not to be obtained any other way But shall we stay just here and not go one step further than is required 't is well indeed when we are safe and that must be secured first of all and with the greatest care but shall our love proceed no further Sure that Christian who is best assured of his salvation will love God most of all and make to him the greatest and most hearty returns When a man is qualified for heaven and enjoys the greatest happiness this world is capable of that is a sense of Gods favour and a well grounded assurance of a future bliss his soul cannot but melt into the most affectionate love for that gracious God whose mercy and loving kindness hath brought him into that happy condition and fitted him by his grace for a much happier they I say that are in such a case for they only can be capable of what I now treat of may well do something more than what needs they must may well enlarge their affections to God beyond the bounds of prescribed duties It is a good sign a sign of a sincere and a pious heart when a man is forward to undertake for God when he doth not weigh grains and scruples lest he should part with any of his right and liberty but affords God a full measure and running over and thinks he never gives enough and still desires that he might do infinitely more for him 'T is true that properly speaking all is due to God and the more any the best Christian returns the more he hath received and so the more he is indebted but yet God is pleased not to require all that he gives nor all that we may give that we may have wherewith to make a free-will-offering that we may have something to give him that he requires not tokens of our greateer love and gratitude It was foretold that under the Gospel in the day of Christs power his people should offer him free-will-offerings with an holy worship Psal 110.3 And David himself under the Law was at his quid retribuam What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me Psal 116. Though the benefits which God vouchsafed his people then were much inferiour to them he hath since bestowed upon us for eye had not then seen nor ear heard neither was it entred into the heart of man what great things God would do for them that love him as he hath now declared in the revelations of his Gospel though he had tied them to a burthensome and most expensive service yet he accepted their voluntary vows and ingagements and was well pleased with them yet he would receive their free-will offerings and delight in them And sure we are more obliged than the Jews to let our love and gratitude break forth beyond the limits of commands and express injunctions and now that God hath opened to us his rarest treasures his own bosome for to give us his beloved Son he will not reject our free oblations the voluntary acknowledgments of his undeserved and unspeakable mercies 'T is not to be denied without giving the lie to the learning and piety of the best Christians in all ages but that there is in the New Testament counsels as well as precepts some things recommended though not commanded He that sells all that he hath for to buy the pearl of great price and they that make themselves Eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven were not injoined so to do but are well approved of and that God who gives a plentiful harvest to him that sows bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 is doubtless well pleased with his open handedness and charitable profusion And as it is the best indication of a devout and loving soul cheerfully to exceed what is strictly required it is also the best sence to immure and secure our duty for then when we slack and abate we may be still within our due bounds Nay more I am confident that as it is best and safest it is also easier to give free will offerings than only just to pay the daily commanded sacrifice because those proceed from affection these perhaps only from injunction A friend desired to go one mile goes two or ten and finds his way pleasant because love leads him but he that is prest to the same journey and is acted by fear and compulsion while he resolves not to go one foot farther than needs he must will easily be tempted to stay one short of what he should But this is better understood by the devout lovers JESUS than I can express it Precepts are given to all men as tributes are exacted of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beat. Doroth. Doct. 1. saith an Ancient guide of souls but as in the world great persons and favourites not only pay the tax but also offer presents and gifts to the Prince so in the Church the most Religious observe not only the precepts but also intimations and counsels and give to God not only what he exacts but also free oblations all that they are able How many thousands of Saints now in heaven have taken this course how many that now wear the bright crown of virginity might have enjoied the comforts of marriage had not the love of JESUS prevailed over their natural desires how many who might have possest great estates enjoy now the greater treasures of eternity for having made themselves poor to relieve the needy members of JESUS how many who now sit on thrones of glory have chosen here to follow JESUS in meanness and humility when honours and worldly pomps were at their command how many are now rewarded with high degrees of everlasting bliss for having devoted their whole time upon earth to the service of the Blessed JESUS when they might have spent more of it upon their profit or pleasure and how many now living