APPENDIX. 249 light for my enjoying it. The least well-grounded hope of thy love is better than all the pleasures of the flesh ; but without some pleasant sense of it, alas ! what a withered, languishing thing is a soul ! Thy loving-kindness is better than life ; but if I taste it not, how shall I here rejoice in God, or bear my heavy burdens ? O, lét me notbe a dishonor to thyfamily, where all have so great cause to honor thy bounty by their joy and -hopes ; nor, by a sad and fearful heart, tempt men to think that thy love is not real and. satisfactory. I can easily believe and admire thy greatness, and thy knowledge. Let it not be so hard to me to believe and taste thy goodness and thy love, which is as necessary to me. If there be any thing (as surely there is) in which the divine nature and spirit of adoption consisteth, as above all the art and notions of religion, which are but like to other acquired knowledge, sure it must be this holy appetite and habitual inclination of the soul to God, by way of love, which is bred by an internal sense of his loveliness, and loving inclination to man; which differenceth a Christian from other men, as a child differs towards his father, from strangers, or from common neighbors. Till the love of God be the very state and nature of the soul, (working here towards his honor, interests, word, And servants,) no man can say that he is God's habitation by the Spirit; and how the heart will ever be thus habited, without believing God's love to us, it is hard to conceive. Experience tells the world how strongly it constrainèth persons to love one another, if they dabut think that they are strongly be- loved by one another. In the love that tends to Marriage, if one that is inferior do but know that a person of fargreater worth doth fervently love them, it almost puts a necessity and constraint on them for returns of love: nature can scarce choose but love in such a case. Love Is the loadstone of love. A real taste of the love of God in saving souls by Christ and grace, is it that con- straineth them to be holy ; that is, to be devoted to that God in love. ii. But this must as necessarily be the work of the Holy Ghost, and can be no more done without him than the earth can be illu- minated, and the vegetables live without the sun. But all the approaches of the Holy Spirit suffice not to produce this great ef- fect, and give us the divine, holy nature. The same sunshine hath three different effects on its objects. 1. On most things, as houses, stones, earth, it causeth nothing but accidents of heat, color, and motion. 2: On some things it causeth a seminal disposition to vegeta- ble life, but not life itself. VOL. it. 32
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=