Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	apostle_n	faith_n	hope_n	2,556	5	7.0461	4	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

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

his profit or loss pleasing or displeasing when he daily condemns himself and judgeth no body but himself only then without doubt God hath taken up his abode in him and he is top and brimful of God Wherefore it is a great Grace and Mercy of God and not in the least and effect of his wrath when he makes us see that there is no Truth no Faith no constant Love upon Earth when he manifestly discovers to a Man that those who are bound to love him and to return Good for Evil do requite him Evil for his Good Unfaithfulness for Love for this is the true and ready way by which God from Heaven through his special Grace empties Flesh of Flesh and fastens Spirit to Spirit Wherefore beg thou of God that he would be pleased to empty thee of thy self and of all Creatures and take it for a special friendly sure Token of the Love of God towards thee when that becomes unloving or displeasing to thee what at any time thou hast loved out of measure For as long as thou cleavest to any thing that is not God thou must needs be and continue uncertain whether God be in thee or no and tho he may be in thee without thy Knowledg yet will he never clearly come unto thee and fully manifest himself in thee until all other Loves be rid out of thy heart This is that which St. Paul declares when he saith 1 Cor. 3.11 12 13. That they who build Stubble Hay and Wood upon the saving Foundation shall indeed be Saved because they love God above all things yet no otherwise but so as by Fire and that for this reason because they love other things besides and together with God but they who build fine Gold Silver and pretious Stones which are not subject to Rust and are refin'd and purged from all dross and Refuse upon the true Foundation viz. The Love of God above all things they need not to pass the fire because they love God only in the same manner as he will be loved of his most beloved friends of whom he requires according to the Gospel-Doctrine that they hate their Father and Mother their Brothers and Sisters yea even their own Souls Now they who do love at this rate they have escap'd from and are out of the reach of Hell forasmuch as they have loved God above all things They would also be rid of all Temporal Sufferings were it not that their bodily Sufferings did above measure conduce to their Eternal Joy and that their hearts are to that degree inflamed with the Love of God that they desire nothing more or higher than as far as is possible to be made conformable to the Suffering Lamb of God in all things They also whose Love is arrived at this high pitch have nothing which they cleave unto but an entire poor Spirit wherefore also they suffer nothing here upon Earth save only Love-Sufferings as also our Lord Jesus endured no other Sufferings save those of Love For out of Love alone was he conceived born circumcised driven from his abode subject to Joseph Baptized Tempted out of Love alone he preached wrought Miracles broke his Rest and Sleep Out of singular transcendent great Love he left his most Holy Mother his Dearest Friend his Apostles sweat Blood was in an Agony was seised smitten on the Face endur'd false Witness perverse Judgment Mockings Scourgings condemning to Death the weight and bitterness of the Cross and last of all the most cruel and painful Death Wherefore to him be Praise Honour and Thanksgiving now and at all times even for ever and ever Amen An. Dom. 1518. Jesus thine I am save me B.J. von staupitz The Second TREATISE Concerning the Holy Christian Faith By Dr. John Von Staupitz THE PREFACE TO THE READER IT is a Lamentable Thing That Christians since the Death and Passion of Christ and the Apostles Decease are fallen into so great an Ignorance of Christ and his true Faith out of which no Man can be saved And though it be difficult to dispute about the established and confirmed Faith yet Brotherly Love requires every one to give his Neighbour all the Information Help and Assistance he can that the Foundation of all Good and the Root of all Vertue the only Comfort of the Elect viz. The firm Hope and true Faith in Christ may not perish or be lost Wherefore I think my self oblig'd and bound in Duty by vertue of my Function and Calling to feed the Hungry with the Word of God or rather to lead and point them to the said Food and accordingly trusting in God I have here undertaken to write simply of the Faith in Christ He that can do better let him set about it all to the Glory of God and the Edification and Amendment of his Neighbour Amen CHAP. I. Of the Obligation and Duty that lies upon us to believe and of the Beginning of the Christian Faith THere is no Man I hope so dark and blind in his understanding as not to know that every one is bound in duty to believe the infallible Truth which is god himself and that God is highly dishonoured and the Truth blasphemed when this due Faith is not given to him It is an unbecoming thing for one honest man not to believe another in all reasonable things yet forasmuch as there is no express command upon us so to do because the Psalmist tells us Psal 116.11 That all Men are Lyars this