HAVING spoken so much concerning his entrance and progress in
Felicity, I will in this century speak of the principles with which your friend
endued himself to enjoy it. For besides contemplative, there is an active
happiness, which consisteth in blessed operations. And as some things fit a man
for contemplation, so there are others fitting him for action: which as they are
infinitely necessary to practical happiness, so are they likewise infinitely
conducive to contemplative itself.
2
He thought it a vain thing to see glorious principles lie
buried in books, unless he did remove them into his understanding; and a vain
thing to remove them unless he did revive them, and raise them up by continual
exercise. Let this therefore be the first principle of your soul That to have no
principles or to live beside them, is equally miserable. And that philosophers
are not those that speak but do great things.
3
He thought that to be a Philosopher, a Christian, and a Divine,
was to be one of the most illustrious creatures in the world; and that no man
was a man in act, but only in capacity, that was not one of these, or rather
all. For either of these three include the other two. A Divine includes a
Philosopher and a Christian; a Christian includes a Divine and a Philosopher; a
Philosopher includes a Christian and a Divine. Since no man therefore can be a
man unless he be a Philosopher, nor a true Philosopher unless he be a Christian,
nor a perfect Christian, unless he be a Divine, every man ought to spend his
time, in studying diligently Divine Philosophy.
4
This last principle needs a little explication. Not only
because Philosophy is condemned for vain, but because it is superfluous among
inferior Christians, and impossible, as some think, unto them. We must
distinguish therefore of philosophy and of Christians also. Some philosophy, as
Saint Paul says, is vain, but then it is vain philosophy. But there is also a
Divine Philosophy, of which no books in the world are more full than his own.
That we are naturally the Sons of God (I speak of primitive and upright nature,)
that the Son of God is the first beginning of every creature, that we are to be
changed from glory to glory into the same Image, that we are spiritual Kings,
that Christ is the express Image of His Father's person, that by Him all things
are made whether they are visible or invisible, is the highest Philosophy in the
world; and so is it also to treat, as he does, of the nature of virtues and
Divine Laws. Yet no man, I suppose, will account these superfluous, or vain, for
in the right knowledge of these Eternal Life consisteth. And till we see into
the beauty and blessedness of God's Laws, the glory of His works, the excellency
of our soul, &c. we are but children of darkness, at least but ignorant and
imperfect: neither able to rejoice in God as we ought, nor to live in communion
with Him. Rather we should remember that Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of the
Father, and that since our life is hid with Christ in God, we should spend our
days in studying Wisdom, that we might be like unto Him :that the treasures of
Heaven are the treasures of Wisdom, and that they are hid in Christ. As it is
written, In Him are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge.
5
In distinguishing of Christians we ought to consider that
Christians are of two sorts, perfect or imperfect, intelligent and mature, or
weak and inexperienced: (I will not say ignorant, for an ignorant Christian is a
contradiction in nature. I say not that an imperfect Christian is the most
glorious creature in the whole world, nor that it, is necessary for him, if he
loves to be imperfect, to be a Divine Philosopher. But he that is perfect is a
Divine Philosopher, and the most glorious creature in the whole world. Is not a
Philosopher a lover of wisdom? That is the signification of the very word, and
sure it is the essence of a Christian, or very near it, to be a lover of wisdom.
Can a Christian be so degenerate as to be a lover of imperfection? Does not your
very nature abhor imperfection? 'Tis true a Christian so far as he is defective
and imperfect may be ignorant, yet still he is a lover of wisdom and a studier
of it. He may be defective, but so far as he is defective he is no Christian,
for a Christian is not a Christian in his blemishes, but his excellencies. Nor
is a man indeed a man in his ignorances, but his wisdom. Blemishes may mar a
man, and spoil a Christian, but they cannot make him. Defects may be in him and
cleave unto him, but they are to be shaken off and repented. Every man therefore
according to his degree, so far forth as he is a Christian, is a
Philosopher.
6
Furthermore doth not St. Paul command us in understanding to
be men? That implies that with little understanding we are but children, and
without understanding are not men, but dreams and shadows, insignificant shells
and mere apparitions. Doth he not earnestly pray, that their hearts may be
comforted, being knit together in Love, unto all the riches of the full
assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of
the Father, and of Christ? This plainly shows, that though a weak Christian may
believe great things by an implicit faith, yet it is very desirable his faith
should be turned into assurance, and that cannot be but by the riches of
knowledge and understanding. For he may believe that God is, and that Jesus
Christ is his Saviour, and that his soul is immortal, and that there are joys in
heaven, and that the scriptures are God's Word, and that God loves him, &c.,
so far as to yield obedience in some measure, but he can never come to a full
assurance of all this, but by seeing the riches of the full assurance,
i.e., those things which are called the riches of the full assurance; for
being known they give us assurance of the truth of all things: the glory of
God's laws, the true dignity of his own soul, the excellency of God's ways, the
magnificent goodness of His works, and the real blessedness of the state of
grace. All which a man is so clearly to see, that he is not more sensible of the
reality of the sunbeams. How else should he live in communion with God, to wit,
in the enjoyment of them? For a full assurance of the reality of his joys is
infinitely necessary to the possession of them.
7
This digression steals me a little further. Is it not the shame
and reproach of Nature, that men should spend so much time in studying trades,
and be so ready skilled in the nature of clothes, of grounds, of gold and
silver, &c., and to think it much to spend a little time in the study of
God, themselves, and happiness? What have men to do in this world, but to make
themselves happy? Shall it ever be praised, and despised? Verily, happiness
being the sovereign and supreme of our concerns, should have the most peculiar
portion of our time, and other things what she can spare. It more concerns me to
be Divine than to have a purse of gold. And therefore as Solomon said, We
must dig for her as for gold and silver, and that is the way to understand
the fear of the Lord, and to find the knowledge of God. It is a strange thing
that men will be such enemies to themselves. Wisdom is the principal thing, yet
all neglect her. Wherefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting get
understanding. Exalt her and she shalt promote thee, she shall bring thee to
honour when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thy head an ornament of
grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. Had you certain tidings
of a mine of gold, would the care of your ordinary affairs detain you, could you
have it for the digging? Nothing more ruins the world than a conceit that a
little knowledge is sufficient. Which is a mere lazy dream to cover our sloth or
enmity against God. Can you go to a mine of gold, and not to wisdom, (to dig for
it) without being guilty, either of a base despondency and distrust of wisdom
that she will not bring you to such glorious treasures as is promised; or else
of a vile and lazy humour that makes you despise them, because of the little but
long labour you apprehend between? Nothing keeps men out of the Temple of
Honour, but that the Temple of Virtue stands between, But this was his principle
that loved Happiness, and is your friend: I came into this world only that I
might be happy. And whatsoever it cost me, I will be happy. A happiness there
is, and it is my desire to enjoy it.
8
Philosophers are not only those that contemplate happiness, but
practise virtue. He is a Philosopher that subdues his vices, lives by reason,
orders his desires, rules his passions, and submits not to his senses, nor is
guided by the customs of this world. He despiseth those riches which men esteem,
he despiseth those honours which men esteem, he forsaketh those pleasures which
men esteem. And having proposed to himself a superior end than is commonly
discerned, bears all discouragements, breaks through all difficulties and lives
unto it: that having seen the secrets and the secret beauties of the highest
reason, orders his conversation, and lives by rule: though in this age it be
held never so strange that he should do so. Only he is Divine because he does
this upon noble principles; because God is, because Heaven is, because Jesus
Christ hath redeemed him, and because he loves Him: not only because virtue is
amiable, and felicity delightful, but for that also.
9
Once more we will distinguish of Christians. There are
Christians that place and desire all their happiness in another life, and there
is another sort of Christians that desire happiness in this. The one can defer
their enjoyment of Wisdom till the World to come, and dispense with the increase
and perfection of knowledge for a little time: the other are instant and
impatient of delay, and would fain see that happiness here, which they shall
enjoy hereafter. Not the vain happiness of this world, falsely called happiness,
truly vain: but the real joy and glory of the blessed, which consisteth in the
enjoyment of the whole world in communion with God; not this only, but the
invisible and eternal, which they earnestly covet to enjoy immediately: for
which reason they daily pray Thy kingdom come, and travail towards it by
learning Wisdom as fast as they can. Whether the first sort be Christians
indeed, look you to that. They have much to say for themselves. Yet certainly
they that put off felicity with long delays are to be much suspected. For it is
against the nature of love and desire to defer. Nor can any reason be given why
they should desire it at last, and not now. If they say because God hath
commanded them, that is false: for He offereth it now, now they are commanded to
have their conversation in Heaven, now they may be full of joy and full of
glory. Ye are not straitened in me, but in your own bowels. Those
Christians that can defer their felicity may be contented with their
ignorance.
10
He that will not exchange his riches now will not forsake them
hereafter. He must forsake them but will hardly be persuaded to do it willingly.
He will leave them but not forsake them, for which cause two dishonours cleave
unto him; and if at death, eternally. First, he comes off the stage unwillingly,
which is very unhandsome: and secondly, he prefers his riches above his
happiness. Riches are but servants unto happiness; when they are impediments to
it they cease to be riches. As long as they are conducive to Felicity they are
desirable; but when they are incompatible are abominable. For what end are
riches endeavoured, why do we desire them, but that we may be more happy? When
we see the pursuit of riches destructive to Felicity, to desire them is of all
things in nature the most absurd and the most foolish. I ever thought that
nothing was desirable for itself but happiness, and that whatever else we
desire, it is of value only in relation, and order to it.
11
That maxim also which your friend used is of very great and
Divine concernment: I will first spend a great deal of time in seeking
Happiness, and then a great deal more in enjoying it. For if Happiness be
worthy to be sought, it is worthy to be enjoyed. As no folly in the world is
more vile than that pretended by alchemists, of having the Philosopher's Stone
and being contented without using it: so is no deceit more odious, than that of
spending many days in studying, and none in enjoying, happiness. That base
pretence is an argument of falsehood and mere forgery in them, that after so
much toil in getting it they refuse to use it. Their pretence is that they are
so abundantly satisfied in having it, that they care not for the use of it. So
the neglect of any man that finds it, shows that indeed he hath lost of
happiness. That which he hath found is counterfeit ware, if he neglect to use
it: 'tis only because he cannot; true happiness being too precious to be
despised. Shall I forsake all riches and pleasures for happiness, and pursue it
many days and months and years, and then neglect and bury it when I have it? I
will now spend days and nights in possessing it, as I did before in seeking it.
It is better being happy than asleep.
12
Happiness was not made to be boasted, but enjoyed. Therefore
tho others count me miserable, I will not believe them if I know and feel myself
to be happy; nor fear them. I was not born to approve myself to them, but God. A
man may enjoy great delights, without telling them.
Tacitus si pasci potuisset Corvus, haberet
Plus dapis & rixæ minus invidiæque.
Could but the crow in lonely silence eat,
She then would have less envy and more meat.
Heaven is a place where our happiness shall be seen of all. We
shall there enjoy the happiness of being seen in happiness, without the danger
of ostentation: but here men are blind and corrupted, and cannot see; if they
could, we are corrupted, and in danger of abusing it. I knew a man that was
mightily derided in his pursuit of happiness, till he was understood, and then
admired; but he lost all by his miscarriage.
