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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	die_v	lord_n	5,657	5	3.8152	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76021	Unum necessarium, or, The great duty of a Christian in two tracts : the one, Of adhering to God, written in Latin, by Albertus Magnus, the other, Of the love of God, written in high- Dutch, by John Staupitz / both faithfully translated into English for the promoting of primitive Christianity.; De adhaerendo Deo. English. 1692	Albertus, Magnus, Saint, 1193?-1280.; Johannes von Kastl, 15th cent.; Staupitz, Johann von, d. 1524.	1692 (1692)	Wing A878; ESTC R42992	62,774	183

so freely and powerfully move his own work or how the unutterable Loveliness of God tasted and felt in the Heart doth sublime and raise the spirit in Love kindle it melt it and make it triumphantly joyful and full of Jubilee Doth the stone draw the Iron to it self without so much as touching it how much more then must needs the most Rocky and obdurate Soul being touched by the Eternal Heavenly Load-stone be raised above it self and run into the Embraces of this powerful Drawer Cantic 1.4 Or how can it be otherwise but that after this taste of the transcendent Divine sweetness all Tribulation and Suffering strewed over with this Sugar must needs become sweet and desirable Or how is it possible but that all the sweetness of the Love opposite to this must needs lose its taste and become bitter and loathsome seeing the common Proverb assures us that to him who rellisheth the Spirit the Flesh becomes ditasteful and abominable For the Nature and Property of the Holy Spirit of the self-subsisting Love of God is this that wheresoever she touches she draws and allures where she is rellished she drives and impells where she is felt and experienced she rejoyceth the Heart Moreover she has this particular property that she robs the Flesh of all its sweetness like as the Meridian Brightness of the Sun discountenances and darkens the Light of a Candle Furthermore she hath this also amongst the rest of her properties that she sweetens all pains and griefs comforts and relieves Misery and Wretchedness restores all weakness makes all labour light and easie turns weeping into laughter and sorrow into joy He that experimentally finds her rejoyceth to suffer for the sake of Christ from his very heart desires to bear the Cross with Christ and longs for the Fire of Temptation that therein his Love being tried and refined from all Dross may purely and nakedly cleave to God and therefore cries out with the divine Spouse Ca●tic 4.16 Arise thou North wind and come on East wind and blow upon my Garden that my Spices may flow forth and give their sweet Odour As if she had said come Temptation from all quarters try and prove my Vertues and Graces that they may become pure Gold and be for the amendment and edification of all that hear or see them O Holy and Divine Spirit O sweetest Guest and Inmate of the Soul O only life of men He that wants thee tho' alive is dead before God and he that hath got thee can never die with God tho the world be carrying him forth to his grave Thou art far more necessary to the Soul then the Soul is to the Body VVhere thou art not there the outward dying is the beginning of Eternal death but where thou art of Eternal Life In thee most Holy God we are in thee we live in thee we are savingly moved and all this from the Merits and Satisfaction of our Lord Jesus Christ the only Redeemer of the VVorld in whom the unutterable Mercy of God and over great Love to us is so clearly manifested and through thee O Holy Ghost so plainly imaged and deeply imprinted in our hearts that we cannot look for any thing else but Love from the Father Son and Spirit so that it is now no more possible for us to take any strange God for our God than it is possible for any one else to shew us such transcendent and unmeasurable Mercy Kindness and Love as thou hast made us partakers of It is possible and it hath oft happened that even wicked Men have wrought Miracles being the same thing Scripture testifies that Antichrist shall do at his coming It is also possible that the Enemies of God may in outward Gifts of Charity shew themselves more liberal to the Eyes of Men than ever thou hast done and to make others by their Liberality rich and powerful and such like But all these are but uncertain signs and marks of the right true Love To suffer and die for the sake of the Beloved Object is a true and infallible sign of Love when this is done for Gods sake it shews a Love sufficient to Salvation and if it be done for the sake of a Friend then is it an expression of the highest degree of Human Love as the Lord Jesus witnesseth No Man can have greater