aspire to the same felicities and recompences by cheerfully following the same ways and expressing a sincere and unbounded love by such free oblations Cur non possum quod isti istae S. Aug. Why cannot I do what these my Christian Brothers and Sisters have done and do still hath not God done as great things for me as for them hath he not given me the same promises as they had do not I hope to be their companion and fellow citizen in heaven And why then cannot I love as much as they did I should therefore and do resolve to make no reservations JESUS shall have the command of all he hath given me of all he hath enabled me to do I shall keep nothing from him which may express my love and gratitude and do him service Dearest JESUS I know I can never do for thee so much as I should and I know that I shall never do so much as I would thou gavest thy self for me and thou wilt give thy self to me and Lord what am I worth and what is the worth of all I can do It is a great
God thine offended Sovereign is become thy near relation is become thy Brother that he may win thine affections and become thy Saviour His life all along was a continuation of his great mercy and humility he went about doing good healing all manner of diseases Corporal and Spiritual giving excellent instructions and great examples of vertue But what we now consider and what should most affect us is that for our sakes he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief all the time of his abode here below At his first entrance into the world he was degraded even below the condition of the meanest infants being born in a Stable and laid in a Manger eight days after he began to be numhred among the transgressors receiving the bloody and painful Sacrament of Circumcision which belonged only to sinners in his youth he lived in poverty and obscurity and was subject to his Parents when he manifested himself to the world then he perpetually endured the contradiction of sinners besides that he lived upon alms becoming poor for us who was Lord of all he wanted even time to eat what the charity of pious persons afforded him and had not so much as a place where he might rest his head He was tempted of Satan that he might succour those that are tempted he often watcht whole nights to Prayer and was often faint with tiresome journeys and hunger and thirst and what is yet worse he was daily persecuted by ingrateful men for whom he endured all this They slandered him with false imputations of being a glutton and a wine-bibber his kind and charitable affability in conversing with noted sinners was made matter of accusation as if he had consented to their evil deeds his Divine Doctrine was derided as if proceeding from madness the miracles which he wrought in their behalf were said to be done by sorcery and packt with Beelzebub and to all these disgraces and contumelies they would often have added violence and stoned him to death had he not escaped out of their hands by a hasty flight Lord thou hadst compassion on the multitudes because they had followed thee three days and had nothing to eat Mat. 15.32 and thou livedst above three and thirty years waiting upon thy base and fugitive servants who were become thine enemies seeking to prevent their ruine by the affiduity of thy care and kindness O sad ingratitude that we should be so soon weary in serving thee when thou wert so patient and indefatigable in acting and suffering for us for our happiness and our salvation CHAP. VII A consideration of the Cross in its four dimensions BUt if we desire to be rooted and grounded in love Eph. 3.17 and to comprehend with all Saints the immense charity of the Son of God which passeth knowledge which infinitely exceedeth all Learning in profitableness and excellency then measure the love of Christ by the dimensions of his Cross the breadth and the length the depth and the height thereof for therein love appears in its full extent so that nothing can be added to it That the eternal Son of God would become our Brother by becoming Man and would live in Poverty and Contempt was very much but that afterwards he would die for us in that manner as he did is the greatest wonder that ever the world saw And indeed there hapned more prodigies when he died than than at all other times of his humiliation the Sun hid himself darkness overspread the whole world the earth shook the stones and rocks were rent the graves were opened and the vail of the Temple was divided in twain Nature seemed to be amazed to see her God suffer and die upon a Cross greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend 't is true man cannot possibly domore I but JESUS did much more he was God then he became man that he might die for his enemies This is it whereof S. Paul speaks when he saith that it was never conceived or seen how great are the things which God hath prepared for them that love him We speak saith he the wisdome of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which none of the Prince of this world knew for had they known it they would never have crucified the Lord of glory but as it is written eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither is it entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him but God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit It appears that he speaks not of the bliss of heaven but of the crucifixion of our Blessed Saviour which to the Jews was a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness and which neither the senses nor the reason of man could ever comprehend but