13
One great discouragement to Felicity, or rather to great souls
in the pursuit of Felicity, is the solitariness of the way that leadeth to her
temple. A man that studies happiness must sit alone like a sparrow upon the
house-top, and like a pelican in the wilderness. And the reason is because
all men praise happiness and despise it. Very few shall a man find in the way of
wisdom: and few indeed that having given up their names to wisdom and felicity,
that will persevere in seeking it. Either he must go on alone, or go back for
company. People are tickled with the name of it, and some are persuaded to
enterprise a little, but quickly draw back when they see the trouble, yea, cool
of themselves without any trouble. Those mysteries which while men are ignorant
of, they would give all the gold in the world for, I have seen when known to be
despised. Not as if the nature of happiness were such that it did need a veil:
but the nature of man is such that it is odious and ungrateful. For those things
which are most glorious when most naked, are by men when most nakedly revealed,
most despised. So that God is fain for His very name's sake lest His beauties
should be scorned, to conceal her beauties: and for the sake of men, which
naturally are more prone to pry into secret .and forbidden things, than into
open and common. Felicity is amiable under a veil, but most amiable when most
naked. It hath its times and seasons for both. There is some pleasure in
breaking the shell: and many delights in our addresses previous to the sweets in
the possession of her, It is some part of Felicity that we must seek her.
14
In order to this, he furnished himself with this maxim: It
is a good thing to be happy alone. It is better to be happy in company, but good
to be happy alone. Men owe me the advantage of their society, but if they
deny me that just debt, I will not be unjust to myself, and side with them in
bereaving me. I will not be discouraged, lest I be miserable for company. More
company increases happiness, but does not lighten or diminish misery.249
15
In order to interior or contemplative happiness, it is a good
principle: that apprehensions within are better than their objects. Mornay's simile of the saw is admirable If a man would cut with a saw, he
must not apprehend it to be a knife, but a thing with teeth, otherwise he cannot
use it. He that mistakes his knife to be an auger, or his hand to be his meat,
confounds himself by misapplications. These mistakes are ocular. But far more
absurd ones are unseen. To mistake the world, or the nature of one's soul, is a
more dangerous error. He that thinks the Heavens and the Earth not his, can
hardly use them ; and he that thinks the sons of men impertinent to his joy and
happiness can scarcely love them. But he that knows them to be instruments and
what they are, will delight in them; and is able to use them. Whatever we
misapprehend we cannot use ; nor well enjoy what we cannot use. Nor can anything
be our happiness we cannot enjoy. Nothing therefore can be our happiness, but
that alone which we rightly apprehend. To apprehend God our enemy destroys our
happiness. Inward apprehensions are the very light of blessedness, and the
cement of souls and their objects.
16
Of what vast importance right principles are we may see by
this,-Things prized are enjoyed. All things are ours; all things serve us
and minister to us, could we find the way: nay they are ours, and serve us so
perfectly, that they are best enjoyed in their proper places: even from the sun
to a sand, from a cherubim to a worm. I will not except gold and silver, and
crowns and precious stones, nor any delights or secret treasures in closets and
palaces. For if otherwise God would not be perfect in bounty. But suppose the
world were all yours, if this principle be rooted in you, to prize nothing that
is yours, it blots out all at one dash, and bereaves you of a whole world in a
moment.
17
If God be yours, and all the joys and inhabitants in Heaven,,
if you, be resolved to prize nothing great and excellent, nothing, sublime and
eternal, you lay waste your possessions, and make vain your enjoyment of all
permanent and glorious things. So that you must be sure to inure yourself
frequently to these principles and to impress them deeply; I will prize all I
have, and nothing shall with me be less esteemed, because it is excellent. A
daily joy shall be more my joy, because it is continual. A common joy is more my
delight because it is common. For all mankind are my friends, and everything is
enriched in serving them. A little grit in the eye destroyeth the sight of
the very heavens, and a little malice or envy a world of joys. One wry principle
in the mind is of infinite consequence. I will ever prize what I have, and so
much the more because I have it. To prize a thing when it is gone breedeth
torment and repining; to prize it while we have it joy and thanksgiving.
18
All these relate to enjoyment, but those principles that relate
to communication are more excellent. These are principles of retirement and
solitude; but the principles that aid us in conversation are far better and help
us, though not so immediately to enjoyment, in a far more blessed and divine
manner. For it is more blessed to give than to receive; and we are more
happy in communication than enjoyment, but only that communication is enjoyment;
as indeed what we give we best receive. For the joy of communicating and the joy
of receiving maketh perfect happiness. And therefore are the sons of men our
greatest treasures, because they can give and receive: treasures perhaps
infinite as well as affections. But this I am sure they are our treasures, and
therefore is conversation so delightful, because they are the greatest.
19
The world is best enjoyed and most immediately while we
converse blessedly and wisely with men. I am sure it were desirable that they
could give and receive infinite treasures: and perhaps they can. For whomsoever
I love as myself, to him I give myself, and all my happiness; which I think is
infinite: and I receive him and all his happiness. Yea, in him I receive God,
for God delighteth me for being his blessedness: so that a man obligeth me
infinitely that maketh himself happy; and by making himself happy, giveth me
himself and all his happiness. Besides this he loveth me infinitely, as God
doth; and he dare do no less for God's sake. Nay he loveth God for loving me,
and delighteth in Him for being good unto me. So that I am magnified in his
affections, represented in his understanding, tenderly beloved, carressed and
honoured: and this maketh society delightful. But here upon earth it is subject
to changes. And therefore this principle is always to be firm, as the foundation
of Bliss; God only is my sovereign happiness and friend in the World.
Conversation is full of dangers, and friendships are mortal among the sons of
men. But communion with God is infinitely secure, and He my Happiness.
20
He from whom I received these things, always thought, that to
be happy in the midst of a generation of vipers was become his duty: for men and
he are fallen into sin. Were all men wise and innocent, it were easy to be
happy, for no man would injure and molest another. But he that would be happy
now, must be happy among ingrateful and infurious persons. That knowledge which
would make a man happy among just and holy persons, is unuseful now: and those
principles only profitable that will make a man happy, not only in peace, but
blood, On every side we are environed with enemies, surrounded with reproaches,
encompassed with wrongs, besieged with offences, receiving evil for good, being
disturbed by fools, and invaded with malice. This is the true estate of this
world, which lying in wickedness, as our Saviour witnesseth, yieldeth no better
fruits, than the bitter clusters of folly and perverseness, the grapes of Sodom,
and the seeds of Gomorrah. Blind wretches that wound themselves offend me. I
need therefore the oil of pity and the balm of love to remedy and heal them. Did
they see the beauty of Holiness or the face of Happiness, they would not do so.
To think the world therefore a general Bedlam, or place of madmen, and oneself a
physician, is the most necessary point of present wisdom: an important
imagination, and the way to Happiness.
21
He thought within himself that this world was far better than
Paradise had men eyes to see its glory, and their advantages. For the very
miseries and sins and offences that are in it are the materials of his joy and
triumph and glory. So that he is to learn a diviner art that will now be happy,
and that is like a royal chemist to reign among poisons, to turn scorpions into
fishes, weeds into flowers, bruises into ornaments, poisons into cordials. And
he that cannot learn this art, of extracting good out of evil, is to be
accounted nothing. Heretofore, to enjoy beauties, and be grateful for benefits
was all the art that was required to felicity, but now a man must, like a God,
bring Light out of Darkness, and order out of confusion. Which we are taught to
do by His wisdom, that ruleth in the midst of storms and tempests.
22
He generally held, that whosoever would enjoy the happiness of
Paradise must put on the charity of Paradise, And that nothing was his Felicity
but his Duty. He called his house the house of Paradise: not only because it was
the place wherein he enjoyed the whole world, but because it was every one's
house in the whole world. For observing the methods and studying the nature of
charity in Paradise, he found that all men would be brothers and sisters
throughout the whole world, and evermore love one another as their own selves,
though they had never seen each other before. From whence it would proceed that
every man approaching him, would be as welcome as an Angel, and the coming of a
stranger as delightful as the Sun; all things in his house being as much the
foreigner's as they were his own: Especially if he could infuse any knowledge or
grace unto him.
23
To establish himself thoroughly is this principle, he made much
of another. For he saw that in Paradise a great help to this kind of life, was
the cheapness of commodities, and the natural fertility of the then innocent and
blessed ground. By which means it came to pass that every man had enough for
himself, and all. But that now the earth being cursed and barren, there was
danger of want, a necessity of toil and labour and care, and maintenance of
servants. Therefore he concluded, that the charity of men ought to supply the
earth's sterility, who could never want, were they all of a mind, and liberal to
each other. But since this also faileth, and men's hearts are cursed and barren
as the ground, what is wanting in them God will supply. And that to live upon
God's provisions is the most glorious dependence in the whole world. And so he
made the love of God his true foundation, and builded not his hopes on the
charity of men, but fled unto God as his best refuge, which he thought it very
safe and blessed to do, because the trial of his faith was more glorious, and
the love of God supplied the defect of charity in men: and he that had commanded
had faithfully promised and was able to perform.
24
He thought the stars as fair now, as they were in Eden, the sun
as bright, the sea as pure; and nothing pestered the world with miseries, and
destroyed its order, peace, and beauty but sins and vices. Rapine, covetousness,
envy, oppression, luxury, ambition, pride &c., filled the world with briars
and thorns, desolations, wars, complaints, and contentions, and that this made
enormities to be vices. But universal charity, did it breathe among men, would
blow all these away, as the wind doth chaff and stubble; and that then the
heavens would be as serene and fair, and the lands as rich as ever they were.
And that as all things were improved by the work of redemption, trades and
occupations that were left behind, would be pleasant ornaments and innocent
recreations; for whence have we all our cities, palaces, and temples, whence all
our thrones and magnificent splendours, but from trades and occupations?
25
But order and charity in the midst of these, is like a bright
star in an obscure night, like a summer's day in the depth of winter, like a sun
shining among the clouds, like a giant among his enemies, that receiveth
strength from their numbers, like a king sitting in the midst of an army. By how
much the more scarce it is, by so much the more glorious, by how much the more
assaulted, by so much the more invincible; by how much the more lonely, by so
much the more pitied of God and Heaven. And surely He, who being perfect Love,
designed the felicity of the world with so much care in the beginning, will now
be more tender of the soul that is like Him in its Deordination.
26
He thought that men were more to be beloved now than before.
And, which is a strange paradox, the worse they are the more they were to be
beloved. The worse they are the more they were to be pitied, and tendered and
desired, because they had more need, and were more miserable, though the better
they are, they are more to be delighted in. But his true meaning in that saying
was this: Comparing them with what the were before they were fallen, they are
more to be beloved. They are now worse, yet more to be beloved. For Jesus Christ
hath been crucified for them. God loved them more, and He gave His Son to die
for them and for me also, which are strong obligations leading us to greater
charity. So that men's unworthiness and our virtue are alike increased.
27
He conceived it his duty and much delighted in the obligation,
that he was to treat every man in the whole world as representative of mankind
and that he was to meet in him, and to pay unto him all the love of God, Angels
and Men.
28
He thought that he was to treat every man in the person of
Christ. That is both as if himself were Christ in the greatness of his love, and
also as if the man were Christ, he was to use him having respect to all others.
For the love of Christ is to dwell within him, and every man is the object of
it. God and he are to become one Spirit, that is one in will, and one in desire.
Christ must live within him. He must be filled with the Holy Ghost, which is the
God of Love, he must be of the same mind with Christ. Jesus, and led by His
Spirit. For on the other side he was well acquainted with this mystery—That
every man being the object of our Saviour's Love, was to be treated as our
Saviour, Who hath said, Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me. And thus he is to live upon Earth among
sinners.