Love than this that he lay down his life for his friend Joh. 15.31 But if this Love rise get higher even to that degree as to make a Man willing to suffer and die for his Enemy then is it a certain Mark of the Love of God alone VVe read of Antichrist that he shall do his utmost endeavour and diligence as far as is possible to appear outwardly like to Christ in Miracles VVorks of VVonder and in all his other Actions and Behaviour yea to be more kind and beneficent in outward Gifts and Liberality He will as was before hinted by his Liberality make those Rich and Powerful that believe in him and will also draw to his Party such as are Rich and Powerful with rigour and severity and by fear compel them for he will horribly afflict torment and put to Death such as will not believe in him But it will never please him to suffer for his Enemies and to die for those that hate him by which it appears that his Love is so far from being the true Divine Love that it is not so much as the highest Degree of Human Love VVherefore also all these pompous Shews of his Love will be of no force with the Elect of God to deceive them Out of Christ alone as was said before the highest Love of God breaks forth and manifests it self out of him alone flow forth the waters of Grace Neither is there any other Name under Heaven wherein and whereby we may be saved save only the sweetest Name Jesu to whom alone therefore we point and direct all who are desirous to be inflamed with the Love of God for in him alone we meet with all that ought and must be sought for in order to our Salvation CHAP. XXI The most sure and certain Sign of all as well of our entire Love to God as of his Gracious Love to us is a perfect Emptiness or Exinanition of Spirit THE Heart of a true Lover of God above all things becomes emptied and void of all Creatures as soon as it is arrived to the degree of Perfect Love so that nothing but God free and alone remains in his Spirit all Creatures whatsoever soever being driven thence But as long as this is not yet come to pass in our Souls all the most specious and apparent Signs of Gods dwelling in us are uncertain doubtful and to be suspected But when a Man is become void and empty of himself and all Creatures when he forgets his own Life his Merits his Salvation and seeks nothing but the Honour of God when he is only well pleased with his Will whether it be to

forasmuch as the Divine Love only flows forth from Gods Love revealed and manifested to us it for the most part happens that we through our vehement earnestness and eager pursuit after her hinder our selves from rellishing her sweet Savour which is best tasted and perceived when we are silent and introverted inwardly attentive when we open our Mouths wide expecting the Heavenly Food when we work or do neither Good nor Evil but attend the Working of the Holy Spirit in us In this manner David hearkned and heard what God spake in him and found him speaking Peace He opened his Mouth wide and experienc'd Gods filling it was silent and waited upon God and received Incomes of Spiritual Strength and Power Ps 81.10.40 1.85.8 For the Almighty VVord saith the Wise King Wisd 18.14,15 comes not down from Heaven his Royal Throne nor suffers it self to be heard till all things be in quiet silence Therefore for a conclusion we must above all things labour and endeavour for inward stillness and quiet of Heart and to reduce our Prayer and other outward and inward Exercises to Rest and Silence that so we may hear the Heavenly Voice of God and perceive his Lovely Motions Thus thou seest how our good God permits himself to be overtaken by a soft or slow Pace but never by Running according as we read concerning the Divine Spouse Cant. 3.1 2 4. c. 5.2 3 4 5 6. That when she laid down on her Bed and had no Desire after her Bridegroom but rather seem'd to be troubled at his knocking yet was this the time he took to manifest himself in all Friendliness and Love towards her whereas when she run out after him he hid himself from her CHAP. XVI The Degrees of the Love of God alter and are changed according to the Will and Pleasure of the Self-subsisting Love of God suitable to what he knows to be most Vseful for Men. TO Love God above all things therefore is a perpetual and constant Work always abiding the same as long as the Lover abides in the true Love yet not always at the same Height or in the same Degree but sometimes more and at other times less as God knows it will be most Profitable for the Beloved Person To Paul was given a thorn in the Flesh an Angel of Satan to buffet him that he might not be exalted above measure by reason of the abundance of Revelations vouchsafed unto him 2 Cor. 12.7 And on the other hand we see the Robber was assured of his part