Earthly Faith is left to a mans free Will and pleasure whether he will believe or no forasmuch as they are only the Words of meer Men. But Gods Word we must and are bound always to believe because it is the Truth it self All Understandings must deliver themselves Captives to the same and all hearts must assent to it be the matters never so high above our reach and understandings yet we must believe them because God hath spoken them without any further questioning or requiring any further proof or reason of them This is the Beginning of Faith without which no Man can please God CHAP. II. Of the Duty and Necessity of Faith in Christ OUr Heavenly Father has revealed much Truth to his Elect and promised to them great Grace and many Good things and thereby in Duty bound them forasmuch as he is the Eternal Truth undoubtedly to believe and look for the same at his hands Whosoever we are whether Good or Bad Jews or Gentiles the Divine Promise neither can nor may be procur'd or hastened by our Vertues or hindred by our sins but continues eternally unchangeable and constant in it's Truth Wherefore in order to our receiving the Gifts and Graces of God by whatsoever Names they are called Faith in Christ is absolutely necessary whereby we are assured of all the Divine Promises Believe thou therefore that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and doubt not in the least but that in him through him and for his sake all the Good thou

Another is that his Words be few necessary simple and concerning Divine things the Third is that his whole life all his VVorks and whatever he doth be so compleat and blameless that in nothing he may be reprehended by any one And of the Internal the first is that his Thoughts be pure and Heavenly the Second that he purely seek and intend God alone the Third that he be able easily and readily without any Trouble to bid farewel to all for God that is that whatever befalls him an Unmoveable undisturbed and true Peace be in his mind that as Water not moved with any blast of wind is quiet so his Soul may in all things persevere calm and immoveable For as in water so long as it swells with VVaves and is stirr'd with continual motion no man can behold himself so that most simple and most pure Good which is God can never direct the Rayes of his Light into his Soul into his Spirit or Interior part so long as he is moved with prosperous or advers occurrences For no Prosperity or Honour tho never so great for no Riches or Friends or whatever fortunate accide●● must our heart yield to Levity Dissoluteness 〈◊〉 vain Joys Again on the other side he must per●●… undaunted and immoveable against all Adversi●… so that he be not disturbed or hindred in his Sou● by any damage done him nor wish any Evil Withi● or without to any other whatever he suffers from him whether he deprive him of all his Good● whether Honour or Friends or Commodities or a●… his comforts yea tho he pull out his Eyes fire 〈◊〉 House or whatever other mischief he do him h●… must by no means bear an Evil thought agains● him nor defire Revenge but taking all not from Man but from the hand of God render him devou● thanks that he is in any thing made conformable to him Yet notwithstanding we must know that there is none so happy or holy Christ only and th● Glorious Virgin excepted but he may sometimes suffer at least the first motions of passion for all the Saints have suffered them But as soon as ever they perceived them they knew how by the Grace of God so to suppress them so as that they could not easily be perceived either in their Countenance in their VVords or their Gestures Lastly to this Quiet condition this also is required that he be so affected so disposed that tho he be encumbered with Diversity and multiplicity of business is soon as ever he turns himself to God in Prayer no Image thereof no appearance not so much as any shadow of it may remain whence in his Intellect or mind he may become indisposed or hindered Our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant that to these things we may all in time attain Amen A TREATISE OF Albertus Magnus of adhering to God CHAP. I. Of the Vltimate and highest Perfection of Man as far as the same is attainable in this Life I Have purposed with my self with the greatest accuracy as far as it is possible in this our Exile and Pilgrim State to give a description of the Absolute and Plenary Abstraction from all things and our ready secure naked and firm adhering to our Lord God alone And this the rather because the very End of Christian Perfection is Charity or Divine Love whereby we cleave to and are made one with the Lord our God To which Divine Adhesion by Love every one is bound that hopes for Salvation and is performed by the observance of the Precepts and Conformity with the Will of God the observance whereof excludes whatsoever is repugnant to the Essence and Habit of Charity such as are all Mortal Sins But those that are in Religious Orders have over and above this bound themselves to the Practice of Evangelical Perfection and of those things which are matter of Evangelical Councel and Advice rather than strict Imposition and by means whereof we more readily arrive to our ultimate End which is God by the observance of which are likewise excluded all those things