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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20960	Theophilus, or Loue diuine A treatise containing fiue degrees, fiue markes, fiue aides, of the loue of God. Translated by Richard Goring, out of the third French edition: renewed, corrected and augmented by the author M. Peter Moulin, preacher the reformed Church of Paris.; Theophile ou de l'amour divin. English.	Du Moulin, Pierre, 1568-1658.; Goring, Richard.	1610 (1610)	STC 7339; ESTC S118661	51,058	311

which God hath giuē you serueth you but to feele griefe more sensibly or that God hath made you great that your teares might haue the greater fall Time which easeth the most ignorant people of their euils cannot it finish the sighes of a person whom God hath so much enriched with his knowledge Shall it not be better to ioy in future good things which are great and certaine then to afflict our selues for euils past which are remediles Herein surely God is offended if in worldly crosses we find more occasion of griefe then matter of ioy in heauēly riches And wrongfully do we complaine of our afflictions seeing we hurt our selues we doe vnderhand as it were confesse that God hath not afflicted vs enough The Psalmist saith indeed that God putteth vp our teares into his bottels as precious things but he speaketh of teares bred of repentance or of griefe to see God blasphemed and despised amongst men For God gathereth not vp obstinate tears which extending themselues beyond their limits occupie the time due to consolation How many times giuing your selfe to reading haue you bedewed the holie scripture with your teares and yet this booke containeth the matter of our ioy And in the booke of Psalmes the tunes wherof you loue and yet much more the matter where you see your own picture and the anatomie of your inward affections Haue you not obserued that all the Psalmes which haue their beginnings troubled and whose first lines containe nothing but profoūd sighes and broken complaints do end in delight and termes which witnes contentment and peace of conscience Let your tears Madame be formed vpon this example and let them end in spirituall ioy Let your faith raise her selfe from vnder her burthen and let the sluces of afflictions which God hath stopped her course withal make her to runne forth with the greater impetuousnes let her take strēgth from resistance Hereunto the meditation of Gods graces will much serue you the which if you coūterballance with your euils they will mightily weigh them downe The onely attention of future glorie which you apprehend by faith can it not digest all bitternesse That faith which filled the Martyrs with ioy in the midst of their present torments may she not in our rest comfort vs against the memorie of passed euils And you who acknowledge what seruitude those people liue in which are dragged into perdition by the inuisible chaines of opiniō and custome can you sufficiently magnifie the grace which God hath giuen you in honoring you with his alliance and enlightning you with his truth Yea and in your life time how many of Gods assistances how many difficulties happily ouergone God hauing giuē you the grace to be alone in your family an example of constancie and holy perseuerance in the profession of his truth hauing made you great that in the contradiction of the world you might be an example of firmenesse and constancie And yet admit your wounds were more grieuous as taking all at the worst our liues being so short they cānot long last for you are not troubled to seeke consolations against death seeing that death it selfe is a consolation vnto vs. For God if he receiue the sighs which wee powre foorth in our praiers much more regardeth he the sighes which our soules giue vp vnto him in our deaths Which being a place of shelter and which putteth our soules into securitie we ought not onely looke for his coming but euen go forth to meete him hastening his comming by our desires by the example of S. Paul who saith that his desire tendeth to dislodge and be with Christ And to say with Dauid O when shall I present my selfe before Gods face For our soules being bound vnto our bodies by two bonds wherof the one is naturall and the other voluntarie if through hatred and contempt of life present we vntie the voluntary bond waiting the time when God shall breake the