A44697:539
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.
And yet also in hating him thou dost most ⟨p. 251⟩mischievously hate thy self too; and all that thou dost, by the instinct of that vile temper of heart towards him thou dost it against thy own life and soul. Thou cuttest thy self off from him who is thy life; and art laying a train for the blowing up of thy eternal Hope. All that hate him love death. 1Further,
- 1Prov. 8.
3. It is the most comprehensive wickedness, and which entirely contains all other in it. For as the Law of Love is the universal and summary Law, comprehending all Duty, and even as it enjoins love to God (for love to men ought to be resolved into that, and must be for his sake); so must disaffection to God be comprehensive of all sin, whereinto every thing of it resolves it self. Dost thou not see then how thou cancellest and nullifiest the obligation of all Laws, while thou hast no delight in God? offerest violence to the very knot and juncture, wherein they all meet and are infolded together? Not to delight in God therefore, What can it be but the very top of Rebellion? What will thy sobriety, thy justice, thy charity signify, if thou hadst these to glory in, while thou art habitually disaffected to thy God? Let men value thee for these, to whom thereby thou showest some respect; But shall he, who in the mean time knows thou bearest none to him?
3. It is the most comprehensive wickedness, and which entirely contains all other in it. For as the Law of Love is the universal and summary Law, comprehending all Duty, and even as it enjoins love to God (for love to men ought to be resolved into that, and must be for his sake); so must disaffection to God be comprehensive of all sin, whereinto every thing of it resolves it self. Dost thou not see then how thou cancellest and nullifiest the obligation of all Laws, while thou hast no delight in God? offerest violence to the very knot and juncture, wherein they all meet and are infolded together? Not to delight in God therefore, What can it be but the very top of Rebellion? What will thy sobriety, thy justice, thy charity signifie, if thou hadst these to glory in, while thou art habitually disaffected to thy God? Let men value thee for these, to whom thereby thou shewest some respect; But shall he, who in the mean time knows thou bearest none to him?