as a hidden mystery was made known to Christians by the revelations of the all-knowing Spirit of God To understand therefore as much as may be this never fully understood and never enough admired love of our Redeemer in dying for us let us in the first place view the Breadth of his Cross that is the variety of the torments he endured for us in the last stage of his uneasie pilgrimage CHAP. VIII The Breadth of the Cross or the manifold Sufferings of Christ for our Redemption WE may begin with the manner of his apprehension he was taken as if he had been a publick enemy to mankind a thief or a murtherer with swords and staves with rudeness and violence he was betrayed by one of his Disciples forsaken by the rest and then bound and dragg'd from place to place by those he had instructed and fed and in whose behalf he had wrought miracles He was called an impious blasphemer and voted guilty of death for confessing a great and necessary truth that he was the only Son of God Afterwards he was exposed a whole night to the indignities and mockeries of his insulting enemies they spet upon his sweet and glorious face they vailed him and smote his head and buffeted him and as if he had been a contemptible ideot to be made sport withal they bad him prophesie ghess who gave him the blows He was accused before the Roman Pretor as being a lewd malefactor a rebellious traitor who subverted the people and forbad to pay tribute to Caesar From thence he was sent to King Herod where he was set at nought and abused by him and his Souldiers and then sent back with scorn and contempt to Pilate Afterwards Barrabbas a seditious murtherer was preferred to him and a loud clamor raised by the people that he might be crucified and put to death Then was he whipt before their eyes tied to a post like a vile slave and exposed to the servile rods whiles they plough'd furrows upon his back as the Prophet spake the Souldiers took him platted a Crown of thorns and prest it on his head till the blood run of all sides of him they beat him with
there was none to help I wondred that there was none to uphold Isa 63. He was like a mild and defenceless lamb in the midst of ravenous wolves there were none about him but such as thirsted for his blood And no wonder if man forsook him when he was in some manner forsaken even by his Father It pleased God to give him up to the cruelties of wicked men and the sorrows of death and that his Divine Nature though personally and inseparably united to his humanity should for a time suspend the effects of its beatifying union and leave him suffer as a man in soul and body the greatest pains without the least comforts They that saw our crucified Saviour suffer so patiently as not to open his mouth to complain might have thought that he had no sense of pain therefore he cries out so bitterly My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why dost thou suffer me to be plunged into this gulf of sorrow so that I have nothing but anguish within and without Why dost thou suffer me to be almost overwhelmed by so great a distress and art so far from helping me and from the words of my complaint Psal 22. Lord we had deserved to sink and evermore to cry and groan in the bottomless pit and to rescue us thou art pleased to descend very low and with strong crying and tears to say de profundis clamavi out of the depths have I cried unto thee O Lord hear my voice Psal 130. be pleased to hear us dearest Lord when we call upon thee and make thy voice sink into our hearts and there find a cheerful admission and a constant and sincere obedience CHAP. XI The height of the Cross NOw we have only the height of the Cross to look on that is the sublimity the greatness of the torments of Christs crucifixion that in this sense his Cross was very high appears already by what hath been said and yet we may consider further that he being conceived by the Holy Ghost of a most pure Virgin was therefore of a most healthful constitution so that his senses being very quick and apprehensive were sensible of pain beyond other men's and so all the blows and wounds he received and his being nailed and stretched three long hours on the Cross as upon the Rack must needs have been a most exquisite torture Also the vigor of his nature being neither weakned nor spent by age or distempers he being full of strength and in the flower of his age was capable to taste the smart and sharpness of his pain to the very last moment of his life and so 't is written by S. Luke that he cryed with a loud voice when he gave up the ghost to shew that he was still very strong and that his death was bitter and violent to extremity There was likewise an invisible Cross which afflicted his soul and made it sorrowful even unto death his heart was like wax melted in the midst of his bowels Psal 22. and in the midst of so many and such intolerable pains his murtherers shook their heads made mouths at him scoft at his sorrows by cruel and insulting mockeries and by their tongues and derisions aggravated those sufferings which their hands could hardly increase but thaâ— the Cross of Christ was higher in the greatness of its pains than that of any Martyr of any man that ever suffered is evident enough only by considering who it was that was crucified on it for it was more that JESUS being perfect God as well as man should shed one drop of blood than that all Men and Angels should for Millions of years bear the greatest torments Lord we were wonderfully made by thy power but we are yet more wonderfully redeemed by thy mercy