29
He had another saying—He lives most like an Angel that lives
least upon himself, and doth most good to others. For the Angels neither eat nor
drink, and yet do good to the whole world. Now a man is an incarnate Angel. And
he that lives in the midst of riches as a poor man himself, enjoying God and
Paradise, or Christendom which is better, conversing with the poor, and seeing
the value of their souls through their bodies, and prizing all things clearly
with a due esteem, is arrived here to the estate of immortality. He cares little
for the delicacies either of food or raiment himself, and delighteth in others.
God, Angels, and Men are his treasures. He seeth through all the mists and veils
of invention, and possesseth here beneath the true riches. And he that doth this
always is a rare Phœnix. But he confessed that he had often cause to bewail his
infirmities.
30
I speak not his practises but his principles. I should too much
praise your friend did I speak his practises, but it is no shame for any man to
declare his principles, though they are the most glorious in the world. Rather
they are to be shamed that have no glorious principles, or that are ashamed of
them. This he desired me to tell you because of modesty. But with all that
indeed his practises are so short of these glorious principles, that to relate
them would be to his shame; and that therefore you would never look upon him but
as clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless I have heard him
often say, That he never allowed himself in swerving from any of these, and
that he repented deeply every miscarriage and moreover firmly resolved as much
as was possible never to err or wander from them again.
31
I heard him often say that holiness and happiness were the
same, and he quoted a mighty place of scripture—All her ways are pleasantness
and her paths are peace. But he delighted in giving the reason of scripture,
and therefore said, That holiness and wisdom in effect were one: for no man
could be wise that knew excellent things without doing them. Now to do them is holiness and to do them wisdom. No man therefore can be further miserable than he severeth from the ways of holiness and wisdom.
32
If he might have had but one request of God Almighty, it should
have been above all other, that he might be a blessing to mankind. That was his
daily prayer above all his petitions. He wisely knew that it included all
petitions; for he that is a blessing to mankind must be blessed, that he may be
so, and must inherit all their affections, and in that their treasures. He could
not help it. But he so desired to love them, and to be a joy unto them, that he
protested often, that he could never enjoy himself, but as he was enjoyed of
others, and that above all delight in all worlds, he desired to be a joy and
blessing to others. Though for this he was not to be commended, for he did but
right to God and Nature, who had implanted in all that inclination.
33
The desire of riches was removed from himself pretty early. He
often protested, if he had a palace of gold and a paradise of delights, besides
that he enjoyed, he could not understand a farthing worth of benefit that he
should receive thereby unless in giving it away. But for others he sometimes
could desire riches; till at last perceiving the root of covetousness in him,
and that it would grow as long as it was shrouded under that mould, he rooted it
quite up with this principle—Sometimes it may so happen, that to contemn the
world in the whole lump was as acceptable to God as first to get it with
solicitude and care, and then to retail it out in particular charities.
34
After this he could say with Luther, that covetousness could
never fasten the least hold upon him. And concerning his friends even to the
very desire of seeing them rich, he could say, as Phocion the poor Athenian did
of his children: Either they will be like me or not; if they are like
me they will not need riches; if they are not they will be but needless and
hurtful superfluities.
35
He desired no other riches for his friends but those which
cannot be abused; to wit the true treasures, God and Heaven and Earth and Angels
and Men, &c. with the riches of wisdom and grace to enjoy them. And it was
his principle—That all the treasures in the whole world would not make a
miser happy. A miser is not only a covetous man but a fool.
Any needy man, that wanteth the world, is miserable. He wanteth God and all
things.
36
He thought also that no poverty could befall him that enjoyed
Paradise. For when all the things are gone which man can give, a man is still as
rich as Adam was in Eden, who was naked there. A naked man is the richest
creature in all worlds, and can never be happy till he sees the riches of his
very nakedness. He is very poor in knowledge that thinks Adam poor in Eden. See
here how one principle helps another. All our disadvantages contracted by the
fall are made up and recompensed by the Love of God.
37
'Tis not change of place, but glorious principles well
practised that establish Heaven in the life and soul. An angel will be happy
anywhere, and a devil miserable, because the principles of the one are always
good, of the other, bad. From the centre to the utmost bounds of the everlasting
hills all is Heaven before God, and full of treasure; and he that walks like God
in the midst of them, blessed.
38
Love God, Angels and Men, triumph in God's works, delight in
God's laws, take pleasure in God's ways in all ages, correct sins, bring good
out of evil, subdue your lusts, order your senses, conquer the customs and
opinions of men and render good for evil, you are in Heaven everywhere. Above
the stars earthly things will be celestial joys, and here beneath will things
delight you that are above the heavens. All things being infinitely beautiful in
their places, and wholly yours in all their places. Your riches will be as
infinite in value and excellency, as they are in beauty and glory, and that is,
as they are in extent.
39
Thus he was possessor of the whole world, and held it his
treasure, not only as the gift of God, but as the theatre of virtues. Esteeming
it principally his because it upheld and ministered to many objects of his love
and goodness. Towards whom, before whom, among whom he might do the work of
fidelity and wisdom, exercise his courage and prudence, show his temperance and
bring forth the fruits of faith and repentance. For all those are the objects of
our joy that are the objects of our care. They are our true treasures about whom
we are wisely employed.
40
He had one maxim of notable concernment, and that was, That
God, having reserved all other things in his own disposal, had left his heart to
him. Those things that were in God's care he would commit to God, those things
that were committed to his, he would take care about. He said therefore, that he
had but one thing to do, and that was to order and keep his heart which alone
being well guided, would order all other things blessedly and successfully. The
things about him were innumerable and out of his power, but they were in God's
power. And if he pleased God in that which was committed to him, God would be
sure to please him in things without committed unto God. For He was faithful
that had promised; in all that belonged unto Him God was perfect; all the danger
being lest we should be imperfect in ours, and unfaithful in those things that
pertain unto us.
41
Having these principles nothing was more easy than to enjoy the
world. Which being enjoyed, he had nothing more to do, than to spend his life in
praises and thanksgivings. All his care being to be sensible of God's mercies,
and to behave himself as the friend of God in the Universe. If anything were
amiss, he still would have recourse to his own heart, and found nothing but that
out of frame: by restoring which all things were rectified, and made delightful:
As much as that had swerved from the rule of justice, equity and right, so far
was he miserable, and no more so that by experience he found the words of the
wise man true, and worthy of all acceptation: In all thy keeping, keep thy
heart, for out of it are the issues of life and death.
42
One thing he saw, which is not commonly discerned, and that is,
that God made man a free agent for his own advantage, and left him in the hand
of his own counsel, that he might be the more glorious. It is hard, to conceive
how much this tended to his satisfaction. For all the things in Heaven and Earth
being so beautiful, and made, as it were, on purpose for his own enjoyment; he
infinitely admired God's wisdom, in that it salved his and all men's exigencies,
in which it fully answered his desires. For his desire was that all men should
be happy as well as he. And he admired his goodness, which had enjoined no other
duty, than what pertained to the more convenient fruition of the world which he
had given: and at the marvellous excellency of His love, in committing that duty
to the sons of men to be performed freely. For thereby He adventured such a
power into the hands of His creatures, which Angels and Cherubims wonder at, and
which when it is understood all Eternity will admire the bounty of giving. For
He thereby committed to their hands a power to do that which He infinitely
hated, which nothing certainly could move Him to entrust them with, but some
infinite benefit which might be attained thereby, What that was, if you desire
to know, it was the excellency, dignity and exaltation of His creature.
43
O Adorable and Eternal God! Hast Thou made me a free agent! And
enabled me if I please to offend Thee infinitely! What other end couldst Thou
intend by this, but that I might please Thee infinitely! That having the power
of pleasing or displeasing, I might be the friend of God! Of all exaltations in
all worlds this is the greatest. To make a world for me was much, to prepare
eternal joys for me was more. But to give me a power to displease thee, or to
set a sin before Thy face, which Thou infinitely hatest, to profane Eternity, or
to defile Thy works, is more stupendous than all these. What other couldst Thou
intend by it but that I might infinitely please Thee? And having the power of
pleasing or displeasing, might please Thee and myself infinitely, in being
pleasing! Hereby Thou hast prepared a new fountain and torrent of joy greater
than all that went before, seated us in the Throne of God, made us Thy
companions, endued us with a power most dreadful to ourselves, that we might
live in sublime and incomprehensible blessedness for evermore. For the
satisfaction of our goodness is the most sovereign delight of which we are
capable. And that by our own actions we should be well pleasing to Thee, is the
greatest Felicity Nature can contain. O Thou who art infinitely delightful to
the sons of men, make me, and the sons of men, infinitely delightful unto Thee.
Replenish our actions with amiableness and beauty, that they may be answerable
to thine, and like unto Thine in sweetness and value. That as Thou in all Thy
works art pleasing to us, we in all our works may be so to Thee; our own actions
as they are pleasing to Thee being an offspring of pleasures sweeter than
all.
44
This he thought a principle at the bottom of Nature, That
whatsoever satisfied the goodness of Nature, was the greatest treasure. Certainly men therefore err because they know not this principle. For all
inclinations and desires in the soul flow from and tend to the satisfaction of
goodness. 'Tis strange that an excess of goodness should be the fountain of all
evil. An ambition to please, a desire to gratify, a great desire to delight
others being the greatest snare in the world. Hence is it that all hypocrisies
and honours arise, I mean esteem of honours. Hence all imitations of human
customs, hence all compliances and submissions to the vanities and errors of
this world. For men being mistaken in the nature of Felicity, and we by a strong
inclination prone to please them, follow a multitude to do evil. We naturally
desire to approve ourselves to them, and above all things covet to be excellent,
to be greatly beloved, to be esteemed, and magnified, and therefore endeavour
what they endeavour, prize what they prize, magnify what they desire, desire
what they magnify: ever doing that which will render us accepted to them; and
coveting that which they admire and praise, that so we might be delightful. And
the more there are that delight in us the more great and happy we account
ourselves.
45
This principle of nature, when you remove the rust it hath
contracted by corruption, is pure gold; and the most orient jewel that shines in
man. Few consider it either in itself, or in the design of the implanter. No man
doubts but it is blessed to receive: to be made as glorious creature, and to
have worlds given to one is excellent. But to be a glorious creature and to
give, is a blessedness unknown. It is a kind of paradox in our Saviour, and not
(as we read of) revealed upon earth, but to St. Paul from Heaven, It is more
blessed to give than to receive. It is a blessedness too high to be
understood. To give is the happiness of God; to receive, of man. But O the
mystery of His loving kindness, even that also hath He imparted to us. Will you
that I ascend higher? In giving us Himself, in giving us the world, in giving us
our souls and bodies, he hath done much, but all this had been nothing, unless
He had given us a power to have given Him, ourselves, in which is contained the
greatest pleasure and honour. We love ourselves earnestly, and therefore rejoice
to have palaces and kingdoms. But when we have these, yea Heaven and Earth,
unless we can be delightful and joyous to others they will be of no value. One
soul to whom we may be pleasing is of greater worth than all dead things. Some
unsearchable good lieth in this without which the other is but a vile and
desolate estate. So that to have all worlds, with a certain sense that they are
infinitely beautiful and rich and glorious is miserable vanity, and leaves us
forlorn, if all things are dead, or if ourselves are not Divine and illustrious
creatures.