which clog and hinder the Activity and Fervor of Charity from carrying us up into our Lord God such as are the denying of all things yea even of our own Soul and Body for seeing that our Lord God is a Spirit they that would worship him Joh. 4.24 must do it in Spirit and in Truth That is with Knowledge and Love with the Understanding and Affection devoid of all Phantasms or Images To this purpose is that Command of our Lord But thou when thou Prayest Math. 6.6 enter into thy Closet that is the inmost retreat of thy Heart and when thou hast shut thy door viz. the door of thy Senses upon thee there do thou with a Pure Heart and Good Conscience and Faith unfeigned pray to thy Father which is in Secret in Spirit and in Truth Which is then best done when a Man being disentangled and divested of all other things and wholly retir'd within himself and having forgot and shut out all and every thing in the Presence of Jesus Christ the Mind alone doth in silence with Faith and Assurance lay open her Desires before her Lord God and thus by the entirest Affection of her Heart and Love doth most sincerely and fully pour forth and plunge her self into God with the inmost Marrow and Strength of all her Powers dilating inflaming and dissolving her self wholly into him CHAP. II. How a Man may despising all other things adhere to and intend Christ alone NOw whosoever Desires and makes it his Business to undertake and enter upon this State or kind of Life it is needful that he as it were shutting his Eyes and Senses do not concern or trouble himself with or be careful and sollicitous about any thing whatsoever but totally reject and renounce all things as impertinent hurtful and pernicious and in the next place that he wholly retire within himself and in that Retirement entertain no other Object but Jesus Christ alone and him Crucified and so press on through him into him i. e. through Man into God through the Wounds of his Humanity into the inmost recess of his Divinity and there without any further disputing readily and securely commit himself and all his Concerns to his indefatigable Providence according to that of St. Peter Casting all your care upon him 1 Pet. 5.7 who can do all And again Be sollicitous for nothing Phil. 4 6. And that of the Psalmist Cast thy care upon the Lord Ps 55.22 and he shall sustain thee And again But it is good for me to Ps 73.28 cleave unto God And again I have set the Lord always before me Ps 16.8 And with the Spouse in the Canticles Cant. 3.4 I have found him whom my Soul loveth because Wisd 7.11 as Wisdom saith All good things come together with it This is that hidden Heavenly Treasure and that precious Pearl which cannot be purchased Mat. 13.44 5 6. but

Mind foolishly run up and down from one contrivance to another spending thy precious time in tireing thy Mind and Body and foolishly consuming the strength of them both Wherefore do thou receive all and every thing whensoever or howsoever they come upon thee with an even temper in silence and tranquility as reach'd forth to thee by the hand of the Paternal Divine Providence Divest therefore thy self of the Images and Phantasms of all Bodily things according to the Exigence of thy State and Profession that with a naked and simplified mind thou may'st sincerely cleave to him to whom thou hast so frequently and entirely devoted thy self that there may be nothing to mediate or interpose between thy Soul and him that so with a pure and fixed view thou mayest raise thy self from the Wounds of his Manhood into the Glorious Light and Charity of his Godhead CHAP. V. Concerning Purity of Heart which is to be endeavoured above and before all things IF so be therefore thou dost desire and endeavour by a strait safe and short path to arrive to the end of true Bliss here and hereafter of Grace and Glory then do thou with an intent mind earnestly aspire after continual cleanness of Heart and Purity of Mind with a constant calm and tranquillity of thy Senses and recollecting the Affections of thy Heart continually fix them above on the Lord thy God withdrawing thy self in the mean time from thy Familiars and Acquaintance and as far as lies in thee from all Men and from all things that might be a let or hindrance to thy holy purpose alwaies watching an Opportunity where and when thou may'st find place and time for sweet rest and contemplation and the enjoyment of the secret Pleasures of Silence avoiding the shipwracks of this present World and the noise hurry and confusion of it Wherefore let this be thy chief Study at all times how thou may'st attain to Cleanness Purity and Rest of Heart that so continually having shut the doors of thy Carnal Senses thou may'st turn into thy self and lock up thy Heart as far as is possible from the Representations of all Sensible things and the Imaginations of Earthly Objects It is this Purity of Heart that excels all Spiritual Exercises whatsoever as being the final Intention 〈◊〉 and Reward for all the Labours which a Religious and Spiritual Man takes in this Life Wherefore do thou with all Diligence Application and Endeavour rid thy Heart Senses and Affections from all these things that may impede its Freedom and from every other Concern of the World that hath the least Power to Allure Bind and Captivate thee And so