A44697:489
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
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.
How express and peremptory are those words, This I say, (q.d.) (I know what I say, I have well weighed the matter, and speak not at random) Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh! And so much as this affords great matter of rational delight, though more sensible transports (which are not so needful to us, and in reference ⟨p. 226⟩whereto the Spirit therefore retains its liberty) be not so frequent. Therefore if we aim at the having our spirits placed and settled in the secret of the Divine Presence, entertained with the delights of it; If we would know and have the sensible proof of that Religion which is all life and power, and consequently sweetness and pleasure; our direct way is believing on the Spirit: That very Trust is his delight, 1He taketh pleasure in them that hope in his mercy. It is that whereby we give him Divine Honour, the homage and acknowledgement proper to a Deity; confessing our selves impotent and insufficient to think any thing as of our selves, 2we rely upon his sustaining hand, and own our sufficiency to be of him. It is his delight to be depended on as a Father by his children. He is pleased that Title should be given him The Father of Spirits. 3To have the Spirits which are his off-spring gathering about him (especially those who being revolted from him and become sensible of their misery by their revolt, do now upon his invitation apply themselves, and say, Lo, now we come to thee, thou art the Lord our God), craving his renewed communications, drawing vital influences from him, and the breath of life, adoring his boundless fullness that filleth all in all. And when we thus give him his delight, we shall not long want ours. But then we must also add,
How express and peremptory are those words, This I say, (q.d.) (I know what I say, I have well weigh'd the matter, and speak not at random) Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh! And so much as this affords great matter of rational delight, though more sensible transports (which are not so needful to us, and in reference ⟨p. 226⟩