The saints delight. To which is annexed a treatise of meditation

1. By the degrees of it. Love him above all other things^*; let him carry away the crown and the glory from the creature, 1. Love him plusquam tuos, more than thy relations, Matth. 10.37. He that loveth father and mother more than me, is not worthy of me. Nay, our love to relations ⟨p. 389⟩must be hatred in jinn comparison of our love to Christ, Luke 14.26. Great is our love to relations. The creatures void of reason teach natural affection; the young stork feeds the dam, and helps to carry her when she is old and can hardly fly. ^*Children should exceed, and out-fly the stork in affection. There is a story in the French Academy of a daughter, who when her father was condemned to die by famine, she made means to get to him, and gave him suck with her own breasts, which being made known, she obtained his pardon; But Christ must be dearer to us than all; He must weigh heavier than relations in the balance of our affections; for, He is altogether lovely. If parents lie as a stumbling-block in our way to Christ, if they either come in competition with Christ, ⟨p. 390⟩or stand in opposition against Christ, here odium in suos is pietas in Deum^*, We must either leap over them, or tread upon them.

1. By the degrees of it. Love him above all other things^*; let him carry away the crown and the glory from the creature, 1. Love him plusquam tuos, more than thy relations, Matth. 10.37. He that loveth father and mother more than me, is not worthy of me. Nay, our love to relations ⟨p. 389⟩