strive to recollect and gather up all the wandring excursions of thy Heart and all the Affections of thy Mind into that One True Simple and Supreme Good and to keep them alwaies recollected within thy self as in one place and by this means endeavour alwaies to cleave with thy mind to God and Divine things and leaving thy Earthly Frailty behind strive to transform thy self continually into the pattern of the Heavenly things through thy inward Communion with and retirement into Jesus Christ Wherefore if thou makest it thy Business to strip and purifie thy self from all Images and Representations and with Trust and Confidence to simplifie and quiet thy Heart and Mind in the Lord thy God that thou may'st feel and take in the Fountain of the Divine Good Pleasure in all thy inward parts and by thy good will be united to God in thy Intellect or Understanding this Exercise alone will be sufficient for thee and serve instead of all Study and Reading of the Holy Scriptures and will advance thee to the Love of God and thy Neighbour according as the Anointing Teacheth thee Wherefore with all Study do thou labour and endeavour to simplifie thy Heart that being immoveable and at peace from any intruding vain Phantasms thou may'st always turn thy self to and stand fast in the Lord within thee to that degree as if thy Soul was got into the always present NOW of Eternity that is of the Deity in such a manner that for the Love of Jesus Christ from a Pure Heart a Good Conscience and Faith unfeigned thou may'st wholy forsake and leave thy self and entirely and fully commit thy whole self to God in all Tribulation and every Event whatsoever always desiring to be patiently resign'd and obedient to his Will and Good Pleasure Now to the end that thou may'st come to this State it is necessary for thee frequently to return to thine own Heart and to abide there ridding thy self as far as is possible of all things preserving the Eye of thy Mind continually in Purity and Rest voiding thy Intellect of all Images and Representations of inferiour things setting free the Affection of thy Will from all Earthly Cares and with a fervent Love from the very bottom and root of thy Soul cleaving to the True Supreme Good having thy Memory also continually lifted upwards and firmly fix'd and grounded in the same alone True Soveraign Essential and Uncreated Good to the end that thy whole Soul with all its Powers and Faculties being thus gather'd up into God may become one Spirit with him which is the highest Perfection attainable in this Life It is this Unity of Spirit and Love whereby Man is made conform in all his Desires and Wishes with the Supreme and Eternal Will so as that he becomes that by Grace which God is by Nature And here we are to observe that in that very moment wherein any Man by the Grace of God overcomes his own Will that is his inordinate Love and Likeing so as to dare fully and totally trust the Lord God with all his Needs and Concerns he does so highly please God that he freely bestows upon him such a degree of Grace by which he feels that true Charity and Love begot in him which expels all doubts and fears and gives him a sure and confident hope in God Wherefore nothing can he more happy or advantageous for us than to cast our All upon him in whom there is no want And seeing that as long as thou standest in thy self thou dost not stand fast cast thy whole self securely upon God and he will take thee up heal thee and save thee If thou doff but continually revolve these things in thy Mind thou wilt find them more conducive to a truly Happy Life than all the Riches Pleasures Profits and Honours yea and all the supposed Wisdom and Knowledge to boot of this deceiving and corruptible World yea tho' thou shouldst excel in all these all that ever were before thee CHAP. VI. That we must cleave to God with a naked Intellect and Affection WHerefore seeing that by how much the more thou shalt empty thy self of all Images and External Worldly and Sensible Intanglements by so much the more thy Soul will recover its Primitive Strength and Vigour and the use of its internal Senses to perceive and

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

and therefore were in a more damnable condition than the Heathens They had received many more benefits from him than from any one besides but yet did not love him in the highest degree who had loved them to the utmost so as to give his Life for them And thus at this day we frequently find that those who have Christ most in their Tongues have him least in their Hearts whence follows that they also communicate or impart him to others so as they have him themselves viz. on the Tongue and not in the Heart they teach them to talk much of him but to love little by which means the poor simple People are much hindred in the way to true Perfection and happiness CHAP. VII The Love of God above all things cannot enter into a Man except the Holy Ghost be there before SAint Paul saith The Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which is given unto us even the Spirit of our heavenly Father the Spirit of Christ whom he that hath not is none of Christs neither is it possible for such an one to love God above all things Wherefore we are to take notice that the first the greatest and the highest