46
O the superlative Bounty of God! Where all power seemeth to
cease, He proceedeth in goodness, and is wholly infinite, unsearchable, and
endless. He seemeth to have made as many things depend upon man's liberty, as
His own. When all that could be wrought by the use of His own liberty were
attained, by man's liberty He attained more. This is incredible, but experience
will make it plain. By His own liberty He could but create worlds and give
Himself to creatures, make Images and endow them with faculties, or seat them in
glory. But to see them obedient, or to enjoy the pleasure of their amity and
praises, to make them fountains of actions like His own (without which indeed
they could not be glorious) or to enjoy the beauty of their free imitation, this
could by no means be without the liberty of His creatures intervening. Nor
indeed could the world be glorious, or they blessed without this attainment. For
can the world be glorious unless it be useful? And to what use could the world
serve Him, if it served not those, that in this were supremely glorious that
they could obey and admire and love and praise and imitate their Creator? Would
it not be wholly useless without such creatures? In creating liberty therefore
and giving it to His creatures He glorified all things: Himself, His work, and
the subjects of His Kingdom.
47
You may feel in yourself how conducive this is to your highest
happiness. For that you should be exalted to the fruition of worlds, and in the
midst of innumerable most glorious creatures, be vile and ingrateful, injurious
and dishonourable, hateful and evil, is the greatest misery and dissatisfaction
imaginable. But to be the joy and delight of innumerable thousands, to be
admired as the similitude of God, to be amiable and honourable, to be an
illustrious and beautiful creature, to be a blessing, O the good we perceive in
this! O the suavity ! O the contentation! O the infinite and unspeakable
pleasure! Then indeed we reign and triumph when we are delighted in. Then are we
blessed when we are a blessing. When all the world is at peace with us and takes
pleasure in us, when our actions are delightful, and our persons lovely, when
our spirits amiable, and our affections inestimable, then are we exalted to the
Throne of Glory. For things when they are useful are most glorious, and it is
impossible for you or me to be useful but as we are delightful to God and His
attendants. And that the Head of the World, or the End for which all worlds were
made should be useless, as it is improportioned to the glory of the means, and
methods of His exaltation, so is it the reproach of His nature and the utter
undoing of all His glory. It is improportionable to the beauty of His ways, Who
made the world, and to the expectation of His creatures.
48
By this you may see, that the works or actions flowing from
your own liberty are of greater concernment to you than all that could possibly
happen besides. And that it is more to your happiness what you are, than what
you enjoy. Should God give Himself and all worlds to you, and you refuse them,
it would be to no purpose. Should He love you and magnify you, should He give
His Son to die for you, and command all Angels and Men to love you, should He
exalt you in His Throne, and give you dominion over all His works, and you
neglect them it would be to no purpose. Should He make you in His Image, and
employ all His wisdom and power to fill Eternity with treasures, and you despise
them, it would be in vain. In all these things you have to do; and therefore
your actions are great and magnificent, being of infinite importance in all
eyes; while all creatures stand in expectation what will be the result of your
liberty. Your exterior works are little in comparison of these. And God
infinitely desires you should demean yourself wisely in these affairs, that is,
rightly. Esteeming and receiving what He gives, with veneration and joy and
infinite thanksgiving. Many other works there are, but this is the great work of
all works to be performed. Consider whether more depends upon God's love to you,
or your love to Him. From His love all the things in Heaven and Earth flow unto
you; but if you love neither Him nor them, you bereave yourself of all, and make
them infinitely evil and hurtful to you. So that upon your love naturally
depends your own excellency and the enjoyment of His. It is by your love that
you enjoy all His delights, and are delightful to Him.
49
It is very observable by what small principles infusing them in
the beginning God attaineth infinite ends. By infusing the principle of
self-love He bath made a creature capable of enjoying all worlds: to whom, did
he not love himself, nothing could be given. By infusing grateful principles,
and inclinations to thanksgiving He hath made the creature capable of more than
all worlds, yea, of more than enjoying the Deity in a simple way: though we
should suppose it to be infinite. For to enjoy God as the fountain of infinite
treasures, and as the giver of all, is infinite pleasure: but He by His wisdom
infusing grateful principles, hath made us upon the very account of self-love to
love Him more than ourselves. And us, who without self-love could not be pleased
at all, even as we love ourselves He hath so infinitely pleased, that we are
able to rejoice in Him, and to love Him more than ourselves. And by loving Him
more than ourselves, in very gratitude and honour, to take more pleasure in His
felicity, than in our own, by which way we best enjoy Him. To see His wisdom,
goodness, and power employed in creating all worlds for our enjoyment, and
infinitely magnified in beautifying them for us, and governing them for us
satisfies our self-love; but with all it so obligeth us that in love to Him,
which it createth in us, it maketh us more to delight in those attributes as
they are His, than as they are our own. And the truth is, without this we could
not fully delight in them, for the most excellent and glorious effect of all had
been unachieved. But now there is an infinite union between Him and us, He being
infinitely delightful to us, and we to Him. For He infinitely delighteth to see
creatures act upon such illustrious and eternal principles, in a manner so
divine, heroic, and most truly blessed; and we delight in seeing Him giving us
the power.
50
That I am to receive all the things in Heaven and Earth is a
principle not to be slighted. That in receiving I am to behave myself in a
Divine and illustrious manner, is equally glorious. That God and all Eternity
are mine is surely considerable: that I am His, is more. How ought I to adorn
myself, who am made for his enjoyment? If man's heart be a rock of stone, these
things ought to be engraven in it with a pen of a diamond, and every letter to
be filled up with gold that it may eternally shine in Him and before Him!
Wherever we are living, whatever we are doing, these things ought always to be
felt within him. Above all trades, above all occupations this is most sublime.
This is the greatest of all affairs. Whatever else we do, it is only in order to
this end that we may live conveniently to enjoy the world, and God within it;
which is the sovereign employment including and crowning all: the celestial life
of a glorious creature, without which all other estates are servile and
impertinent.
51
Man being to live in the Image of God, and thus of necessity to
become productive of glorious actions, was made good, that he might rejoice in
the fruits, which himself did yield. That goodness which by error and corruption
becomes a snare, being in the clear and pure estate of innocency, the fountain
and the channel of all his joys.
52
Thus you see how God has perfectly pleased me: it ought also to
be my care perfectly to please Him. He has given me freedom, and adventured the
power of sinning into my hands: it ought to be a principle .engraven in me, to
use it nobly, to be illustrious and faithful, to please Him in the use of it, to
consult His honour, and having all the creatures in all worlds by His gift
ministering unto me, to behave myself as a. faithful friend to so great a
Majesty, so bountiful a Lord, so Divine a Benefactor. Nothing is so easy as to
yield one's assent to glorious principles, nothing so clear in upright nature,
nothing so obscure to find in perverted, nothing so difficult to practise at
all. In the rubbish of depraved Nature they are lost, though when they are found
by any one, and shewn, like jewels they shine by their native splendour.
53
If you ask, what is become of us since the fall? because all
these things now lately named semi to pertain to the estate of innocence ; truly
now we have super-added treasures, Jesus Christ, and are restored to the
exercise of the same principles, upon higher obligations: I will not say with
more advantage, though perhaps obligations themselves are to us advantage. For
what enabled Adam to love God? Was it not that God loved him? What constrained
him to be averse from God? Was it not that God was averse from him? When he was
fallen he thought God would hate him, and be his enemy eternally. And this was
the miserable bondage that enslaved him. But when he was restored, O the
infinite and eternal change! His very love to himself made him to praise His
eternal Love: I mean his Redeemer's. Do we not all love ourselves? Self-love
maketh us to love those that love us, and to hate all those that hate us. So
that obligations themselves are to us advantage. How we come to lose those
advantages I will not stand here to relate. In a clear light it is certain no
man can perish. For God is more delightful than He was in Eden. Then He was as
delightful as was possible, but he had not that occasion, as by Sin was
afforded, to superadd many more delights than before. Being more delightful and
more amiable, He is more desirable, and may now be more easily, yea strongly
beloved: for the amiableness of the object enables us to love it.
54
It was your friend's delight to meditate the principles of
upright nature, and to see how things stood in Paradise before they were
muddied, and blended, and confounded. For now they are lost and buried in ruins,
nothing appearing but fragments, that are worthless shreds and parcels of them.
To see the entire piece ravisheth the Angels. It was his desire to recover them
and to exhibit them again to the eyes of men. Above all things he desired to see
those principles which a stranger in this world would covet to behold upon his
first appearance. And that is, what principles those were by which the
inhabitants of this world are to live blessedly and to enjoy the same. He found
them very easy, and infinitely noble: very noble, and productive of unspeakable
good, were they well pursued. We have named them, and they are such as these: A
man should know the blessings he enjoyeth: A man should prize the blessings
which he knoweth: A man should be thankful for the benefits which he prizeth: A
man should rejoice in that for which he is thankful. These are easy things, and
so are those also which are drowned in a deluge of errors and customs; That
blessings the more they are, are the sweeter; the more they serve, if lovers and
friends, the more delightful, yet these are the hard lessons, in a perverse and
retrograde world, to be practised: and almost the only lessons necessary to its
enjoyment.
55
He was a strict and severe applier of all things to himself,
and would first have his self-love satisfied, and then his love of all others.
It is true that self-love is dishonourable, but then it is when it is alone. And
self-endedness is mercenary, but then it is when it endeth in oneself. It is
more glorious to love others, and more desirable, but by natural means to be
attained. That pool must first be filled that shall be made to overflow. He was
ten years studying before he could satisfy his self-love. And now finds nothing
more easy than to love others better than oneself: and that to love mankind so
is the comprehensive method to all Felicity. For it makes a man delightful to
God and men, to himself and spectators, and God and men delightful to him, and
all creatures infinitely in them. But as not to love oneself at all is brutish,
or rather absurd and stonish, (for the beasts do love themselves) so hath God by
rational methods enabled us to love others better than ourselves, and thereby
made us the most glorious creatures. Had we not loved ourselves at all, we could
never have been obliged to love anything. So that self-love is the basis of all
love. But when we do love ourselves, and self-love is satisfied infinitely in
all its desires and possible demands, then it is easily led to regard the
Benefactor more than itself, and for His sake overflows abundantly to all
others. So that God by satisfying my self-love, hath enabled and engaged me to
love others.
56
No man loves, but he loves another more than himself. In
mean instances this is apparent. If you come into an orchard with a person you
love, and there be but one ripe cherry you prefer it to the other. If two lovers
delight in the same piece of meat, either takes pleasure in the other, and more
esteems the beloved's satisfaction. What ails men that they do not see it? In
greater cases this is evident. A mother runs upon a sword to save her beloved. A
father leaps into the fire to fetch out his beloved. Love brought Christ from
Heaven to die for His beloved. It is in the nature of love to despise itself,
and to think only of its beloved's welfare. Look to it, it is not right love
that is otherwise. Moses and St. Paul were no fools. God make me one of their
number. I am sure nothing is more acceptable to Him, than to love others so as
to be willing to imperil even one's own soul for their benefit and welfare.
57
Nevertheless it is infinitely rewarded, though it seemeth
difficult. For by this love do we become heirs of all men's joys, and co-heirs
with Christ. For, what is the reason of your own joys, when you are blessed with
benefits? Is it not self-love? Did you love others as you love yourself, you
would be as much affected with their joys. Did you love them more, more. For
according to the measure of your love to others will you be happy in them. For,
according thereto you will be delightful to them, and delighted in your
felicity. The more you love men, the more delightful you will be to God, and the
more delight you will take in God, and the more you will enjoy Him. So that the
more like you are to Him in goodness, the more abundantly you will enjoy His
goodness. By loving others you live in others to receive it.