in Paradice Luk. 23.43 and had a clear sight given him that he was a Child of Salvation and was favoured with a joyful Death to the end the Depth of his Sins might not overwhelm him At one time Paul crys out Rom. 7.24 O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Death And not long after we hear him boasting and triumphing at such a rate as this Rom. 8.38 39. for I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall separate me from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This was a perfect Word proceeding from a perfect Love Thus it happens still at this day that God often in an Hours time yea in a much shorter space doth oft alter the degrees of Love in us Sometimes we find in our selves a perfect Elevation of our Minds with entire and total Resignation and soon after experience a frightful and doubting Heart and an unstable Will and many are in the same Moment comforted again with Courageousness and a Peaceful and Joyful Mind which makes them break forth with David Psalm 56.11 In God have I put my Trust and will not fear what all mine Enemies can do unto me So that a Man here upon Earth is not constant in any degree of Love but sometimes is raised above himself and at other times sinks beneath himself according as the Holy Ghost draws him Furthermore we are to know to our great comfort that the Love which God hath towards us doth neither admit of encrease dminution and frequently is doing the very best for us when we least of all perceive or understand it We are also for the most part most sweet and well pleasing to him when he seems most bitter and harsh to us here upon Earth where his Divine Love more exerts its self for our Cross and Suffering than for our Joy Heaven is the place where God continually manifests and displays himself in everlasting Joys not this Earth Forasmuch therefore as there is more advantage and profit in Poverty than in Riches more in Suffering than in enjoyment more in Weeping than in Laughter more in Hunger than in Fulness or Satiety more in Communion of Suffering than in Communion of Comfort it follows that the Love of God manifests it self in a fuller and greater Measure to us when it procures us Lamentation Sorrow Suffering and Misery than when it affords us pleasure and delight Wherefore altho' the feeling of that Quiet and Peace of Heart which is the Portion of those who are Perfect in Love be Sweeter and more delightful yet is the Love of Proficients wherein God manifests himself for the strengthning and encouraging of the Mind more profitable for Advantage and Amendment Besides it is far more profitable and advantagious to our Salvation that we despair of our own Strength than that we confide in our own Works or Labour For which Cause also God of his great Grace doth frequently take away from us the Love of Proficients and drives us into the acknowledgment of our disability and into fearfulness and despairing of our selves to the end that as little helpless Children we might run to him as our only Redeemer accounting our selves nothing and magnifying his Grace and Power alone When it is thus with us then from the great Love of God to us ward the Love of Beginners proves of greatest use and advantage to us and we do experience by so much the more comfort from God by how much the more we despair of our own Power when we do not trust in our Strength nor take upon us to strive and struggle but only six our eye upon the Lifted up Brazen Serpent Numb 21.6 7 8 9. as in the Figure it is very comfortably held forth to us When the Children of Israel were dangerously and mortally hurt by the poysonful stinging of the Fiery Serpents God was pleased to give them a Brazen Serpent lifted up on a Pole even a Serpent without Poyson made of Brass and whosoever did only behold the same became immediately healed and all the Serpents fled away from him without any more ado Which Figure imports thus much that there is no more ready or compendious way for a Man to get rid of the Poyson of Diabolical Temptation than when he despairs of any opposition himself can make