naturall death then coming shall find the businesse begun and our soules prepared to this dissolution These cogitations Madame and such like haue hitherto giuen you consolation the which although you be sufficiently prouided of and haue alwayes readie many spirituall remedies yet you borrow from other the receipts and haue thought that I could contribute something to your consolation And to this effect hauing heard talke of some of my Sermons vpon the Loue of God you would needs make vse of the power you haue ouer me demanding them of me in writing knowing well that of the discontentments of this life there is no such gentle remouall as the loue of God or more stronger remedy then that he loueth vs. Herefrom I drew backe a long time partly through idlenesse accompanied with some other distractions partly through feare apprehending your iudgement which far surpassing ordinarie spirits feedeth it self not vpon vulgar meates At length after long delay being not any longer able to striue against your instant requests which are vnto me as so many commandements I haue let this discourse come forth in publick vnder the protection of your name to the end that the imperfections thereof may likewise be imputed vnto you and that you might beare also a part of the blame for hauing assisted at the birth of that which ought not to haue seene the light but I shall be easily excused as hauing obeyed you For honor shal it euer be vnto me to execute your cōmandements and to employ my selfe to do you most humble seruice as being your Most humble and most obedient seruant Peter du Moulin A Table of the Chapters and principall points contained in this Treatise of the Loue of God OF true and false loue Chap. 1. fol. 1. Fiue degrees of the loue of God Chap. 2. fol. 24. 1. Degree to loue God because of the good he doth vs and which we hope to receiue of him fol. 28. 2. To loue God for his own sake because he is soueraignlie excellent and chieflie to be beloued fol. 45. 3. Not onlie to loue God aboue all things and more then our selues but also not to loue anie thing in this world but for his sake Fol. 67. 4. To hate our selues for the loue of God Fol. 79. 5. Is the loue wherewith we shall loue God in the life to come Fol. 94. Of the marks and effects of the loue of God Cha. 3. Fol. 102. 1. Marke is that it extinguisheth all voluptuous loue Fol. 105. 2. That it is the peace and tranquillitie of the soule Fol. 122. 3. That it is charitie to our neighbours Fol. 136. 4. And the pleasure to cōmunicate often with God Fol. 153. 5. It is the zeale of the glorie of God Fol. 184. Fiue meanes or aids to inflame vs in this loue of God Chap. 4. Fol. 202. 1. Meanes is the image of vices Fol. 206. 2. The choise of friends Fol. 215. 3. The hatred of the world Fol. 226. 4. Prayer Fol. 238. 5. The hearing and reading of the word of

bad companies bookes of loue-tales after enticements and occasions of doing ill Finally we finish this praier with mention of the kingdome and glorie of God by which this same prayer began that it might warne vs that euē as our praiers so also al our affectiōs ought to begin and end with the glorie of God So many petitions so many aduertisements for Iesus Christ most artificially by teaching vs how to craue for good teacheth vs also to do it In ordering our praiers hee also ordereth our actions so as speaking to God we also speake to our selues by praying vnto God we learne also to feare him And surely when you shall see vnrulinesse in a household either by disobedience of the children or by dissention betweene man and wife it is a certen witnesse that God is not there called vpon as hee ought For this only action of lifting vp of hearts and hands together vnto God might haue sufficed to reunite their diuided affections and entertaine from day to day their familie in the feare of God For by speaking often to God we learne to loue him and louing him to follow him Moses his face became shining for hauing spoken with God so our soules wil becom enlightned in the knowledge of God when we and counsell all the ambition of so great a monarch and making him contribute at vnawares vnto the accomplishment of the prophesies That which is the greatest of the world employeth it selfe for the least of his children and serueth for the executiō of his loue The holy Scripture being full of such examples rightly may it be