58
Shall I not love him infinitely for whom God made the world and
gave His Son? Shall I not love him infinitely who loveth me infinitely? Examine
yourself well, and you will find it a difficult matter to love God so as to die
for Him, and not to love your brother so as to die for him in like manner. Shall
I not love Him infinitely whom God loveth infinitely, and commendeth to my love,
as the representative of Himself, with such a saying, What ye do to him is
done unto Me? And if I love him so, can I forbear to help him? Verily had I
but one crown in the world, being in an open field, where both he and I were
ready to perish, and 'twere necessary that one of us must have it all or be
destroyed, though I knew not where to have relief, he should have it, and I
would die with comfort. I will not say, How small a comfort so small a succour
is did I keep it: but how great a joy, to be the occasion of another's life!
Love knows not how to be timorous, because it receives what it gives away, and
is unavoidably the end of its own afflictions and another's happiness. Let him
that pleases keep his money, I am more rich in this noble charity to all the
world, and more enjoy myself in it, than he can be in both the Indies.
59
Is it unnatural to do what Jesus Christ hath done? He that
would not in the same cases do the same things .can never be saved. For unless.
we are led by the Spirit of Christ we are none of His. Love in him that in the
same cases would do the same things, will be an oracle always inspiring and
teaching him what to do how far to adventure upon all occasions. And certainly
he whose love is like his Saviour's, will be far greater than any that is now
alive, in goodness and love to God and men. This is a sure rule: Love studies
not to be scanty in its measures, but how to abound and overflow with benefits.
He that pincheth and studieth to spare is a pitiful lover, unless it be for
other's sakes Love studieth to be pleasing, magnificent and noble, and would in
all things be glorious and divine unto its object. Its whole being is to its
object, and its whole felicity in its object, and it hath no other thing to take
care for. It doth good to its own soul while it doth good to another.
60
Here upon Earth, it is under many disadvantages and impediments
that maim it in its exercise, but in Heaven it is most glorious. And it is my
happiness that I can see it on both sides the veil or screen. There it appeareth
in all its advantages, for every soul being full and fully satisfied, at ease,
in rest, and wanting nothing, easily overflows and shines upon all. It is its
perfect interest so to do, and nothing hinders it, self-love therefore being
swallowed up and made perfect in the love of others. But here it is pinched and
straitened by wants: here it is awakened and put in mind of itself: here it is
divided and distracted between two. It has a body to provide for, necessities to
relieve, and a person to supply. Therefore is it in this world the more
glorious, if in the midst of these disadvantages it exert itself in its
operations. In the other world it swimmeth down the stream, and acteth with its
interest. Here therefore is the place of its trial where its operations and its
interests are divided. And if our Lord Jesus Christ, as some think, knew the
glory to which He should ascend, by dying for others, and that all was safe
which He undertook, because in humbling Himself to the death of the cross He did
not forsake but attain His glory: The like fate shall follow us, only let us
expect it after death as He did: and remember that this and the other life are
made of a piece, but this is the time of trial, that, of rewards. The greatest
disadvantages of love are its highest advantages. In the great hazards it
achieveth to itself the greatest glory. It is seldom considered; but a love to
others stronger than what we bear to ourselves, is the mother of all the heroic
actions that have made histories pleasant, and beautified the world.
61
Since Love will thrust in itself as the greatest of all
principles, let us at last willingly allow it room. I was once a stranger to it,
now I am familiar with it as a daily acquaintance. 'Tis the only heir and
benefactor of the world. It seems it will break in everywhere, as that without
which the world could not be enjoyed. Nay as that without which it would not be
worthy to be enjoyed. For it was beautified by love, and commandeth the love of
a Donor to us. Love is a Phoenix that will revive in its own ashes, inherit
death, and smell sweetly in the grave.
62
These two properties are in it—that it can attempt all and
suffer all. And the more it suffers the more it is delighted, and the more it
attempteth the more it is enriched. For it seems that all love is so mysterious
that there is something in it which needs expression and can never be understood
by any manifestation, (of itself, in itself) but only by mighty doings and
sufferings. This moved God the Father to create the world, and Gad the Son to
die for it. Nor is this all. There are many other ways whereby it manifests
itself as well as these, there being still something infinite in it behind: In
its laws, in its tenderness, in its provisions, in its caresses, in its joys as
well as in its hazards, is its honours as well as in its cares: nor does it ever
cease till it has poured out itself in all its communications. In all which it
ever rights and satisfies itself; for above all things in all worlds it desires
to be magnified, and taketh pleasure in being glorified before its object. For
which cause also it does all those things, which magnify its object and increase
its happiness.
63
Whether Love principally intends its own glory or its objects,
happiness is a great question, and of the more importance, because the right
ordering of our own affections depends much upon the solution of it. For on the
one side, to be self-ended is mercenary and base and slavish; and to do all
things for one's own glory is servile, and vainglory. On. the other God doth all
things for Himself, and seeketh His glory as His last end, and is Himself the
end whom He seeks and attains in all His ways. How shall we reconcile this
riddle? or untie this knot? For some men have taken occasion hereby seeing this
in Love, to affirm that there is no true love in the world, but it is all
self-love whatsoever a man doth. Implying also that it was self-love in our
Saviour that made Him to undertake for us. Whereupon we might justly question,
whether it were more for his own ends, or more for ours? As also whether it were
for His own end that God created the world or more for ours? For extraordinary
much of our duty and felicity hangeth upon this point: and whatsoever sword
untieth this Gordian knot, will open a world of benefit and instruction to
us.
64
God doth desire glory as His sovereign end, but true glory.
From whence it followeth that He doth sovereignly and supremely desire both His
own glory and man's happiness. Though that be miraculous, yet it is very plain.
For true glory is to love another for his own sake, and to prefer his welfare
and to seek his happiness. Which God doth because it is true glory. So that He
seeks the happiness of Angels and Men as His last end, and in that His glory: to
wit, His true glory. False and vain glory is inconsistent with His nature, but
true glory is the very essence of His being. Which is Love unto His beloved,
Love unto Himself, Love unto His creatures.
65
How can God be Love unto Himself, without the imputation of
self-love? Did He love Himself under any other notion than as He is the lover of
His beloved there might be some danger. But the reason why He loves Himself
being because He is Love, nothing is more glorious than His self-love. For He
loves Himself because He is infinite and eternal Love to others. Because He
loves Himself He cannot endure that His love should be displeased. And loving
others vehemently and infinitely all the love He bears to Himself is tenderness
towards them. All that wherein He pleaseth Himself is delightful to them: He
magnifieth Himself in magnifying them. And in fine, His love unto Himself is His
love unto them, and His love unto them is love unto Himself. They are
individually one, which it is very amiable and beautiful to behold, because
therein the simplicity of God doth evidently appear. The more He loveth them,
the greater He is and the more glorious. The more He loveth them, the more
precious and dear they are to him. The more He loveth them, the more joys and
treasures He possesseth. The more He loveth them the more He delighteth in their
felicity. The more He loveth them, the more He rejoiceth in all His works for
serving them: and in all His kingdoms for delighting them. And being Love to
them the more He loveth Himself, and the more jealous He is lest Himself should
be displeased, the more He loveth and tendereth them and secureth their welfare.
And the more He desires His own cry, the more good He doth for them, in the more
divine and genuine manner. You must love after His similitude.
66
He from whom I derived these things delighted always that I
should be acquainted with principles that would make me fit for all ages. And
truly in love there are enough of them. For since Nature never created anything
in vain, and love of all other is the most glorious there is not any relic or
parcel of that that shall be unused. It is not like gold made to be buried and
concealed in darkness, but like the sun to communicate itself wholly in its
beams unto all. It is more excellent and more communicative. It is hid in a
centre and nowhere at all, if we respect its body. But if you regard its soul,
it is an interminable sphere, which as some say of the sun, is infinities
infinita, in the extension of its beams, being equally vigorous in all places,
equally near to all objects, equally acceptable to all persons, and equally
abundant in all its overflowing: Infinitely everywhere. This of naked and
divested Love in its true perfection. Its own age is too little to contain it,
its greatness is spiritual, like the Deity's. It filleth the world, and exceeds
what it filleth. It is present with all objects, and tastes all excellencies,
and meeteth the infiniteness of God in everything. So that in length it is
infinite as well as in breadth, being equally vigorous at the utmost bound to
which it can extend as here, and as wholly there as here, and wholly everywhere.
Thence also it can see into further spaces; things present and things to come;
height and. depth being open before it, and all things in Heaven, Eternity, and
Time, equally near.
67
Were not Love the darling of God; this would be a rash and a
bold sally. But since it is His Image, and the Love of God, I may almost say the
God of God, because His beloved, all this happeneth unto Love. And this Love is
your true self when you are in act what you are in power: the great Daemon of
the world, the End of all things, the desire of Angels and of all nations. A
creature so glorious, that having seen it, it puts an end to all curiosity and
swallows up all admiration. Holy, wise, and just towards all things, blessed in
all things, the Bride of God, glorious before all, His offspring and first born,
and so like Him, that being described, one would think it He. I should be afraid
to say all this of it, but that I know Him, how He delighteth to have it
magnified: And how He hath magnified it infinitely before because it is His
bride and first-born. I will speak only a little of its violence and vigour afar
off. It can love an act of virtue in the utmost Indies, and hate a vice in the
highest heavens. It can see into hell and adore the justice of God among the
damned; it can behold and admire His Love from everlasting. It can be present
with His infinite and eternal Love, it can rejoice in the joys which it
foreseeth: Can Love Adam in Eden, Moses in the wilderness, Aaron in the
tabernacle, David before the Ark, S. Paul among the nations, and Jesus either in
the manger or on the Cross: All these it can love with violence. And when it is
restored from all that is terrene and sensual to its true spiritual being, it
can love these, or any of these, as violently as any person in the living
age.
68
Shall it not love violently what God loveth, what Jesus Christ
loveth, what all Saints and Angels love? Moses glorified God in a wonderful
manner; he prophesied of Christ, he plagued the Egyptians, he brought the
Israelites out of the land of Egypt, he guided them in the wilderness, he gave
us the law, he loved the people more than his own life: yea, than his own self
and all the possible glory that might have accrued to him. And what shall we
think of Christ Himself? Shall not all our love be where He is? Shall it not
wholly follow and attend Him? Yet shall it not forsake other objects, but love
them all in Him, and Him in them, and them the more because of Him, and Him the
more because of them; for by Him it is redeemed to them. So that as God is
omnipresent our love shall be at once with all: that is we: having these
strengths to animate and quicken our affection.
69
To love one person with a private love is poor and miserable:
to love all is glorious. To love all persons in all ages, all angels, all
worlds, is Divine and Heavenly. To love all cities and all kingdoms, all kings
and all peasants, and every person in all worlds with a natural intimate
familiar love, as if him alone, is Blessed. This makes a man effectually blessed
in all worlds, a delightful Lord of all things, a glorious friend to all
persons, a concerned person in all transactions, and ever present with all
affairs. So that he must ever be filled with company, ever in the midst of all
nations, ever joyful, and ever blessed. The greatness of this man's love no man
can measure; it is stable like the Sun, it endureth for ever as the Moon, it is
a faithful witness in Heaven. It is stronger and more great than all private
affections. It representeth every person in the light of Eternity, and loveth
him with the love of all worlds, with a love conformable to God's, guided to the
same ends, and founded upon the same causes. Which however lofty and divine it
is, is ready to humble itself into the dust to serve the person beloved. And by
how much the more sublime and glorious it is, is so much the more sweet and
truly delightful: Majesty and Pleasure concurring together.
