Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BX5200 .B352 1835 v2

1 128 $A T N,'S DYING THOUGHTS. bath made the course ofmy pilgrimage, by the fragrancy and.use- fulness of his servants' graces. How sweet have my bosom friends been, though mutable! How sweet bath the neighborhood of the godly been ! How sweet have the holy assemblies been; and how, many hours of comfort have I there had ! .How profita- ble have their writings, their conference, and their prayers been! What then will it be, to live in the union of perfect love with per- fect saints in heaven forever, and with then concordantly to love the Godof love ! And as the act and object of love will constitute my felicity, so will myreception from the live of Gód and his creatures be sweet- er to me than my own activity can be ; for it is mutual love that makes it up. I. shall not be the fountain of myown delights ; nor call act till I am acted, nor offer any thing to God, but what I have first receivedfrom him. And receive I shall, abundantly and con- tinually; and from thence shall overflow to God ; and receiving and returning are now, and will be, the circular, endless motion; and our true,perpetual life and happiness. All my receiving, shall be fromGod. His love is not a mere immanent will, nor awish which tducheth not the object ; but it is what heat is, in, or Prom, the sun or fire : it' is an efflux ofgoodness.: it is the most powerful,, sweet;communicating principle, or work. All love is communicative; but none in comparison of God's ; as there is none primitively and simply good but God. How much doth love id the' affairs of men ! All that is pleasant in the world is it, or its effects. * * Were it not for natural- love, mothers would never endure the pain, and trouble, and care, which is ne- cessary to hunian birth and education ; were it''not for 'love, par- ents would never labor all their lives to leave their children well instructed, and well provided for, when they are gone: My food would not please the did I not love it, and I should neglect it to the neglect of my life. Did I nit love my books, and learning, it- self, I should never have bestowed so much of seventy years in por- ing On them and searching for knowledge as I have done ; did I not love my house, my conveniences and ,necessaries, I should neglect them, and they would be to me of small use ; did I not love my friends, I should be less profitable' to them, and they to me ; did I not love my life, I should neglect it, and never have en- dured the labor and cost about it as I have done. If a man love not bis country, posterity, and the common good, he will'be as a burdensome drone in the hive, or as pernicious vermin. What is done in the world that is good, but, by love ? And if created love be sonecessary, so active, so communicative, how much more , will the infinite love of the Creator be ! His love is now the life of the world ; his love is the life ofnature in

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