called the booke of true loue seeing that therein God not onely vnfoldeth his loue but also bindeth vs to loue him and not only exhorteth vs to this loue but also produceth it in vs by this same word accompanying the preaching of the same with the efficacy of his holy Spirit And to say true I thinke that the most part of vs haue had experiēce that after the hearing of the word the sparks of loue do kindle in our hearts and that hearing God speake or speaking of God we are inflamed with his loue So the two disciples being in Emaus after Iesus Christ was vanished said Did not our harts burn within vs when he spake vnto vs on the waie and preached the Scriptures And Ieremie in the 20. chap. desiring to reserue the word of God in his hart without vttering it saith that he felt it in his heart like a burning fire Wherefore so but because this word receiued into the hearts of the auditors heateth them with the like ardour as also the tongues of fire descending vpon the Apostles witnessed that God gaue them burning tongues and a word full of efficacie to enflame mens hearts Wherefore those which being caried away with their busines or withheld by feare or perswaded of their sufficiencie neglect coming to sermons shall insensibly feele that this heate waxeth coole and that a caule groweth ouer their consciences This negligence will grow to a distast this distast to a disdaine this disesteeme vnto a hardnes of heart enmitie against God Whosoeuer will entertaine the loue of God in his heart ought dayly to come heare his word the which he hath chosen as a wholsom means to moue our hearts and to purge our spirits as Christ saith to his Apostles You are cleane through the word which I haue spoken vnto you Being there we must hearken to the preaching with greedinesse suffer reprehensions gently receiue exhortations with ardor And euē as those vpon whom men mean to make some incision suffer themselues to be bound and pinioned by the Chirurgion lest the motion of the patient should hinder the operation so must we when the seruants of God are occupied about pricking the apostumes of our vices and cutting off our concupiscences which S. Paul calleth our members stay our mouing lightnesse and inconstancie lest it hinder the efficacy of this word by our impatiencie To the hearing of the word we must adde the reading according to the example of those of Beroea who after they had heard S. Pauls preaching went and consulted with the Scriptures to see the conformitie therof with the writings of the Prophets although that the Apostle being powerfull in miracles and in words did preach with authoritie enough to be beleeued as might be thought how much more ought we now a dayes at our coming frō the sermon content our curiosity to know if that we heare that day be true Wee which heare Pastors which are not receiueable but so farre forth as they proue their sayings by the word of God Amongst all the books of holy Scripture the most obscure is the Apocalypse and yet it is said in the first chapter that happie are they that reade and those which heare the words of this prophesie In the 17. of Deuter. God commandeth Kings to reade the booke of the law all the dayes of their life Reading thereof was the exercise of the Queene Candaces Eunuch as he rode in his chariot If he read being a pagā how much more being become a Christian And if he read when he vnderstood not how much more when he began to vnderstand If he read in his chariot how much more in his house Also God hath tendered him his hand by the ministery of Philip and vpon the reading the light of the Gospell is come vnto him for an argument vnto vs of hope that in reading carefully the holy Scriptures God wil enlighten vs. He which accuseth it of obscuritie accuseth it also of leasing for it saith of it selfe that it enlightneth the eyes that it giueth wisedome to the poore and simple that it is a lanterne to our feet a light vnto our paths If it be obscure it is saith the Apostle to those of whō the god of this world hath blinded the vnderstandings At least let vs haue good opinion of God our Father Let vs not thinke that he hath written his Testament in obscure termes and ambiguous clauses to intangle vs in suites The Father of lights in neuer cause of obscuritie Let vs not endeuor to make this word suspitious vnto the people as if the reading thereof were dangerous