Gods husbandry

And to prayers,¹ join in the fourth place holy meditations of the nature of God: for he that knows God thoroughly, and is to any purpose acquainted with the excellency of his nature in himself, and sees the beauty of his grace in the face of Christ, cannot but be so far in love with him, as even to be good for his sake, and to make him the beginning and ending of all his desires and endeavours. It is alone ignorance of God, that makes us set our selves in Gods room, and aim at our own benefit in stead of his glory. But he that will take pains to clear up his own eyes, and to behold the glory of God, as he hath revealed it in his Word, and in his Gospel, shall be so affected with the splendour thereof, as that now he will account nothing worth any thing, but that surpassing glorious Majesty, that infinitely excels all things, and so hypocrisy must needs vanish. The knowledge of God will make a man to perceive how little it shall avail him to disguise himself. The knowledge of God will make him to see how worthy the Lord is of all the service of all creatures. The knowledge of God will make his heart to become in love with ⟨p. 57⟩God, and no man will dissemble with him whom he loveth: wherefore labour to get, and to grow in this knowledge, by a frequent pondering and musing upon the nature of God, and beholding in his Temple the beauty of his Majesty, as David speaketh. Tell thy self often of his infiniteness and eternity, and that all things are from him, and by him, and for him, and he alone is from and of himself. Say unto thy soul, he is the owner of all things, and the ruler of all things. All the good properties of all creatures be but drops of his sea, and sparks of his flame, and there is infinitely more of all good things in him alone, then in all them; and whatsoever is in them, it is more his then theirs, and theirs no longer, nor further, then as he will impart: with him is wisdom, with him is power, greatness, and riches, and Majesty, and dominion are his. He is infinitely just, and righteous, hating sin with ten thousand times more vehement hatred then we can think he doth, and punisheth it with ten thousand times more severity then we can think he will. He is thoroughly and thoroughly acquainted with all that is in man, & needeth not to receive information from any other.

And to prayers,¹