290
70
Now you may see what it is to be a Son of God more clearly.
Love in its glory is the friend of the most High. It was begotten of Him, and is
to sit in His Throne, and to reign in communion with Him. It is to please Him
and to be pleased by Him, in all His works, ways, and operations. It is ordained
to hold an eternal correspondence with Him in the highest Heavens. It is here in
its infancy, there in its manhood and perfect stature. He wills and commands
that it should be reverenced of all, and takes pleasure to see it admired in its
excellencies, If Love thus displayed be so glorious a being, how much more
glorious and great is He that is sovereign Lord of all Lords, and the Heavenly
King of all these? So many monarchs under one Supreme mightily set forth the
glory of His Kingdom. If you ask by what certainty, or by what rules we discover
this? As by the seed we conjecture what plant will arise, and know by the acorn
what tree will grow forth, or by the eagle's egg what kind of bird; so do we by
the powers of the soul upon Earth, know what kind of Being, Person, and Glory it
will be in the Heavens, Its blind and latent power shall be turned into Act, its
inclinations shall be completed, and its capacities filled, for by this means is
it made perfect. A Spiritual King is an eternal Spirit. Love in the abstract is
a soul exerted. Neither do you esteem yourself to be any other than Love alone.
God is Love, and you are never like Him till you are so: Love unto all objects
in like manner.
71
To sit in the Throne of God is the most supreme estate that can
befall a creature. It is promised in the Revelations. But few understand what is
promised there, and but few believe it.
72
To sit in the Throne of God is to inhabit Eternity. To reign
there is to be pleased with all things in Heaven and Earth from everlasting to
everlasting, as if we had the sovereign disposal of them. For He is to dwell in
us, and we in Him, because He liveth in our knowledge and we in His. His will is
to be in our will; and our will is to be in His will, so that both being joined
and becoming one, we are pleased in all His works as He is; and herein the Image
of God perfectly consisteth. No artist maketh a Throne too wide for the person.
God is the greatest and divinest artist. Thrones proper and fit for the persons,
are always prepared by the wisest Kings. For little bodies, bodily thrones: for
Spirits, invisible. God's Throne is His omnipresence, and that is infinite, who
dwelleth in Himself, or in that Light which is inaccessible. The Omnipresence
therefore, and the Eternity of God are our Throne, wherein we are to reign for
evermore. His infinite and eternal Love are the borders of it, which everywhere
we are to meet, and everywhere to see for evermore. In this Throne our Saviour
sitteth, who is the Alpha and Omega; the first end the last, the Amen;
and the faithful witness who said, The Glory which Thou hast given me, I
have given them, that they may be one, as we are one. In Him the fulness of the
Godhead dwelleth bodily. If that be too great to be applied to men,
remember what follows, His Church is the fulness of Him that filleth all in
all. The fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him for our sakes. And if yet it
seemeth too great to be enjoyed: by the surpassing excellency of His Eternal
Power, it is made more than ours. For in Him we shall more enjoy it than if it
were infinitely and wholly all in ourselves.
73
If anything yet remaineth that is dreadful, or terrible or
doubtful, that seemeth to startle us, there is more behind that will more amaze
us. For God is infinite in the expression of His Love; as we shall all find to
our eternal comfort. Objects are so far from diminishing, that they magnify the
faculties of the soul beholding them. A sand in your conception conformeth your
soul, and reduceth it to the size and similitude of a sand, A tree apprehended
is a tree in your mind; the whole hemisphere and the heavens magnify your soul
to the wideness of the heavens; all the spaces above the heavens enlarge it
wider to their own dimensions. And what is without limit maketh your conception
illimited and endless. The infinity of God is infinitely profitable as well as
great: as glorious as incomprehensible: so far from straitening that it
magnifieth all things. And must be seen in you, or God will be absent: Nothing
less than infinite is God, and as finite He cannot be enjoyed.
74
But what is there more that will more amaze us? Can anything be
behind such glorious mysteries? Is God more Sovereign in other excellencies?
Hath He showed Himself glorious in anything besides? Verily there is no end of
all His greatness, His understanding is infinite, and His ways innumerable.
How precious, saith the psalmist, are Thy thoughts to me, O God; when
I would count them they are more than can be numbered. There is no man that
reckoneth them up in order unto Thee. O my Lord I will endeavour it: and I
will glorify Thee for evermore. The most perfect laws are agreeable only to the
most perfect creatures. Since therefore Thy laws are the most perfect of all
that are possible; so are Thy creatures. And if infinite power be wholly
expressed O Lord, what creatures! what creatures shall we become! What Divine,
what illustrious Beings! Souls worthy of so great a love, blessed forever. Made
worthy, though not found; for Love either findeth or maketh an object worthy of
itself. For which cause Picus Mirandula admirably saith, in his tract De
Dignitate Hominis, I have read in the monuments of Arabia, that Abdala, the
Saracen, being asked, Quid in hâc quasi mundanâ Scenâ admirandum maxime
spectaretur? What in this world was most admirable? answered, MAN: Than whom
he saw nothing more to be admired. Which sentence of his is seconded, by that of
Mercurius Trismegistus, Magnum, O Asclepiades, Miraculum, Homo; Man is a
great and wonderful miracle: Ruminating upon the reason of these sayings, those
things did not satisfy me, which many have spoken concerning the excellency of
Human Nature. As that man was Creaturarum Internuncius; Superis familiaris,
Inferiorum Rex; sensuum perspicaciâ, Rationis Indagine, Intelligentiae Lumine,
Naturae Interpres, Stabilis Aevi et fluxi Temporis Interstitium, et (qd. Persae
dicunt) Mundi Copula immo Hymenaeus: A messenger between the creatures, Lord
of inferior things, and familiar to those above; by the keenness of his sense,
the piercing of his reasons, and the light of knowledge, the interpreter of
nature, a seeming interval between time and eternity, and the inhabitant of
both, the golden link or tie of the world, yea, the Hymenaeus marrying the
Creator and His creatures together; made as David witnesseth a little lower than
the angels. All these things are great, but they are not the principal: that is,
they are not those which rightly challenge the name and title of most admirable:
And so he goeth on; admiring and exceeding all that had been spoken before
concerning the excellency of man. Why do we not rather admire the Angels and the
Quires above the Heaven? At length I seemed to understand, why man was the most
happy, and therefore the most worthy to be admired of all the creatures: and to
know that estate; which in the order of things he doth enjoy, not only above the
beasts but above the stars and that might be envied even of the supra-celestial
spirits, which he styleth, ultra-mundanis mentibus invidiosam.
75
The Supreme Architect and our Everlasting Father, having made
the world, this most glorious house and magnificent Temple of His divinity, by
the secret laws of His hidden Wisdom; He adorned the regions above the heavens
with most glorious spirits, the spheres he enlivened with Eternal Souls, the
dreggy parts of the inferior world he filled with all kinds of herds of living
creatures. Sed Opere Consummato; but His work being completed, He desired
some one that might weigh and reason, and love the beauty, and admire the
vastness of so great a work. All things therefore being (as Moses and Timaeus
witness) already finished, at last He thought of creating man. But there was not
in all the platforms before conceived any being after whom He might form this
new offspring. Nor in all His treasures what He might give this new son by way
of inheritance, nor yet a place in all the regions of the world, wherein this
contemplator of the universe might be seated. All things were already full; all
things were already distributed into their various orders of supreme, middle and
inferior. But it was not the part of infinite power to fail as defective in the
last production; it was not the part of infinite wisdom, for want of council to
fluctuate in so necessary an affair; it was not the part of infinite goodness or
sovereign love, that he, who should be raised up to praise the Divine Bounty in
other things, should condemn it in himself. Statuit tandem opt. Opifex, ut
cui dari nihil proprium poterat commune esset, quod privatum singulis fuit:
The wisest, and best of workmen appointed therefore, that he to whom nothing
proper to himself could be added, should have something of all that was peculiar
to everything, and therefore he took man, the Image of all His work, and placing
him in the middle of the world, spake thus unto him,-
76
"O Adam, we have given thee neither a certain seat, nor a
private face, nor a peculiar office, that whatsoever seat or face or office thou
dost desire thou mayest enjoy. All other things have a nature bounded within
certain laws; thou only art loose from all, and according to thy own council in
the hand of which I have put thee, may'st choose and prescribe what nature thou
wilt to thyself. I have placed thee in the middle of the world, that from thence
thou mayest behold on every side more commodiously everything in the whole
world. We have made thee neither heavenly nor earthly, neither mortal nor
immortal, that being the honoured former and framer of thyself, thou mayest
shape thyself into what nature thyself pleasest!"297
77
"O infinite liberality of God the Father! O admirable and
supreme Felicity of Man! to whom it is given to have what he desires, and to be
what he wishes. The brutes when they are brought .forth bring into the world
with them what they are to possess continually. The spirits that are above were,
either from the beginning or a little after, that which they are about to be to
all Eternities. Nascenti Homini omnigena vitae germina indidit Pater; God
infused the seeds of every kind of life into man: whatever seeds every one
chooseth those spring up with him, and the fruits of those shall he bear and
enjoy. If sensual things are chosen by him, he shall become a beast; if
reasonable a celestial creature; if intellectual an Angel and a Son of God; and
if being content with the lot of no creatures, he withdraws himself into the
centre of his own unity, he shall be one Spirit with God, and dwell above all in
the solitary darkness of His Eternal Father."
78
This Picus Mirandula spake in an oration made before a most
learned assembly in a famous university. Any man may perceive that he permitteth
his fancy to wander a little wantonly after the manner of a poet but most deep
and serious things are secretly hidden under his free and luxuriant language.
The changeable power he ascribeth to man is not to be referred to his body, for
as he wisely saith, neither doth the bark make a plant, but its stupid and
nothing-perceiving nature neither doth the skin make a beast, but his brutish
and sensual nature, neither doth separation from a body, make an Angel but his
Spiritual intelligence. So neither doth his rind or coat or skin or body make a
man to be this or that, but the interior stupidness, or sensuality, or angelical
intelligence of his soul, make him accordingly a plant, a beast, or an Angel.
The deformity or excellency is within.
79
Neither is it to be believed, that God filled all the world
with creatures before he thought of man: but by that little fable he teacheth us
the excellency of man. Man is the end, and therefore the perfection of all the
creatures; but as Eusebius Pamphilus saith (in the Nicene Council), he was first
in the intention, though last in the execution. All Angels were spectators as
well as he, all Angels were free agents as well as he: as we see by their trial,
and the fall of some; all angels were seated in as convenient a place as he. But
this is true, that he was the end of all and the last of all: and the
comprehensive head and the bond of all, and in that more excellent than all the
Angels. As for whom the visible and invisible worlds were made, and to whom all
creatures ministered: as one also, that contained more species in his nature
than the Angels, which is not as some have thought derogatory, but perfective to
his being: It is true also that God hath prevented him; and satisfied all
wishes, in giving him such a being as he now enjoyeth. And that for infinite
reasons it was best that he should be in a changeable estate, and have power to
choose what himself listed: For he may so choose as to become one Spirit with
God Almighty.
80
By choosing a man may be turned and converted into Love. Which.
as it is an universal sun filling and shining in the Eternity of God, so is it
infinitely more glorious than the Sun is, not only shedding abroad more amiable
arid delightful beams, illuminating and comforting all objects: yea glorifying
them in the supreme and sovereign manner, but is of all sensibles the most quick
and tender, being able to feel like the long-legged spider; at the utmost end of
its divaricated feet; and to be wholly present in every place where any beam of
itself extends. The sweetness of its healing influences is inexpressible. And of
all beings such a being would I choose to be for ever: One that might inherit
all in the most exquisite manner; and be the joy of all in the most perfect
measure.