Lord what is man that thou shouldst thus be mindful of him or rather what is man that he is unmindful of thee CHAP. XII What an infinite love is exprest by the Cross NOw we have seen the whole frame of the Cross writ all over in blood with characters of love expressions of the greatest kindness for a testimony that JESUS loved us unto death Not any sorrow or anguish in his soul not any gap or wound in his body but are as many mouths to cry aloud in the ears of all men Behold what manner of love God had for his enemies his sinful and unworthy creatures to suffer such things to die in such a manner for to redeem them and make them happy Now let us if we can comprehend the breadth and the length O dilectio quam magnum est vinculum tuum quo ligari potuit Deus Idiot the height and the depth of the love of JESUS that love which bound him much harder than the cords of the Jews and nailed him to his Cross much faster than those Irons which pierced his hands and feet for he that could with one word cast his enemies to the ground could easily have broke their bands and escaped from them but that his love did constrain him and make him desirous and willing thus to die What man would suffer one half of what Christ did for his dearest Benefactor And then how immense and wonderful was that charity which he exprest in suffering the ignominy and pains of the Cross for those that were his enemies and had highly injured him and from whom he could expect no reward but only to be loved again Let us therefore remember it throughout this whole book or rather throughout our whole life that we have been redeemed from eternal despair and misery and from our vain and sinful conversation not by any corruptible thing as silver and gold but by the precious blood of Christ shed with great pain and great ignominy CHAP. XIII Of the eternal happiness merited for us by the Cross of Christ and measured by it THis Love of JESUS is more already by far than ours can answer Could our hearts burn perpetually with those brightest flames of love which beatifie the Cherubims could they contain all the most passionate affections of all Saints both in heaven and earth yet we could not love JESUS so much as he deserves for having died to save us from eternal death and yet he did more he suffered death that we might have life that we might have eternal life Not only that we might not be intirely miserable but also that we might be perfectly happy Heaven is the purchase of the Blood of Christ as well as Redemption from hell God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us when we were dead in trespasses and sins hath quickned us together with Christ and hath raised us up and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.5 Let us meditate a while upon that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory reserved in heaven for us 2 Cor. 4.17 and in it consider the same dimensions as in the price wherewith it was bought the Cross of
our Saviour and it will greatly press and increase our obligations to love him It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Paul calls it each word is a part of its dimension First the Breadth it comprehends all joys and pleasures all things that are good and desirable all that can yield satisfaction and create happiness to a man even that incomprehensible and increated goodness which is the inexhaustible fountain of perfect Bliss and Felicity in whose presence there is fulness of joy at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Secondly Its height It is above the regions of the air in the highest heavens the sublimity and greatness of its glory is exprest by being like the Angels of God by shining forth as the Sun by a kingdom a crown incorruptible a crown of life and sitting with the Son of God in his throne Thirdly its Depth It is pure and unmingled it admits of nothing afflictive neither death nor sorrow neither hunger nor thirst neither pain nor anguish all tears are wiped from their eyes There is the absence of all evil and the presence of all good therefore 't is called the joy of our Lord than which nothing can express a greater for God is intirely and perfectly happy and so incapable of any sorrow that the least sight of the Beatifical vision would turn hell it self into a paradise Fourthly and lastly its Length its never ceasing duration it admits of no end or period it is everlasting it is eternal it is for ever and ever after as many millions of years as there is drops of water in the sea it will but begin and after as many thousands of millions more it will be no nearer ending than it was at first still eternal and ever eternal This is that Bliss which we had forfeited by sin and are reintitled to by the passion of Christ that Bliss which if often and duly considered would make us despise the world long for heaven love affectionately and serve diligently that JESUS who offers it to us and died to purchase it Wherefore S. Paul prays so earnestly for the Ephesians that God would give them the Spirit of Wisdom and revelation the eyes of their understanding inlightened that they might know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints Ephes 1.18 That we might once be possessed of this bliss as well as delivered from hell was the Cause why JESUS descended down from heaven became poor took on him the form of a Servant and humbled himself unto death even the death of the Cross for the joy that was set before him he despised the shame and endured the Cross saith S. Paul Heb. 12.2 That joy we may say was not the injoyment