discharge of which Exercise and Duty will follow the Remission of our Sins the Expulsion of all Bitterness the Collation of Sweetness Peace and Security the infusion of Grace and Mercy the attraction and strengthening of Familiarity and Communion with most abundant Comfort in him and firm cleaving to and Union with him But by no means let us be willing to imitate those who through Hypocrisie and Pharisaical Pride make it their Endeavour to be seen esteemed and to appear more Holy outwardly before Men than the Truth within them bears Witness to which certainly is a piece of the extremest Folly and Madness to desire and long for Humane Praise and Glory from ones self or others when at the same time we are inwardly full of the flickering inticements of this World and most Grievous Sins And certainly whoever pursues these most vain things the foresaid Goods will fly from him and he will fall into Shame and Disgrace Wherefore have thou always before thine Eyes thy manifold Sins and Wickedness and thy unfitness for any thing that is good and endeavour to know thy self that thou mayst be Humbled and don't refuse or be afraid to be esteemed and judged by all as the vilest unworthiest and most abject Off-scouring and Filth because of thy most Grievous Sins and great Iniquities Do thou therefore repute thy self amongst others as Dross amongst Gold as Tares amongst Wheat as Chaff amongst Corn as a Wolf amongst Sheep and as Satan amongst the Sons of God Neither do thou in the least desire to be Reverenc'd or Honour'd by Men or to be preferr'd before others but rather with thy whole Heart and Spirit flee from the Infections of this Pestilence the Poyson of Praise and the Pride of Boasting and Ostentation Psal 10.3 lest the Wicked should be Praised in the desire of his Heart and so be in the condition of those of whom the Prophet faith Isa 3.12 O my People they which call thee Blessed cause thee to erre and overturn the way of thy going or fall under that Curse of our Lord Luke 6.26 Wo unto you when all Men shall speak well of you for so did their Fathere to the false Prophets CHAP. XV. How we may arrive to a thorough Contempt of our selves and how profitable it is THE more therefore that any Man knows his own Vileness the more distinct and clear is his View and Vision of the Divine Majesty and the more Base and Vile any one appears in his own Eyes for God Truth and Righteousness the more Precious he is in the Eyes of God Wherefore let us strive with the total Effort of our desire to think our selves the Vilest of all Men and to believe our selves unworthy of every Benefit to displease our selves and to please God alone and be willing to be judged by others the most inconsiderable and despicable Creatures Moreover let us endeavour not to be moved by any Tribulations Afflictions or Injuries nor to be troubled at those that bring them upon us nor to entertain any hard Thoughts or to have indignation against them but with an even and quiet Mind to believe that we do well deserve all Injuries slightings Chastisements and Derelictions For certainly he who truly Mourns and is Penitent according to God he abhorrs to be Honour'd or Belov'd by others and doth not avoid or refuse to be hated trod upon and wholly despis'd to the end that he may be truly humbled and with a Pure Heart may sincerely cleave to his Lord God alone Now that we may arrive to this Loving of the Lord God alone and the abhorring of our selves above all Things and to the desire of being despis'd by othess there is not required any outward Labour or Health and Strength of Body but rather solitude of Body Labour of the Heart and Quiet of the Mind That by Labour of the Heart and Affection of the inmost Mind we may raise our selves above and Bodily withdraw our selves from these inferious Things and so rise and mount up to those that are Heavenly and Divine For doing this we change our selves into God And this is then chiefly done when we choose from our Hearts without any judging Condemning or Contemning of our Neighbour to be esteem'd by all Men as meer Off-scouring Filth and Reproach yea to be abhorred and trampled upon by all as the Dirt in the Streets rather than to abound in Pleasures and Deliciousness or to be Honoured and lifted up by Men or to enjoy any Corporal and Transitory Health or Advantages Or to desire any other Comfort in this present Mortality and Bodily Life but to Mourn Lament and bewail our Offences Faults and Sins without ceasing perfectly to set at naught and Annihilate our selves and to be esteemed daily still Viler and Viler by others and appear daily more unworthy in our own Eyes That we may please God alone Love him only and cleave unto him Being unwilling to be Affected with any thing save only with our Lord Jesus Christ himself not being sollicitous or careful about any thing but him under whose Rule and Providence all things subsist and have their Course Know then that henceforward it is not for thee to delight thy self but to Mourn with thy whole Heart wherefore if so be thou dost not yet Mourn Mourn for that and if thou dost Mourn Mourn and Lament the more for that thou hast brought upon thy self this Cause of Grief and Sorrow because of thy most Griveous Offences and Infinite Sins For as a Malefactor who receives his Sentence of Death is not concern'd about the ranging of the Sherifs Men or the Multitude of the Spectators So he who in good earnest Mourns and Bewails