Favor God bestows upon a chosen Soul is that he vouchsafes to take up his Dwelling in him By this means it is that the essential Self subsisting Love which is God himself is always in Man before his own Love or any thing that can be called Good and much the same thing happens to every pious Soul as befel the blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God when it was told her by the Angel That she should conceive and be with child of God whereupon when the Virgin demanded how this should come to pass and by whom seeing it was not to be according to the Order of Nature To which question she and all holy Souls with her received this Answer The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee Luk. 1.35 As if he had said a Child of God is not born of Blood nor of the Lust of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but is born of God alone Job 1.13 In which Birth the Soul is endued with Divine Power to fulfil all things and all Commands through the Love of God Wherefore if at any time any thing that is holy or good be done by us we must not attribute and appropriate it to our selves but to God only who is the only Father of all good Fruits and Gifts in us Upon which Account also the Angel gives us this further Information saying therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God O happy yea more than happy is that Man into whom the Holy Ghost is come down from above in whom the self-subsisting essential Love which is God himself hath taken up his abode for in him continually and for ever Divine Fruits grow and spring forth whether he knows it or not for the Holy Ghost is never idle Sometimes he stirs in us motions of Anger to reprehend and reprove that which he will have reproved sometimes he moves us to mirth and jocose words to revive and rejoyce those whom he will have comforted c. and frequently makes us in those very things his Fruits and Children whereby we are apt to fear that we were become his Enemies Many very many Fruits of our Salvation doth he work in us whereof we know nothing neither more nor less Could we now in this manner always see him in our selves and clearly discern and know him this would be to be happy indeed here on Earth but it hath rather pleased him and seemed good in his Eyes to be hidden and concealed in us according to the Saying of the Prophet David Ps 18.11 He bowed the Heavens and came down and Darkness was under his Feet he made Darkness his hiding Place his covering round about him were dark Waters c. CHAP. VIII From the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost first proceeds the Light of true Christian Faith THat no Man can reach the Sense and Power of the Holy Scriptures or the Love of God above all things from any outward Learning or Information whatsoever our Lord Jesus Christ himself plainly declares when he saith to his Disciples Job 16.12 I have yet many things to say to you but ye cannot bear them now It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Holy Ghost will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him to you And when He the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth and teach you all things and will open to you the hidden mystical Vnderstanding of the things I have spoke to you Christ must depart and pass away from the Eyes into the Heart from the Flesh into the Spirit before ever he can be known to Salvation Upon which Account he himself disowns the Fruit of his outward Doctrine when the same is separated and divided from the inward Teaching It is in this sense St. Paul declares that as well his Teaching as that of all the other Apostles was nothing except God himself teacheth in the Heart Neither can any man with any words how high and choice soever they may be declare make out or represent the above measure lovely Love of God if God do not first reveal himself in the Heart Wherefore it is without all doubt that God himself brings into the Soul of those by whom he will be loved above all things that Light whereby his great Loveliness and Kindness are clearly seen and discerned through a firm Faith without doubting before ever we know or understand what is right and good Wherefore we must conclude that the knowledge of the True Christian Faith is a pure meer Grace of God CHAP. IX That Man is never comforted in hope whom the Spirit of God himself doth not comfort ALL the comfort of this World is Vain Useless and Empty all confidence in the Creature is deceitful for which reason the Holy Scriptures denounce Curses against all those who confide in their own Jer. 17.5 6. or others created power or ability and by this means seek their comfort in and from the Creature The only true comfort upon Earth is founded and grounded in this as St. Paul assures us that we boast our selves and Triumph in the Glory of the Children of God Rom. 5.2 11. that is in our indubitable assurance that we are the Children of God foreknown and Elected to Eternal glory This is the comfort which no Creature can give neither can any deserve it it must and can only be given by the Holy Ghost the Comforter to whom only it belongs to comfort his People and whose property it is to convey a lively hope into the heart of his chosen and this even before there is any Merit in them Neither hath our saving hope