of heavenly bliss for himself 't was his without suffering there was no need he should bear the Cross for to obtain it he had a sure title to it by nature the joy therefore that was set before him was the joy of saving us the joy of rescuing us from the jaws of death the gulf of eternal perdition the joy of paying the price of our Redemption the joy of making us capable of eternal joys the joy of purchasing the glories and felicities of heaven for us in a word the joy of shewing us his love and expecting the returns of ours This was the joy why he despised the shame because his shame should raise us to glory this was the joy why he endured the Cross because his Cross should exalt us to a happy and honourable Throne This meditation of the great and manifold benefits of God and the wonderful love and charity he hath shewed us in JESUS we may and should prosecute much farther in all instances for 't is infinite and never enough to be considered and admired But Reader if that little I have here set down doth not affect thee and if being affected with it thou dost not resolve to return to God all possible acknowledgments and demonstrations of a grateful love then read no further for Haece via amoris est vera non ficta via câ—rdialis non verbalis via fructuosa non ociosa via non sâ—lùm sermonis sed etiam operis Idiot as what precedes is matter of mercy from Gods part so what follows is matter of duty on thine I shall now infer that we must love God because he first loved us and that if the love of JESUS to us hath made him bear our Cross our love to him must make us bear his yoke if he died for us because he loved us then we must live to him to make it appear that we love him For this is love saith S. John that we keep his Commandments 1 John 5.3 By our hearty obedience we are to declare that we are sensible of his love and desirous to requite it This trial of our affections he himself doth require If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love and ye shall be my Friends if ye do whatsoever I have commanded you John 15.10 CHAP. XIV That the mercies of our Redemption chalenge our love and hearty obedience NOw then we are to consider that God giving knowledge of salvation to men hath also thereby proclaimed their duty Manifesting his love he hath ingaged and required theirs as our being called to be Chistians makes a great and real change as to the happiness of our condition a great and real change it ought also to make as to the holiness of our conversation Therefore S. Paul calls the Gospel the powr of God unto salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 2.16 and he prays for the Ephesians that they might know the love of Christ that so they might be filled with all the fulness of God Ephes 3.18 as to say that the knowledge of the love of Christ is exceeding powerful and efficacious and would replenish them with all graces and vertues for this cause he sets so high a value upon the excellency of this knowledge esteeming all the world but dung in comparison of it Phil. 3.8 and he exhorting the Cretians to be ready to every good work puts them in mind that they who were once disobedient deceived serving divers lusts had been delivered from that unhappy condition by the appearance of the love of God our Saviour towards man Tit. 3. as in other places he exhorteth Christians to walk worthy of their calling worthy of the Gospel thereby declaring that the manifestation of the Divine Love in the Preaching of the Gospel was the promulgation as of their happiness so of their duty whereby they were rescued as well from living as from perishing in their sins 'T is the appearance of that grace of God which bringeth salvation Tit. 2.11 that teacheth men to live soberly righteously and godly and 't is the receiving and crediting that Heavenly Doctrine that quencheth the fiery darts of Satan that purifies the heart and overcomes the world so
be in the second place to be intent upon that and to do it well In what appears before the world commonly men put a varnish upon their actions and their behaviour when oftentimes at home they are loose tyranical and unjust But act in private and every where tanquam sub alicujus boni viri ac semper praesentis oculis said Seneca as always in the sight of God in the most publick view For your actions at home in your closet and in your family are noted and registred before God and 't is by the doing them well that you advance forward towards perfection and glory Hoc age hoc age was often cryed by a herald whilst the heathen worshipped their Gods Mind your business mind that you are about That we must do in all actions even them that relate only to this life diligently and faithfully to do them as well as we can The praise of an actor on the stage of this world is to act his part well and decently whatever it be and that must be our care to be just and exact in being a good servant or master artist or whatever it be In so being consists our perfection and the demonstration of our love to God So likewise in things that pertain to a better life when you pray read or meditate do it with a serious attention and the greatest application your mind is capable of Do it as if you were now to die and that were the last thing you shall ever do for God and for your own soul for if you be in haste in a hurry and in a distraction you wholly lose your time and your reward It is storied in some of the legends that at prayers S. Bernard saw divers Angels noting down the behaviour of the assistants some in golden letters some in ink