his Sins cannot give his Mind to Pleasures or Anger or vain Glory or Indignation or any other such like And as the Habitations of Citizens and Condemned Malefactors are very different So the State Manner and Behaviour of those that Mourn for being Guilty of Sins that bind them over and make them obnoxious to Punishment ought to be very different from those who are Innocent and not Guilty For otherwise there would be no difference made between a Guilty and Innocent Person by reward and Punishment and Unrighteousness would be more free than Innocence So that all things are to be denied all things are to be Contemned all things are to be cast away and avoided That with full Faith a good and sure Foundation may be laid for the Sorrow of Repentance Wherefore he that Loves Jesus Christ in Truth and that Mourns after him and that bears him in his Heart and in his Body that truly Mourns for his Sins and Offences and earnestly seeks for the Kingdom to come and in true Faith possesseth the Memory of the Torments of Hell and of Eternal Judgement and imprinteth firmly and perfectly in his Heart the Sense and Fear of his own Death such a one will no farther strive care or be sollicitous about any other thing whatsoever

things cannot be learned of Men. NO Man can teach another the things that can no other ways be known but by Sense and Experience no Man can teach another to see hear smell taste feel or experience and much less to love rejoyce to be sorrowful and such like which must be felt and experienced before they can be known We must taste it in our selves and God must work it in us And therefore David saith Taste and see that the Lord is Good Ps 34.8 sweet or gracious We may indeed inform others of the visibility of colors and of the qualifications that are required in the eye to perceive its proper Objects but by all our diligence we can never teach others to see so we may discourse much and at large concerning the perfect and supreme Goodness of God and the manifestation of his Love which also is very good and commendable In like manner we may discourse of the property of the will of purity of heart of a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned as St. Paul saith 1 Tim. 1.5 The end of the command is Love out of a pure heart a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned But we can never teach another how to love and much less to love above all things for this is a work of God and reserved to him as his peculiar Royalty who has the heart in his hand and the will in his power Pro. 21.1 to turn and incline them how and which way it pleaseth him CHAP. V. To Love God above all things a Man cannot learn of himself IT is true that the natural Understanding of Man may from the knowledg of the Creatures raise it self to the knowledg of God and of his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 and accordingly the Philosopher tells us that there is nothing better than God but forasmuch as they only continue in the speculation hereof without feeling and experiencing the Love and Goodness of God operatively in themselves which must be before that knowledg can beget or kindle Divine Love wherefore neither do they know God aright Accordingly St. Paul tells us Rom. 1.21 That tho they knew God they glorifyed him not as God neither were thankful wherefore also this their knowledg turns to their greater hurt and prejudice particularly in that in renders them inexcusable making them to become vain in their imagination and darkning their foolish hearts to that degree that they bestow the honour which is due to him alone viz. Love above all things upon the Creature wherefore also God suffers them to fall into Sin and Shame and to defile themselves with unnatural Lusts that they may receive in themselves the recompence due to their Error and because they do not like or value the true knowledg of God God gives them over to a reprobate mind so as to fall from one Sin into another and do those things which are not convenient Wherefore certainly it is much better for a Man never to know God than not to glorifie the known God as God or not to love him above all things CHAP. VI. To Love God above all things cannot be learnt from the Letter of the Scripture IN the Old Testament we are taught the written Law of God and therein also we find wise Instructions how the said Law must be kept or observed As likewise the good and advantage which accrues to Men by keeping of the same as well as the loss and evil that happens to Men for transgressing of it But when we come to compare our duty with our performance then it appears that we never kept any one of the Divine Commands and that we are throughout defiled with Sin We know also that no Man can keep the Law except he love God