90

Knowing the greatness and sweetness of Love, I can never be poor in any estate. How sweet a thing is it as we go or ride, or eat or drink, or converse abroad to remember that one is the heir of the whole world, and the friend of God! That one has so great a friend as God is: and that one is exalted infinitely by all His Laws! That all the riches and honours in the world are ours in the Divine Image to be enjoyed! That a man is tenderly beloved of God and always walking in His Father’s Kingdom, under His wing, and as the apple of His eye! Verily that God hath done so much for one in His works and laws, and expressed so much love in His word and ways, being as He is Divine and infinite, it should make a man to walk above the stars, and seat him in the bosom of Men and Angels. It should always fill him with joy, and triumph, and lift him up above crowns and empires.

91

That a man is beloved of God, should melt him all into esteem and holy veneration. It should make him so courageous as an angel of God. It should make him delight in calamities and distresses for God’s sake. By giving me all things else, He hath made even afflictions themselves my treasures. The sharpest trials, are the finest furbishing. The most tempestuous weather is the best seed-time. A Christian is an oak flourishing in winter. God hath so magnified and glorified His servant, and exalted him so highly in His eternal bosom, that no other joy should be able to move us but that alone. All sorrows should appear but shadows, beside that of His absence, and all the greatness of riches and estates swallowed up in the light of His favour. Incredible Goodness lies in His Love. And it should be joy enough to us to contemplate and possess it. He is poor whom God hates: tis a true proverb. And besides that, we should so love Him, that the joy alone of approving ourselves to Him, and making ourselves amiable and beautiful before Him should be a continual feast, were we starving. A beloved cannot feel hunger in the presence of his beloved. Where martyrdom is pleasant, what can be distasteful. To fight, to famish, to die for one’s beloved, especially with one’s beloved, and in his excellent company, unless it be for his trouble, is truly delightful. God is always present, and always seeth us.

92

Knowing myself beloved and so glorified of God Almighty in another world, I ought to honour Him in this always, and to aspire to it. At midnight will I rise to give thanks unto Thee because of Thy righteous judgments. Seven times a day will I praise Thee, for Thy glorious mercy. Early in the morning will I bless Thee, I will triumph in Thy works, I will delight in Thy law day and night; at evening will I praise Thee. I will ever be speaking of Thy marvellous acts, I will tell out of Thy greatness, and talk of the glorious majesty of Thy excellent Kingdom; those things ought ever to breathe in our souls. We ought to covet to live in private, and in private ever to overflow in praises. I will boast in Thee all the day long, and be glad in the Lord. My exceeding joy, my life, my glory, what shall I render to Thee, for all His benefits? I will sing and be glad. Let all nations sing unto Him, for He covereth the earth as it were with a shield. My lips shall be fain when I sing unto Thee, and my soul, O Lord, which Thou hast redeemed. God is unseen till He be so known: and David’s Spirit an inscrutable mystery, till this [is] experienced.

93

Our friendship with God ought to be so pure and so clear, that nakedly and simply for His Divine Love, for His glorious works, and blessed laws, the wisdom of His counsels, His ancient ways and attributes towards us, we should ever in public endeavour to honour Him, Always taking care to glorify Him before men: to speak of His goodness, to sanctify His name, and do those things that will stir up others, and occasion others to glorify Him. Doing this so zealously that we would, not forbear the least act wherein we might serve Him for all worlds. It ought to be a firm principle rooted in us, that this life is the most precious season in all Eternity, because all Eternity dependeth on it. Now we may do those actions which hereafter we shall never have occasion to do. And now we are to do them in another manner, which in its place is the most acceptable in all worlds: namely, by faith and hope, in which God infinitely delighteth, with difficulty and danger, which God infinitely commiserates, and greatly esteems. So piecing this life with the life of Heaven, and seeing it as one with all Eternity, a part of it, a life within it: Strangely and stupendously blessed in its place and season.