and some in water only according to the devotion or negligence of them that prayed Though the relation looks much like a fable yet there is this truth in it that they certainly weary themselves to no purpose who serve God without attention and without fervour and do the business of their soul in a careless and trifling way As Mathematicians consider an abstract quantity not regarding whether of Gold or clay so it is not so much the matter of our actions as the manner of doing them that most recommends them to God and makes them expressions of our love to JESUS As for the second Rule of bearing patiently what ever happens It must be also extended to the meanest sorrows and vexations In all things let us be content that Gods will should take place Let us carefully secure our duty and afterwards let us care for no more leave the event to God and let him chuse for us It is to no purpose to resolve to bear evenly great calamities which perhaps shall never happen to gather a stock of patience against violent persecutions and the flames of martyrdom and mean while to be fretful and angry for every loss and trifling accident that crosseth our humour This is but self deceit and an imaginary patience stoutly to resolve upon great evils when they are far off and yield to lesser when present We are rather to remember the words of our Blessed Lord to take up our cross daily and follow him The word daily imports that the evils of every day are to be born with patience and a composed mind And that the wrongs and vexations we meet withall in our intercourse with others as well as great calamitie are our own proper cross which our Christian profession and love to JESUS obligeth us to bear and submit to When a rough-hewn plank is to be join◠to one that is even it must be plained and made smooth by great or smaller strokes at the workmans discretion our deform soul or crooked will is to be close united to God who is most equal and perfect therein consists our happiness we must therefore let him who is pleased to undertake that work polish and rectifie our soul and make them conformable to his blessed will by what means he pleaseth by great or lesser blows according as he knows to be expedient Let us follow the Prince of sufferings by love and imitation cheerfully bearing our cross whatever it be mindful of this profitable advice of the son of Sirach My son if thou come to serve the Lord prepare thy soul for temptation set thy heart aright and constantly endure and make not haste in time of trouble Whatsoever is brought unto thee take cheerfully and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate They that fear the Lord will not disobey his word and they that love him will keep his ways CHAP. XVIII Some more particular directions how to order our lives by the love of JESVS FROM the happy and safe cloister of love wherein thou art entred look not abroad upon that world that lies in wickedness Follow not the multitude to do evil for men take hand in hand Vae tibi slumen moris humani Aug. and betray one another to folly and ruine Gods benefits are lost upon the major part of them they have no sense of the divine mercies ungratitude is their proper character and their greatest guilt Rarae fumant felicibus arae all might easily be happy if they would love and be thankful Read the lives of primitive Saints and consider them that are now truly religious and good men Converse with them and with them learn to spend thy time carefully and well Time is short and precious spend it upon that that will turn to account when time shall be no more It leads to an endless eternity and it is given thee to make that eternity infinite in happiness as in duration Indulge not then to idleness for it will bring temptations upon thee and make them prevailing Labour watchfulness and prayer make us victorious over sin and win the incorruptible crown Use all means whereby thou maist be advanced in thy way to heaven thou canst never work out thy salvation with too much care and diligence 'T is good to make sure work in so great a concern Malo cautior esse quam fortior fortis enim saepe captus est cautus rarissime for multitudes perish through carelesness and presumption and the way to eternal life is streight and narrow But in the use of such means as I recommend take heed of deceiving thy self and resting in outward observations making that the end which is only a way to lead thee to vertue Thou maist carry thy Bible about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and read the Gospel and yet not be a good Christian Thou maist go up to the Temple to pray fast and give alms and profess the greatest strictness with the Pharisee Non Hierosolymis fuisse sed Hierosolymis bene vixisse laudandum Hieron and yet still be an hypocrite except thou dost truly love God Love therefore and often think that thou shalt die for that
