Baxter - BT767 B28 1662

or ~t!Jrttte. · Part li. bad ~atherbe employed in it with fenfe and vigour, then to be Lord of all the earth. 0 could I but be taken up with the Lo'fJe of God, how eafily .could1fpare the Plcafur_e or th,e {ltfo? Might I but fee the Loveltnefs of mydear Creator, wtrh a clearer view . and fee his glory in his noble works ; Might I pwt fee and feci that faving Love which he bath manifeil:