81
Nazianzen professed himself to be a lover of right reason, and
by it did undertake even to speak oracles. Even so may we by the Reason discover
all the mysteries of heaven. And what our author here observeth, is very
considerable, That man by retiring from all externals and withdrawing into
himself in the centre of his own unity becometh most Like unto God. What
Mercurius said in the dialogue is most true, Man is of all other the greatest
miracle, yea verily, should all the miracles that ever were done be drawn
together, Man is a miracle greater than they. And as much may be written of
him alone as of the whole world. The dividing of the sea, the commanding of the
sun, the making of the world is nothing to the single creation of one soul:
There is so much wisdom and power expressed in its faculties and inclinations.
Yet is this greatest of all miracles unknown because men are addicted only to
sensible and visible things. So great a world in explication of its parts is
easy: but here the dimensions of innumerable worlds are shut, up in a centre.
Where it should lodge such innumerable objects, as it doth by knowing, whence it
should derive such infinite streams as flow from it by Loving, how it should be
a mirror of all Eternity, being made of nothing, how it should be a fountain or
a sun of Eternity out of which such abundant rivers of affection flow, it is
impossible to declare. But above all how, having no material or bodily
existence, its substance, though invisible, should be so rich and precious. The
consideration of one Soul is sufficient to convince all the Atheists in the
whole world.
82
The abundance of its beams, the reality of its beams, the
freedom of its beams, the excellency and value of its beams are all
transcendent. They shine upon all the things in Heaven and Earth and cover them
all with celestial waters: waters of refreshment, beams of comfort. They flow
freely from a mind desiring to be obedient, pleasing and good. The soul
communicates itself wholly by them: and is richer in its communications than all
odors and spices whatsoever. It containeth in its nature the influences of the
stars by way of eminence, the splendour of the sun, the verdure of trees, the
value of gold, the lustre of precious stones, the sense of beasts and the life
of Angels: the fatness of feasts, the magnificence of palaces, the melody of
music, the sweetness of wine, the beauty of the excellent, the excellency of
virtue, and the glory of cherubims. The harmony and the joys of Heaven appear in
Love, for all these were made for her, and all these are to be enjoyed in
her.
83
Whether it be the Soul itself, or God in the Soul, that shines
by Love, or both, it is difficult to tell: but certainly the love of the Soul is
the sweetest thing in the world. I have often admired what should make it so
excellent. If it be God that loves, it is the shining of His essence; if it be
the Soul, it is His Image: if it .be both, it is a double benefit.
84
That God should love in the Soul is most easy to believe,
because it is most easy to conceive, But it is a greater mystery that the Soul
should love in itself. If God loveth in the Soul it is the more precious, if the
Soul loveth it is the more marvellous. If you ask how a Soul that was made of
nothing can return so many flames of Love? Where it should have them, or out of
what ocean it should communicate them? it is impossible to declare—(For it can
return those flames upon all Eternity, and upon all the creatures and objects in
it)—unless we say, as a mirror returneth the very self-same beams it receiveth
from the Sun, so the Soul returneth those beams of love that shine upon it from
God. For as a looking-glass is nothing in comparison of the world, yet
containeth all the world in it, and seems a real fountain of those beams which
flow from it, so the Soul is nothing in respect of God, yet all Eternity is
contained in it, and it is the real fountain of that Love that proceedeth from
it. They are the sun-beams which the glass returneth: yet they flow from the
glass and from the Sun within it. The mirror is the well-spring of them, because
they shine from the Sun within the mirror, which is as deep within the glass as
it is high within the Heavens. And this showeth the exceeding richness and
preciousness of love, it is the love of God shining upon, and dwelling in the
Soul. For the beams that shine, upon it reflect upon others and shine from
it.
84
That the Soul shineth of itself is equally manifest, for it can
love with a love distinct from God's. It can love irregularly; and no irregular
love is the love of God. It can forbear to love while God loveth. It can love
while God forbeareth. It can love a wicked man, wickedly and in his wickedness.
This shows plainly that it can love regularly, with a love that is not merely
the reflection of God's. For which cause it is not called a mirror, but esteemed
more, a real fountain. Cant.: My love is a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
That is, shut up like a letter, and concealed yet: but in the Kingdom of
Heaven, her contents and secrets shall be known, and her beauty read of all men.
Her own waters whence she should receive them: it is most admirable, considering
the reality and beauty of them: But in this God hath magnified His infinite
power, that He hath made them. Made them freely, made them her own, out of
herself to flow from her: creatures as it were to which herself gives their
existence. For indeed she could not love, were not her beams of love her own.
Before she loves they are not, when she loves they are. And so she gives them
their being. Being Good herself because she can love: Who else would be a dry
and withered stick, having neither life nor value. But now she can exalt a
creature above all the things in Heaven and Earth, in herself: esteem it most
dear, admire it, honour it, tender it, desire it, delight in it, be united to
it, prefer it, forsake all things for it, give all things to it, die for it. It
can languish after it when absent; take pleasure in it when present; rejoice in
its happiness, live only to it, study to please it, delight in suffering for it,
feed it with pleasures, honours, and caresses, do all things for its sake,
esteem gold and pearl but dross in comparison, lay crowns and sceptres at its
feet, make it a lord of palaces, delight in its own beauties, riches, and
pleasures, as they feed only and satisfy its beloved; be ravished with it. It
can desire infinitely that good things should be added to it. And all this shall
we enjoy in every soul in the Kingdom of Heaven. All there being like so many
Suns shining upon one. All this goodness is so like God's, that nothing can be
more. And yet that it is distinct from His, is manifest because it is the return
or recompense of it: the only thing which for and above all worlds He infinitely
desires.
86
Here upon Earth souls love what God hates, and hate what God
loves. Did they keep their eye open always upon what He loves, and see His love
to them, and to all, they could not choose but love as He does. And were they
mirrors only that return His love, one would think it impossible, while He
shines upon them, to forbear to shine, but they are like the eye, mirrors with
lids, and the lid of ignorance or inconsideration interposing, they are
oftentimes eclipsed or shine only through some crannies; so that here upon earth
having free power to hold open or shut their lids, to send or turn away their
beams, they may love me or forbear. The loss of their love is an evil past
imagination, for it is the removal of the end of Heaven and Earth, the
extinction of a Sun infinitely more glorious than that in the Heavens. The Sun
was made to serve this more divine and glorious creature. The love of this
creature is the end of Heaven and Earth, because the end for which Heaven and
Earth were made was for it. And in recompense for all that God hath done for it
it is to love me. So that God hath Glorified me, by giving me a communion with
Himself in the end for which the world was made. And hath made that creature to
love me, and given me so great a certainty of its love and title to it, that
first it must cease to love itself, or to love God before it bereave me. It must
cease to be wise, and forfeit all its interest in Heaven and Earth, before it
can cease to love me. In doing it, it ruins itself and apostatizeth from all its
happiness.
87
In the estate of innocency the love of man seemed nothing but
the beams of love reverted upon another. For they loved no person but of whom he
was beloved. All that he loved was good, and nothing evil. His love seemed the
goodness of a being expressed in the Soul, or apprehended in the lover, and
returned upon itself. But in the estate of misery (or rather Grace), a soul
loves freely and purely of its own self, with God's love, things that seem
incapable of love, naught and evil. For as God showed His eternity and
omnipotency in that He could shine upon nothing and love an object when it was
nought or evil; as He did Adam when He raised him out of nothing, and mankind
when He redeemed them from evil: so now we can love sinners, and them that
deserve nothing at our hands. Which as it is a Diviner Love and more glorious
than the other, so were we redeemed to this power, and it, was purchased for us
with a greater price.
88
It is a generous and heavenly principle, that where a benefit
is fairly intended we are equally obliged for the intention or success. He is an
ungrateful debtor, that measureth a benefactor by the success of his kindness. A
clear soul and a generous mind is as much obliged for the intent of his friend,
as the prosperity of it: and far more, if we separate the prosperity from the
intent. For the goodness lies principally in the intention. Since therefore God
intended me all the joys in Heaven and Earth, I am as much obliged for them as
if I received them. Whatever intervening accident bereaved me of them, He really
intended them. And in that I contemplate the riches of His goodness. Whether
men's wickedness in the present age, or my own perverseness, or the fall of
Adam; He intended me all the joys of Paradise, and all the honours in the world,
whatever hinders me. In the glass of His intention therefore I enjoy them all:
and I do confess my obligation. It is as great as if nothing had intervened, and
I had wholly received them. Seeing and knowing Him to be infinitely wise and
great and glorious, I rejoice that He loved me, and confide in His love. His
goodness is my sovereign and supreme delight. That God is of such a nature in
Himself is my infinite treasure. Being He is my friend, and delighteth in my
honour, though I rob myself of all my happiness, He is justified. That He
intended it, is His grace and glory. But it animates me, as well as comforts me,
to see the perfection of His Love towards me. As things stood, He used power
enough before the fall to make me happy. If He refuseth to use any more since
the fall, I am obliged. But He hath used more. New occasions begot new
abilities. He redeemed me by His Son. If He refuseth to use any more, I cannot
complain. If He refuseth to curb my perverseness unless I consent, His love was
infinitely showed. He desireth that I should by prayers and endeavours clothe
myself with grace. If in default of mine, He doth it Himself, freely giving His
Holy Spirit to me, it is an infinite mercy, but infinitely new and superadded.
If He refuseth to overrule the rebellion of other men, and to bring me to
Honour, notwithstanding their malice; or refuseth to make them love me, whether
they will or no, I cannot repine. By other signs, He hath plainly showed, that
He loveth me infinitely, which is enough for me, and that He desireth my
obedience.
89
This estate wherein I am placed is the best for me tho'
encompassed with difficulties. It is my duty to think so, and I cannot do
otherwise. I cannot do otherwise without reproaching my Maker: that is, without
suspecting, and in that offending His goodness and Wisdom. Riches are but
tarnish and gilded vanities, honours are but airy and empty bubbles, affections
are but winds, perhaps too great for such a ship as mine, of too light a
ballast: pleasures, yea, all these, are but witches that draw and steal us away
from God; dangerous allurements, interposing screens, unseasonable companions,
counterfeit realities, honied poison, cumbersome distractions. I have found them
so. At least they lull us into lethargies: and we need to be quickened.
Sometimes they puff us up with vain-glory and we need to be humbled. Always they
delude us if we place any confidence in them, and therefore it is as good always
to be without them. But it is as good also, were it not for our weakness,
sometimes to have them, because a good use may be made of them. And therefore
they are not to be contemned when God doth offer them. But He is to be admired
that maketh it good on both sides, to have them, and to be without them. Riches
are not to be hated, nor coveted: but I am to bless God in all estates, Who hath
given me the world, my Soul, and Himself: and ever to be great in the true
treasures. Riches are good, and therefore is it good sometimes to want them that
we might shew our obedience and resignation to God, even in being without those
things that are good, at His appointment: and that also we might clothe
ourselves with patience and faith and courage, which are greater ornaments than
gold and silver, and of greater price: and that shall stand us instead of all
the splendour of alms deeds. Assure yourself, till you prize one virtue above a
trunk of money you can never be happy. One virtue before the face of God, is
better than all the gold in the whole world.