of thâ—â— whom he serves and obligeth we eaâ—â—ly suppose that they love us whom we loâ—â— and that they to whom we do good will 〈◊〉 kind to us therefore let us shew to God 〈◊〉 the love we can and by words and actioâ—â— protest that we seek to please him and 〈◊〉 hearts will soon be possest with a blessed aâ—surance that we are dear to him and that 〈◊〉 will never be cruel and severe to us ' Tiâ— reported of a Religious Person whose soâ—â— was grieved and wounded with doubts and fears and with sadness that while he 〈◊〉 one day weeping and praying thus O thaâ— I were sure that I shall persevere and neveâ— fall from God O that I were sure thaâ— God loves me and that I shall one day see his blessed Face how zealous then would I be in mortifying my sins and doing my duty how cheerfully would I serve God every day and take pleasure in suffering for him how would I despise the world and its vanities and fix my thoughts and affections on things above while he was thus expressing the sorrows of his troubled mind he heard the whispers of a secret voice which told him fac quod faceres do now what thou wouldst do if thou hadst all those assurances With this he found himself so affected and refreshed that he took it as an Oracle from heaven and in obeying of it found those comforts he begged Better counsel I cannot give thee fac quod faceres do what thou wouldst do if thy diffident timorousness and jealousies were confuted by a voice from heaven and they will soon be removed Let thy meek submission thy sincere obedience and thy free-will offerings speak thy love to God and thou shalt soon find thy self perswaded that God loves thee dearly and that thy condition is safe and happy Other assurance we are not to expect in this world and this is not to be obtained any other way should thy comfort proceed from any thing else but thy humble and devout love to God it would be fansie and presumption whereas so it is well grounded and never can deceive thee There is no fear in love saith Divine S. John 1 Ep. 4.18 but perfect love casteth out fear 't is never otherwise grace and nature join together to make the effect infallible that a Holy Love should ever produce a Holy Peace if we love indeed and in truth thereby not by new and secret revelations we shall know that we are of the truth and we shall assure our hearts before God 1 Joh. 3.18 Love may well work confidence and joy in our souls for it enjoys already what it loves it is affectuosa unitas unitiva affectio love is inseparable from its object and the essence thereof consists in their union and in some manner unity as our Blessed Saviour praid for his that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Joh. 17.21 and that this is effected by love he adds ver 26. that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Though God be exalted infinitely above all things in a sphere of Glory and Majesty so high that the Cherubims with their many wings cannot flie up to it Qui mente integro Deum desiderat profecto jam habet quem amat Greg. Mag. yet thither love soars up and takes God and holds him as his own so that every one that loves God is already possest of him and may say with the spouse I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine Cant. 6.3 We come to God by love amando non ambulando and to him we are united by by love amore Deo conjungimur Magna res est amor quo anima per semetÌ„ ipsam fiducialiter accedit ad Deum c. S. Aug. therefore love is a great thing saith that devout father it brings the soul to God with an holy confidence and makes it trust in him and cleave stedfastly to him and rejoyce in him and represent her needs and beg his mercies with fiducial and devout affections And this is so great a truth that death it self with its pains and sorrows alters nothing of it even then in the last agonies the love of God sweetens the bitter cup and still entertains the soul with joy and holy comforts It was the saying of S. Aug. that because the soul hath willingly forsaken God whom she should love infinitely she is forced therefore with grief and regret to forsake her body which she loves too much and that because she voluntarily departed from God who is her life she therefore departeth from the body whose life she is with sadness and much reluctancy Aug. de Trin. lib. 4. cap. 13. Now we may say Charitas libertatem donat timorem pellit c. S. Bern. that when the soul returns to God by love she is freed from this punishment and restored to her first liberty she is willing to die for to be with Christ and then comes a cheerful cupio dissolvi O when shall I come and appear before God Happy is he who living doth so manifest his love to God by Piety and Charity that dying he can say with Theodosius Dilexi love hath been the business and delight of my life I have daily endeavoured by my actions to declare the sincerity of my love to God he is doubtless of the number of those that love the appearing of JESUS and so he goes out to meet him with joy and confidence expecting a kind reception from him whom having not seen yet he loved Nemo se amari diffidat qui jam amat libenter Dei amor nostrum quem praevenit subsequitur c. Bern. and worshipped and served affectionately Let no man that loves God doubt of Gods Love to him for he that loved us when we were his enemies so as to die for us will much more love us when we have for him the hearty affections of friends It is the joy of heaven the joy of the Holy JESUS when his loving kindness hath won and conquered our hearts and 't is our greatest joy 't is for us a heaven upon earth when we love him faithfully and fervently with all our souls and affections The love of God brings that peace to the soul which the world can neither give nor take away O sweet JESU O look thou upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name Psal 119.132 CHAP. XXV The Conclusion NOW who can refuse to love God when 't is a thing so just and reasonable so pleasant and easie so safe and advantageous something of necessity we must love every mans heart is full of that passion and every mans life is governed by it 't is but considering who hath done most for us and whom we are most obliged to love who is most lovely and who will best reward our love and we