of Religion may be flexible, and be accidentally perverted into a subserviency to some purposes which Religion of it self intends not, in respect whereof a delight may injuriously (and as by a rape) be taken in it, as is said by the Prophet of an hypocritical people,¹ Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a Nation that did righteousness; they take delight in approaching to God. ⟨p. 178⟩Therefore, that which is here intended, is not, that the Religion should be rejected, in some present exercises whereof we have not the actual relish of a present pleasure (as that should not be embraced, wherein upon any whatsoever terms we find it); but that which can rightfully, and upon just terms afford us none; and which upon our utmost enquiry and search, cannot in reason (as it is not unfit that spiritual reason should be imployed in making a judgment what may) be thought spiritually delectable.

1Isa. 58. 2.

:418p. 180–181§I

1. Which consists wholly in revolving in ones own mind the notions that belong to Religion, without either the experience, or the design and expectation of having the heart and conversation formed according to them. So the case is with such as content themselves to yield the principles of Religion true, and behold with a notional assent and approbation the connection & agreement of one thing with another: But do never consider the tendency and aim of the whole; or that the Truth of the Gospel is the Doctrine that is according to godliness; ¹or such as is pursuant to the design of making men godly; of transforming them into the Image of God, and framing them to an entire subjection to his holy and acceptable will; that bethink not themselves the Truth is never learned as it is in Jesus, except it be to the renewing the Spirit of the mind, ²the putting off the old man, and the putting on of the new. When this is never considered, but men do only know, that they may know; and are never concerned further about the great things of God, than only to take notice that such things there are offered to their view which carry with them the appearance of Truth, but mind them no more than the affairs of Utopia, or the world in the Moon; what delight is taken in this knowledge, is surely most perverse. There is a pleasure indeed in knowing things, and in apprehending the coherence of one Truth with another; but he that shall allow himself to speculate only about things wherein his life is concerned, and shall entertain himself with ⟨p. 181⟩delight in agitating in his mind certain curious general notions concerning a disease or a crime that threatens him with present death, or what might be a remedy or defence in such a case, without any thought of applying such things to his own case, or that the case is his own, one may say of such pleasure it is mad; or of this delight, What doth it? or he that only surfeits his eye with beholding the food he is to live by, and who in the mean time languishes in the want of appetite, and a sickly loathing of his proper nutriment; surely such a one hath a pleasure that no sober man would think worth the having.

1. Which consists wholly in revolving in ones own mind the notions that belong to Religion, without either the experience, or the design and expectation of having the heart and conversation formed according to them. So the case is with such as content themselves to yield the principles of Religion true, and behold with a notional assent and approbation the connexion & agreement of one thing with another: But do never consider the tendency and aim of the whole; or that the Truth of the Gospel is the Doctrine that is according to godliness; ¹or such as is pursuant to the design of making men godly; of transforming them into the Image of God, and framing them to an entire subjection to his holy and acceptable will; that bethink not themselves the Truth is never learned as it is in Jesus, except it be to the renewing the Spirit of the mind, ²the putting off the old man, and the putting on of the new. When this is never considered, but men do only know, that they may know; and are never concerned further about the great things of God, than only to take notice that such things there are offered to their view which carry with them the appearance of Truth, but mind them no more than the affairs of Eutopia, or the world in the Moon; what delight is taken in this knowledg, is surely most perverse. There is a pleasure indeed in knowing things, and in apprehending the coherence of one Truth with another; but he that shall allow himself to speculate only about things wherein his life is concerned, and shall entertain himself with ⟨p. 181⟩delight in agitating in his mind certain curious general notions concerning a disease or a crime that threatens him with present death, or what might be a remedy or defence in such a case, without any thought of applying such things to his own case, or that the case is his own, one may say of such pleasure it is mad; or of this delight, What doth it? or he that only surfeits his eye with beholding the food he is to live by, and who in the mean time languishes in the want of appetite, and a sickly loathing of his proper nutriment; surely such a one hath a pleasure that no sober man would think worth the having.

11 Tim. 6. 3
2Eph. 4.