above all things and that the Letter of the Scripture can never teach us this for if the Love of God above all things did grow out of the Letter of the Old Law then it would follow that none did love God more than the Jews who abound in the knowledg of the Letter of the Law But the Apostle tells us that the Law never brought any one to Perfection that is to the Love of God above all things which is the highest perfection of Man for the Letter of the Old Law brings forth nothing but the Knowledg of our Duty that we ought to keep the Commandments of God the knowledg of our Sin that we have transgressed them the knowledg of our weakness and inability that we are not able to keep them and knowledg of the eternal punishment we must suffer for it whence fear and bondage is engendred and more than this the Letter cannot do wherefore also the Letter kills as St. Paul tells us but cannot-quicken it discovers our sickness but cannot recover us to health it manifests Sin and declares the greatness of our Fall but cannot raise us up again yet there is this comfort in it for that under this Letter the Spirit lyes hid and because the Old Law is big with child of Christ through whom the Grace of Loving God above all things is conferred They who have found this Spirit and who know and acknowledg Christ to be hid in the Law to those I say the Scripture is a profitable Doctrine and as St. Paul saith full of comfort and particularly in this that such as these as they find their Sickness in the Scriptures so likewise their Strength and Health as they find the Death of Nature so likewise the quickening of Grace through Jesus Christ our Lord in whom also they love God above all things and are able perfectly to fulfil and perform the Law From all which we see that the Law is only an Affrightment or Terror driving us from Nature to Grace from our selves into God from Flesh into the Spirit in and by whom we cry to God Abba Father and come to desire or long for God above all things In like manner also is the Letter of the New Testament a Murtherer of Souls more than the Letter of the Old Law because it represents God more lovely than that doth even as our Redeemer and who for our sakes was made Man suffered was crucified dead and buried upon all which accounts we cannot but acknowledg our selves in the highest degree bound to love him above all things Now it is evident that we make our selves lyable to greater Sins and Damnation when after so unexpressible great mercy and benefits received we continue unthankful and go on in our Sins These and such like are the effects of the Letter of the New Testament and therefore it kills as well as that of the Law For tho it represents Christ to the Eye and his Doctrine to the Ear yet forasmuch as it is unable to bring the Spirit of Christ into the heart it serves only to work a more grievous Death The Jews had Christ before their Eyes in their Ears and in their Hands but they had not the Spirit of Christ in their Hearts

any other Source or Spring save only the Benigne Kind and Merciful Will of God even that very self subsisting Essential Love which is God himself Accordingly our hope is not in any degree founded on the Love we have to God nor on the Duties or Services we perform to God or for his sake but is only grounded on the Love which God bears to us and the Works that he himself operates in us This the Apostle St. Paul plainly and openly declares from the High Spirit he had received of God for after that he had spoke to the Romans concerning the comfort of Hope he immediately declares to them from whence the same proceeds saying And hope maketh not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts Rom. 5. v. 5. through the Holy Ghost which is given unto us This is the saving Comfort and highest Consolation of Man that out of the inexpressible Love of God the Holy Ghost is given unto him though the Merit of Christ not of his desert as it is written Rom. 5.8 9 10. But God Commendeth his Love towards us in that he died for us whilest we were yet Sinners Forasmuch then as he hath so highly loved us whilst we were yet Sinners as to reconcile us to his Heavenly Father when we did not desire in the least any such thing of him how can it be then that being now reconciled through him to the Father we should not be saved yet not in our own but in his Life For most sure it is that all Life must proceed from one Life as all Death 's proceeded at first from one Death From all which it follows that they are not our own works that can give us comfort so as that from them we should be able to conceive a true and lively hope towards God but they afford us only a comfortable conjecture that this true hope is in us in the very same manner as each fruit points us to