90
Knowing the greatness and sweetness of Love, I can never be
poor in any estate. How sweet a thing is it as we go or ride, or eat or drink,
or converse abroad to remember that one is the heir of the whole world, and the
friend of God! That one has so great a friend as God is: and that one is exalted
infinitely by all His Laws! That all the riches and honours in the world are
ours in the Divine Image to be enjoyed! That a man is tenderly beloved of God
and always walking in His Father's Kingdom, under His wing, and as the apple of
His eye! Verily that God hath done so much for one in His works and laws, and
expressed so much love in His word and ways, being as He is Divine and infinite,
it should make a man to walk above the stars, and seat him in the bosom of Men
and Angels. It should always fill him with joy, and triumph, and lift him up
above crowns and empires.
91
That a man is beloved of God, should melt him all into esteem
and holy veneration. It should make him so courageous as an angel of God. It
should make him delight in calamities and distresses for God's sake. By giving
me all things else, He hath made even afflictions themselves my treasures. The
sharpest trials, are the finest furbishing. The most tempestuous weather is the
best seed-time. A Christian is an oak flourishing in winter. God hath so
magnified and glorified His servant, and exalted him so highly in His eternal
bosom, that no other joy should be able to move us but that alone. All sorrows
should appear but shadows, beside that of His absence, and all the greatness of
riches and estates swallowed up in the light of His favour. Incredible Goodness
lies in His Love. And it should be joy enough to us to contemplate and possess
it. He is poor whom God hates: 'tis a true proverb. And besides that, we should
so love Him, that the joy alone of approving ourselves to Him, and making
ourselves amiable and beautiful before Him should be a continual feast, were we
starving. A beloved cannot feel hunger in the presence of his beloved. Where
martyrdom is pleasant, what can be distasteful. To fight, to famish, to die for
one's beloved, especially with one's beloved, and in his excellent company,
unless it be for his trouble, is truly delightful. God is always present, and
always seeth us.
92
Knowing myself beloved and so glorified of God Almighty in
another world, I ought to honour Him in this always, and to aspire to it. At
midnight will I rise to give thanks unto Thee because of Thy righteous
judgments. Seven times a day will I praise Thee, for Thy glorious mercy. Early
in the morning will I bless Thee, I will triumph in Thy works, I will delight in
Thy law day and night; at evening will I praise Thee. I will ever be speaking of
Thy marvellous acts, I will tell of Thy greatness, and talk of the glorious
majesty of Thy excellent Kingdom; these things ought ever to breathe in our
souls. We ought to covet to live in private, and in private ever to overflow in
praises. I will boast in Thee all the day long, and be glad in the Lord. My
exceeding joy, my life, my glory, what shall I render to Thee, for all Thy
benefits? I will sing and be glad. Let all nations sing unto Him, for He
covereth the earth as it were with a shield. My lips shall be fain when I sing
unto Thee, and my soul, O Lord, which Thou hast redeemed. God is unseen till He
be so known: and David's Spirit an inscrutable mystery, till this is
experienced.
93
Our friendship with God ought to be so pure and so clear, that
nakedly and simply for His Divine Love, for His glorious works, and blessed
laws, the wisdom of His counsels, His ancient ways and attributes towards us, we
should ever in public endeavour to honour Him, Always taking care to glorify Him
before men: to speak of His goodness, to sanctify His name, to do those things
that will stir up others, and occasion others to glorify Him. Doing this so
zealously that we would, not forbear the least act wherein we might serve Him
for all worlds. It ought to be a firm principle rooted in us, that this life is
the most precious season in all Eternity, because all Eternity dependeth on it.
Now we may do those actions which hereafter we shall never have occasion to do.
And now we are to do them in another manner, which in its place is the most
acceptable in all worlds: namely, by faith and hope, in which God infinitely
delighteth, with difficulty and danger, which God infinitely commiserates, and
greatly esteems. So piecing this life with the life of Heaven, and seeing it as
one with all Eternity, a part of it, a life within it: Strangely and
stupendously blessed in its place and season.
94
Having once studied these principles you are eternally to
practise them. You are to warm yourselves at these fires, and to have recourse
to them every day. When you think not of these things you are in the dark. And
if you would walk in the light of them, you must frequently meditate. These
principles are like seed in the ground, they must continually be visited with
heavenly influences, or else your life will be a barren field. Perhaps they
might be cast into better frame, and more curiously expressed; but if well
cultivated they will be as fruitful, as if every husk were a golden rind. It is
the substance that is in them that is productive of joy and good to all.
95
It is an indelible principle of Eternal truth, that practice
and exercise is the Life of all. Should God give you worlds, and laws, and
treasures, and worlds upon worlds, and Himself also in the Divinest manner, if
you will be lazy and not meditate, you lose all. The soul is made for action,
and cannot rest till it be employed. Idleness is its rust. Unless it will up and
think and taste and see, all is in vain. Worlds of beauty and treasure and
felicity may be round about it, and itself desolate. If therefore you would be
happy, your life must be as full of operation as God of treasure: Your operation
shall be treasure to Him, as His operation is delightful to you.
96
To be acquainted with celestial things is not only to know
them, but by frequent meditation to be familiar with them. The effects of which
are admirable. For by this those things that at first seemed uncertain become
evident, those things which seemed remote become near, those things which
appeared like shady clouds become solid realities: finally, those things which
seemed impertinent to us and of little concernment, appear to be our own,
according to the strictest rules of propriety and of infinite moment.
97
General and public concernments seem at first unmanageable, by
reason of their greatness; but in the soul there is such a secret sufficiency,
that it is able upon trial, to manage all objects with equal ease; things
infinite in greatness as well as the smallest sand. But this secret strength is
not found in it, but merely upon experience, nor discerned but by exercise. The
eternity of God Himself is manageable to the understanding, and may be used in
innumerable ways for its benefit; so may His almighty power, and infinite
goodness, His omnipresence and immensity, the wideness of the world, and the
multitude of Kingdoms. Which argueth a peculiar excellency in the soul, because
it is a creature that can never be exceeded. For bodily strength by this is
perceived to be finite, that bulk is unwieldy, and by the greatness of its
object may easily be overcome. But the soul through God that strengthened her is
able to do all things. Nothing is too great, nothing too heavy, nothing
unwieldy; it can rule and manage anything with infinite advantage.
98
Because the strength of the soul is spiritual it is generally
despised: but if ever you would be Divine, you must admit this principle: That
spiritual things are the greatest, and that spiritual strength is the most
excellent, useful, and delightful. For which cause it is made as easy as it is
endless and invincible. Infinity is but one object, almighty power is another,
eternal wisdom is another which it can contemplate; from infinity it can go to
power, from power to wisdom, from wisdom to goodness, from goodness to glory,
and so to blessedness, and from these to any object or all whatsoever,
contemplating them as freely as if it had never seen an object before. If any
one say, that though it can proceed thus from one object to another, yet it
cannot comprehend any one of them, all I shall answer is this. It can comprehend
any one of them as much as a creature can possibly do: and the possibility of a
creature dependeth purely upon the power of God: for a creature may be made able
to do all that which its Creator is able to make it to do. So if there be any
defect in His power there must of necessity a limit follow in the power of His
creature, which even God Himself cannot make a creature to exceed. But this, you
will say, is an argument only of what may be, not of what is. Though considering
God's infinite love, it is sufficient to show what is possible; because His love
will do all it can for the glory of itself and its object: yet further to
discover what is, we may add this, that when a soul hath contemplated the
Infinity of God, and passeth from that to another object, all that it is able to
contemplate on any other it might have added to its first contemplation. So that
its liberty to contemplate all shows its illimitedness to any one. And truly I
think it pious to believe that God hath without a metaphor infinitely obliged
us.
99
The reason why learned men have not exactly measured the
faculties of the soul, is because they know not to what their endless extent
should serve. For till we know the universal beauty of God's Kingdom, and that
all objects in the omnipresence are the treasures of the soul, to enquire into
the sufficiency and extent of its powers is impertinent. But when we know this,
nothing is more expedient than to consider whether a soul be able to enjoy them.
Which if it be, its powers must extend as far as its objects. For no object
without the sphere of its power, can be enjoyed by it. It cannot be so much as
perceived, much less enjoyed. From whence it will proceed, that the soul will to
all Eternity be silent about it. A limitation of praises, and a parsimony in
love following hereupon, to the endangering of the perfection of God's
Kingdom.
100
Upon the infinite extent of the understanding and affection of
the soul, strange and wonderful things will follow: 1. A manifestation of God's
infinite love. 2. The possession of infinite treasures. 3. A return of infinite
thanksgivings. 4. A fulness of joy which no thing can exceed. 5. An infinite
beauty and greatness in the soul. 6. An infinite beauty in God's Kingdom. 7. An
infinite union between God and the soul (as well in extent, as fervour). 8. An
exact fitness between the powers of the soul, and its objects: neither being
desolate, because neither exceedeth the other. 9. An infinite glory in the
communion of Saints, every one being a treasure to all the residue and enjoying
the residue, and in the residue all the glory of all worlds. 10. A perfect
indwelling of the soul in God, and God in the soul. So that as the fulness of
the Godhead dwelleth in our Saviour, it shall dwell in us; and the Church shall
be the fulness of Him that filleth all in all: God being manifested thereby to
be a king infinitely greater, because reigning over infinite subjects. To Whom
be all glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
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Notes on the Fourth Century
Meditation 1. In the wording of this meditation, and of several
other passages in the Fourth Century, it seems.as though Traherne is speaking
not of himself, but of, a friend and teacher of his. He did this, no doubt, in
order that he might not lay himself open to the charge of over-egotism. Yet that
he is throughout relating his own experiences is proved by the fact that this
Meditation, as first written, contains passages which the author afterwards
marked for omission. In its original form it began thus: "Since the author in
the last century hath spoken so much concerning his entrance and progress into
the study of Felicity, and all he hath there said pertaineth only to the
contemplative part of it, I will in this Century speak of the principles with
which he endued himself to enjoy it." This seems conclusive, though there are
later on in this "Century" passages in which the author appears to be speaking
not of his own experiences, but of that of a friend who had communicated them to
him.
Meditation 4. In him are hid, &c. Colossians ii.
3.
Meditation 7. We must dig for her, &c. Proverbs ii.
4.
Meditation 7. Wisdom is the principal thing, &c.
Proverbs iv. 7-9.
Meditation 9. Ye are not straitened, &c. 2 Corinthians xxiv.
20.
Meditation 13. Line 4. Alone like a sparrow, &c. Psalm cii. 6 and
7.
Meditation 18. Line 6. For it is more blessed, &c. Acts xx.
35.
Meditation 20. Compare this Meditation with the poem "Of
Meekness," which is to be found on page 145 of Traherne's "Poetical Works."
Meditation 28. Inasmuch as ye have done it, &c. Matthew
xxv. 40.
Meditation 41. In all thy keeping, &c. Proverbs iv. 23.
Meditation 45. It is more blessed, &c. Acts xx. 35.
Meditation 58. What ye do to him, &c. Matthew xxv. 40.
Meditation 72. The Alpha and Omega, the first and the
last &c. Revelation i. 11 and 18.
Meditation 72. The Glory which Thou last given me &c. John xvii.
22.
Meditation 72. In Him the fulness of the Godhead, &c. Colossians
19.
Meditation 72. His Church is the fulness, &c. Ephesians i. 22.
Meditation 74. How precious are thy Thoughts, &c. Psalm cxxxix.
17, 18.
Meditation 85. My love is a siring, &c. Song of Solomon iv.
12.