as doe those profanely fearful people who vnder euerie stone imagine a Scorpion to lurke If there be any difficulties the rest which is cleare is sufficient vnto saluation If it appertaine but vnto the learned to reade the Scriptures it appertaineth then vnto none to reade them for no bodie is skilfull before he haue read them Wee reade not the word of God because we are learned but to become so Now here we passe ouer an infinite number of profits which we gather of this reading as is the confirmation of our faith consolation in affliction a gentle diuerting a maister which flattereth not a cōpanie which is not troublesome a spirituall munition house which containeth all sorts of weapons against temptations which furnisheth wherewithall

to resist against error following the exāple of our Lord euer resisting the diuell by Scripture and saying vnto him It is written it is written c. Onely we will stay our selues vpon this to wit that the reading kindleth in our hearts the loue of God This is knowne by experience For after a man once begins to take a tast in reading the holy Scriptures other studies begin to proue without relish you shall see no more vpon the Carpet bookes of loue the ridiculous Romanes and tales of Amadis do flie before the Bible more then the diuell before holywater all these pleasing and vaine readings which busied the spirit and tickled the imagination do leese their taste after this spirituall nourishment Another kind of loue is kindled in the spirits of those which dayly propose vnto thēselues the witnesses of the loue of God towards vs contained in his word This meditation furnisheth vs with a iust subiect of complaint For then whē they burned vs for reading the Scripture wee burned with zeale to be reading them Now with our libertie is bread also our negligence disesteem thereof We are barbarous and new to seeke in the language of Gods Spirit Our hearts then resemble flint-stones which cast no sparks but when they are strucken Many will haue a Bible well bound gilt lying vpon a cupboord more for shew then for instruction we loue but the outside thereof Wee adorne the holy Scriptures outwardly but it were better it might decke vs within It were better it were torn with often reading that thy conscience might be more entire for it is more easie for thee to haue another then it is easie for thee to be an honest man without it Wee desire a faire impression but the fairest impression is that which is made with the finger of God in our soules The matrices of these characters are in heauen This loue of God is ingrauen in our hearts with his hand and is formed vpon the model of that loue which hee hath borne vs in his Son according as he saith in the 15. of Saint Iohn As my Father loued me so haue I loued you remaine in my loue FINIS Heb. 9. 4. 1. Pet. 4. 17. Heb. 5. 8. Phil. 1. 23. Psal 42. 2. Seuen reasons to proue that the loue of God is the onely true loue 1. Cor. 2. 9. Ioh. 14. 23. Rom. 8. Ephes 3. 19. Austins Enchiridion to Laurentius cap. 117. Iam. 4. 4. Rom. 8. Psal 141. 5 To loue God for his blessings Ioh. 15. 15. Ioh. 17. 17. To loue God for Gods owne sake Psal 69. 37 Psal 146. 8 Esay 6. 2. The life of God The knowledge of God what it is His holines His iustice His goodnes Esay 9. 1. Pet. 1. 12. Esay 43. Osea 2. To hate ones owne selfe for the loue of God Luk. 9. 14. Rom. 7. 24. Psal 39. 129. Math. 5. Coloss 3. 2. Cor. 12. Gal. 5. Gal. 5. 17. How the Saints in glorie do loue God 1. Cor. 13. 12. 1. Ioh. 3. 1. Ioh. 3. Vrim Thumim 1. Ioh. 4. 8. That vnchast loues must be extinguished What is true beauty Peace and tranquility of the soule 1. Ioh. 4 1. Ioh. 4 3. Loue is a thing full of care and feare The loue of our neighbour 1. Ioh. 4. 20. Gal. 5. 14. 1. Ioh. 3. 17. Brotherly reliefe Iames 5. Heb. 13. 16. Agreement among brethren Gen. 45. 24. Often communication with God Gen. 34 23. Gen. 26. 35. 2. Sam. 16. Phil. 3. 21. Zeale of the glorie of God Ioh. 2. 17. Rom. 15. 3. Act. 17. 26. Sam. 4. 21. 1. Ioh. 3. Cha. 1. v. 17 1. Cor. 4. 20. Phil. 2. 13. 1 Cor. 3. 9. The image of vices Psal 103. 1. Sam. 13. 20. Choise of friends Contempt and hatred of the world 1. Ioh. 2. Eccles 1. Prayer Gen. 24. 63. Esay 38. 2. Act. 10. 9. Matth. 18. v. 19. 20. Psal 45. 18 1. Tim. 2. Esay 1. Ioh. 15. 3. Coloss 3. 5. Act. 17. 11. Psal 19. v. 9 10. Psal 119. v. 103. 1. Cor. 3. Mat. 4. Luk. 4.

