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64
God doth desire glory as His sovereign end, but true glory. From whence it followeth that He doth sovereignly and supremely desire both His own glory and man’s happiness. Though that be miraculous, yet it is very plain. For true glory is to love another for his own sake, and to prefer his welfare and to seek his happiness. Which God doth because it is true glory. So that He seeks the happiness of Angels and Men as His last end, and in that His glory: to wit, His true glory. False and vain glory is inconsistent with His nature, but true glory is the very essence of His being. Which is Love unto His beloved, Love unto Himself, Love unto His creatures.
65
How can God be Love unto Himself, without the imputation of self-love? Did He love Himself under any other notion than as He is the lover of His beloved there might be some danger. But the reason why He loves Himself being because He is Love, nothing is more glorious than His self-love. For He loves Himself because He is infinite and eternal Love to others. Because He loves Himself He cannot endure that His love should be displeased. And loving others vehemently and infinitely all the love He bears to Himself is tenderness towards them. All that wherein He pleaseth Himself is delightful to them: He magnifieth Himself in magnifying them. And in fine, His love unto Himself is His love unto them, and His love unto them is love unto Himself. They are individually one, which it is very amiable and beautiful to behold, because therein the simplicity of God doth evidently appear. The more He loveth them, the greater He is and the more glorious. The more He loveth them, the more precious and dear they are to him. The more He loveth them, the more joys and treasures He possesseth. The more He loveth them the more He delighteth in their felicity. The more He loveth them, the more He delighteth in Himself for being their felicity. The more He loveth them, the more He rejoiceth in all His works for serving them: and in all His kingdom for delighting them. And being Love to them the more He loveth Himself, and the more jealous He is lest Himself should be displeased, the more He loveth and tendereth them and secureth their welfare. And the more He desires His own glory, the more good He doth for them, in the more divine and genuine manner. You must love after His similitude.
66
He from whom I derived these things delighted always that I should be acquainted with principles that would make me fit for all ages. And truly in love there are enough of them. For since Nature never created anything in vain, and love of all other is the most glorious there is not any relic or parcel of that that shall be unused. It is not like gold made to be buried and concealed in darkness, but like the sun to communicate itself wholly in its beams unto all. It is more excellent and more communicative. It is hid in a centre and nowhere at all, if we respect its body. But if you regard its soul, it is an interminable sphere, which as some say of the sun, is infinities infinita, in the extension of its beams, being equally vigorous in all places, equally near to all objects, equally acceptable to all persons, and equally abundant in all its overflowings: Infinitely everywhere. This of naked and divested Love in its true perfection. Its own age is too little to contain it, its greatness is spiritual, like the Deity’s. It filleth the world, and exceeds what it filleth. It is present with all objects, and tastes all excellencies, and meeteth the infiniteness of God in everything. So that in length it is infinite as well as in breadth, being equally vigorous at the utmost bound to which it can extend as here, and as wholly there as here, and wholly everywhere. Thence also it can see into further spaces; things present and things to come; height and depth being open before it, and all things in Heaven, Eternity, and Time, equally near.
67
Were not Love the darling of God; this would be a rash and a bold sally. But since it is His Image, and the Love of God, I may almost say the God of God, because His beloved, all this happeneth unto Love. And this Love is your true self when you are in act what you are in power: the great Daemon of the world, the End of all things, the desire of Angels and of all nations. A creature so glorious, that having seen it, it puts an end to all curiosity and swallows up all admiration. Holy, wise, and just towards all things, blessed in all things, the Bride of God, glorious before all, His offspring and first born, and so like Him, that being described, one would think it He. I should be afraid to say all this of it, but that I know Him, how He delighteth to have it magnified: And how He hath magnified it infinitely before because it is His bride and first-born. I will speak only a little of its violence and vigour afar off. It can love an act of virtue in the utmost Indies, and hate a vice in the highest heavens. It can see into hell and adore the justice of God among the damned; it can behold and admire His Love from everlasting. It can be present with His infinite and eternal Love, it can rejoice in the joys which it foreseeth: Can Love Adam in Eden, Moses in the wilderness, Aaron in the tabernacle, David before the Ark, S. Paul among the nations, and Jesus either in the manger or on the Cross: All those it can love with violence. And when it is restored from all that is terrene and sensual to its true spiritual being, it can love those and any of those, as violently as any person in the living age.
68
Shall it not love violently what God loveth, what Jesus Christ loveth, what all Saints and Angels love? Moses glorified God in a wonderful manner; he prophesied of Christ, he plagued the Egyptians, he brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, he guided them in the wilderness, he gave us the law, he loved the people more than his own life: yea, than his own self and all the possible glory that might have accrued to him. Shall not He be beloved? And what shall we think of Christ Himself? Shall not all our love be where His is? Shall it not wholly follow and attend Him? Yet shall it not forsake other objects, but love them all in Him, and Him in them, and them the more because of Him, and Him the more because of them; for by Him it is redeemed to them. So that as God is omnipresent our love shall be at once with all: that is we: having those strengths to animate and quicken our affection.
69
To love one person with a private love is poor and miserable: to love all is glorious. To love all persons in all ages, all angels, all worlds, is Divine and Heavenly. To love all cities and all kingdoms, all kings and all peasants, and every person in all worlds with a natural intimate familiar love, as if him alone, is Blessed. This makes a man effectually blessed in all worlds, a delightful Lord of all things, a glorious friend to all persons, a concerned person in all transactions, and ever present with all affairs. So that he must ever be filled with company, ever in the midst of all nations, ever joyful, and ever blessed. The greatness of this man’s love no man can measure; it is stable like the Sun, it endureth for ever as the Moon, it is a faithful witness in Heaven. It is stronger and more great than all private affections. It representeth every person in the light of Eternity, and loveth him with the love of all worlds, with a love conformable to God’s, guided to the same ends, and founded upon the same causes. Which however lofty and divine it is, is ready to humble itself into the dust to serve the person beloved. And by how much the more glorious and sublime it is, is so much the more sweet and truly delightful: Majesty and Pleasure concurring together.
70
Now you may see what it is to be a Son of God more clearly. Love in its glory is the friend of the most High. It was begotten of Him, and is to sit in His Throne, and to reign in communion with Him. It is to please Him and to be pleased by Him, in all His works, ways, and operations. It is ordained to hold an eternal correspondence with Him in the highest Heavens. It is here in its infancy, there in its manhood and perfect stature. He wills and commands that it should be reverenced of all, and takes pleasure to see it admired in its excellencies, If Love thus displayed be so glorious a being, how much more glorious and great is He that is sovereign Lord of all Lords, and the Heavenly King of all these? So many monarchs under one Supreme mightily set forth the glory of His Kingdom. If you ask by what certainty, or by what rules we discover this? As by the seed we conjecture what plant will arise, and know by the acorn what tree will grow forth, or by the eagle’s egg what kind of bird; so do we by the powers of the soul upon Earth, know what kind of Being, Person, and Glory it will be in the Heavens, Its blind and latent power shall be turned into Act, its inclinations shall be completed, and its capacities filled, for by this means is it made perfect. A Spiritual King is an eternal Spirit. Love in the abstract is a soul exerted. Neither do you esteem yourself to be any other than Love alone. God is Love, and you are never like Him till you are so: Love unto all objects in like manner.
71
To sit in the Throne of God is the most supreme estate that can befall a creature. It is promised in the Revelations. But few understand what is promised there, and but few believe it.