94

Having once studied those principles you are eternally to practise them. You are to warm yourself at these fires, and to have recourse to them every day. When you think not of those things you are in the dark. And if you would walk in the light of them, you must frequently meditate. These principles are like seed in the ground, they must continually be visited with heavenly influences, or else your life will be a barren field. Perhaps they might be cast into better frame, and more curiously expressed; but if well cultivated they will be as fruitful, as if every husk were a golden rind. It is the substance that is in them that is productive of joy and good to all.

95

It is an indelible principle of Eternal truth, that practice and exercise is the Life of all. Should God give you worlds, and laws, and treasures, and worlds upon worlds, and Himself also in the Divinest manner, if you will be lazy and not meditate, you lose all. The soul is made for action, and cannot rest till it be employed. Idleness is its rust. Unless it will up and think and taste and see, all is in vain. Worlds of beauty and treasure and felicity may be round about it, and itself desolate. If therefore you would be happy, your life must be as full of operation as God of treasure: Your operation shall be treasure to Him, as His operation is delightful to you.

96

To be acquainted with celestial things is not only to know them, but by frequent meditation to be familiar with them. The effects of which are admirable. For by this those things that at first seemed uncertain become evident, those things which seemed remote become near, those things which appeared like shady clouds become solid realities: finally, those things which seemed impertinent to us and of little concernment, appear to be our own, according to the strictest rules of propriety and of infinite moment.

97

General and public concernments seem at first unmanageable, by reason of their greatness; but in the soul there is such a secret sufficiency, that it is able upon trial, to manage all objects with equal ease; things infinite in greatness as well as the smallest sand. But this secret strength is not found in it, but merely upon experience, nor discerned but by exercise. The eternity of God Himself is manageable to the understanding, and may be used innumerable ways for its benefit; so may His almighty power, and infinite goodness, His omnipresence and immensity, the wideness of the world, and the multitude of Kingdoms. Which argueth a peculiar excellency in the soul, because it is a creature that can never be exceeded. For bodily strength by this is perceived to be finite, that bulk is unwieldy, and by the greatness of its object may easily be overcome. But the soul through God that strengtheneth her is able to do all things. Nothing is too great, nothing too heavy, nothing unwieldy; it can rule and manage anything with infinite advantage.

98

Because the strength of the soul is spiritual it is generally despised: but if ever you would be Divine, you must admit this principle: That spiritual things are the greatest, and that spiritual strength is the most excellent, useful, and delightful. For which cause it is made as easy as it is endless and invincible. Infinity is but one object, almighty power is another, eternal wisdom is another which it can contemplate; from infinity it can go to power, from power to wisdom, from wisdom to goodness, from goodness to glory, and so to blessedness, and from these to any object or all whatsoever, contemplating them as freely as if it had never seen an object before. If any one say, that though it can proceed thus from one object to another, yet it cannot comprehend any one of them, all I shall answer is this. It can comprehend any one of them as much as a creature can possibly do: and the possibility of a creature dependeth purely upon the power of God: for a creature may be made able to do all that which its Creator is able to make it to do. So that if there be any defect in His power there must of necessity a limit follow in the power of His creature, which even God Himself cannot make a creature to exceed. But this, you will say, is an argument only of what may be, not of what is. Though considering God’s infinite love, it is sufficient to show what is possible; because His love will do all it can for the glory of itself and its object: yet further to discover what is, we may add this, that when a soul hath contemplated the Infinity of God, and passeth from that to another object, all that it is able to contemplate on any other it might have added to its first contemplation. So that its liberty to contemplate all shows its illimitedness to any one. And truly I think it piety to believe that God hath without a metaphor infinitely obliged us.

99

The reason why learned men have not exactly measured the faculties of the soul, is because they know not to what their endless extent should serve. For till we know the universal beauty of God’s Kingdom, and that all objects in His omnipresence are the treasures of the soul, to enquire into the sufficiency and extent of its powers is impertinent. But when we know this, nothing is more expedient than to consider whether a soul be able to enjoy them. Which if it be, its powers must extend as far as its objects. For no object without the sphere of its power, can be enjoyed by it. It cannot be so much as perceived, much less enjoyed. From whence it will proceed, that the soul will to all Eternity be silent about it. A limitation of praises, and a parsimony in love following hereupon, to the endangering of the perfection of God’s Kingdom.