the tree upon which it grew It is in this Sense St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 1.10 that we must be diligent to make our Calling and Election to Eternal Salvation sure by the good Works we do When the Holy Ghost is in any Soul her condition may be compared to water springing out of a Rock Now in this case first there must be water in the Rock for otherwise none could ever spring thence in the next place those hidden springing waters must make a Well before that ever any streams can proceed from them Wherefore as the streams or rivulets lead us to the Well or Spring and the Spring to the hidden Water in like manner do good Works lead us to the Fountain wherein Faith Hope and Love do first spring and these three again lead us to the inward hidden Water even to the Holy Ghost who is the self-subsisting Essential Love of God By this very comparison or Similitude God leads the Samaritan Woman from the Water she drew out of Jacob's Well to that Water which is God himself which through Faith Hope and Love becomes a Well springing up into Eternal Life and flowing forth in the streams of all good Vertues and Graces For the Holy Ghost is the hidden Water Faith Hope and Love are the Spring that make the Well or Fountain and good Works are the Streams or Rivulets Thus you see for a conclusion that no good Work can be in us except the Holy Ghost be there before as hath been already mentioned Now when he dwells in us then is he himself in us that Living Water which becomes in us a Well springing up into Eternal Life through Faith Hope and Love Here thou mayst understand how and in what manner Faith Hope and Love are poured forth or conveighed into our Souls why because the Holy Ghost who is the true Living Water sheds himself abroad in our hearts and so causeth them to flow forth which afterwards farther diffuse themselves into manifold other Vertues and Graces first to those that have them and afterwards also to others that see their Works And lastly as the stream is not the Original of the Spring nor the Spring or Fountain the Original of the hidden Water so neither can our Works be the Original of Faith Hope and Charity nor Faith Hope and Charity be the Original or Cause of the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost CHAP. X. The Love to God that is in us is begotten and born of the Revelation of God's Love towards us NOthing can be conceived more proper and efficacious to beget Love than Love therefore 't is that God then and there only appears most amiable and lovely unto us when his unutterable Love towards us his surpassing Benefits and the Merits of Christ are pourtrayed and imprinted on the heart when in his Light we discover how our Heavenly Father when we were as yet his Enemies gave his only begotten Son to come down into Flesh into this mortal Life yea into the bitterest Suffering and Death for us But now this Revelation Manifestation and Impression on the heart cannot be performed by any one but by God alone who has the hearts of all in his own hand and inclines the Will according to his own pleasure Our dear Lord Christ is that flinty Rock that strikes Fire but yet doth not give it forth except it be forc'd from him with the strong Iron Christ also is the Rock that gives forth Water yet not till it be smitten with Moses's Rod. His Holy Life his Suffering and Death give forth no kindling no inflaming fire except they be stir'd and struck with the eternal unchangeable constant strong Love of God in which he immutably and without repentance has elected those who shall be the Inheritors of his Eternal Joy for no striking helps nor kindles any fire except it fall into the true catching Tinder of those Souls whom God from Eternity hath determined to favour with his Grace to sanctifie and save them For else strike who will the Rock never gives fire and consequently neither doth the Tinder catch it But when God strikes the Rock in the heart of his chosen then it presently gives forth fire then the dead Coals become live Coals the black Tinder looks glorious like the burnish'd Gold and the cold fire becomes shining and flaming in that Love which is kindled by God's Love Thus Love proceeds and springs from Love that is from the Love of God to us proceeds our reciprocal Love to him So likewise neither doth this Rock give forth Water except it be struck with the Rod of Moses ever flowing streams of Grace do not flow from Christ neither doth he appear in the highest degree lovely and amiable friendly and kind in that he was scourged crown'd with Thorns mocked and crucifyed but because the merciful Lord God the true Moses the Great Law-giver of the Law of Love out of pure Love to us or as the Prophet Isaiah chap. 53.5 8. saith for our sakes hath