grounded but vpon the loue of our selues wherfore wee must mount higher and come to the second step The second degree of Gods loue THe second step of Gods loue is to loue him not onely for our profits sake but euen for his owne sake to wit that laying aside all consideration of his benefites yea and our hope of any profit from him yet to loue him aboue all things Dauid speaketh of this loue in the 69. Psalme ver 37. Let all them which loue thy name reioyce Hee wold haue vs loue God for his names sake that is to say because he is soueraigne Lord wise in his counsels iust in his actions true in his promises dwelling in glory which none can attaine vnto possessing a soueraigne perfection God whose life is without beginning and ending his eternitie without change his greatnesse without measure his power without resistance who hath made the world by his word gouerneth it by his sight and shall ruinate it by his will who in one vertue and perfection which is his essence incloseth all vertue which is euery where dispersed in the creatures as diuers lines which meete in one center do disperse thēselues by their extentiō For these considerations God ought to be loued more then for the good which he doth vs. Iesus Christ himselfe teacheth vs the same in the prayer he formed for vs in which he appointeth vs to demaund the sanctifying of his name and the aduancement of his kingdome before we craue any thing for our profit A desire which so possessed the spirit of Moses and the Apostle S. Paul that forgetting themselues they desired rather to be blotted out of the booke of life and to be accursed then that God should not be glorified Wherefore to plant in vs this loue which loueth God for his owne sake it is necessarie to know so farre forth as we may what he is in himselfe and wherefore soueraignly to be beloued Wee naturally loue beautie now light is the chiefe of beauties without which all other beauties do nothing differ from deformities God then being the chiefe light is necessarily the chiefest beautie He is the Father of lights saith S. Iames. The fountaine of light is in him and through his light we see crearly saith Dauid in the 36. Psalme For this cause when hee first set his hand vnto the creation he began with the light as a thing best representing his nature He is the Sunne of iustice the Sunne which setteth not which maketh no shadow vnto which all things are transparent which not onely enlighteneth the eyes but euen giueth sight And iudge you what this soueraigne brightnesse is seeing that the Scraphins standing before the Throne are dazeled and faine to couer their faces with their wings as Esay saith being not able to endure so great a splendor For if at the glorious apparition of the humanitie of Iesus Christ the Sunne shall be darkened as some litle light at the appearing of a greater what may be the splendor of his Diuinitie If you will consider the life of God ours is but a shadow and nothing in comparison For our life is a flowing and succession of parts but God possesseth his life entirely at one instant and all at once He who wil know what the life of God is in comparison of mans life let him compare the sea with some litle brooke 1. The sea is very great and the brooke very little 2. The sea budgeth not from his place but the brooke runneth still forth and is alwayes a new water 3. The waters of the Sea come from no other place but all running waters come from the sea and return thither The like is the life of God compared with ours 1. His life is infinite and ours verie short 2. His life consisteth in rest and to possesse all his life at one instant but our life is a fluxe and succession of parts 3. His life commeth from none other but our life commeth from him Acts 17. ver 28. and returneth vnto him againe as Salomon saith in the 12. of Ecclesiastes The earth returneth vnto the earth as it was before and the spirit vnto God which gaue it Gods knowledge is also a bottomlesse pit He knoweth all things yea euen such as are not Things passed are not passed vnto him the future are present before him He soundeth the heart he seeth through the cloake of hypocrisie We behold things one after another but he seeth them all at one view as if a man were all eye and should see all that were about him without turning himselfe We see things because they are on the contrarie things are because God seeth them For in God to see is as much as to will and his will is to do To know things we looke vpon them but God to know things looketh on himselfe because that in his wisedome hee hath the models of all things and in his will the sentence of all chances How admirable also is his holinesse It infinitely surpasseth the holinesse of Angels and Saints as it is said in the booke of Iob chap. 15. Behold he hath no assurance in his Saints and the heauens are not pure in his sight how much more abhominable and vile is man who drinketh iniquitie like water Euen as the holy Scripture calleth the highest heauen the heauen of heauens because it incloseth the inferiour so also it calleth God the holie of holies because his holinesse incloseth that of all the Saints as being infinitely inferiour The holinesse of the creature is a qualitie that of God is his substance God is holy of himselfe but men and Angels are not Saints but because God hath sanctified them Also after a cleane contrarie manner vnto men is he iust For men are iust because they do iust things In God it is otherwise for the things are iust because God doth them For he is iustice it selfe Wherefore he is iust for no other cause but for that hee doth according to his wil according to which he hath giuen vs his law the perfect rule of iustice which he not only setteth before vs but also writeth it in vs and engraueth it with his finger in the stone as he promiseth vs in the 31. of Ieremie I will put my law into them and will write it in their harts He loueth iustice and truth He hateth the workers of iniquitie he rooteth out liers he hateth the bloud-thirsty and deceitful man Psal 5. What shall we say of his goodnesse through which he loueth them which hate him by which hee causeth his Sunne to shine vpon the iust and vniust the good and bad by which hee raineth down his goodnesse euen into the mouthes which are open to blaspheme him Aboue all this infinite goodnes shineth in the person of his Son This Sonne so begotten before all eternitie that he yet now begetteth him Sonne without beginning of time Sonne of the like age as his Father Essentiall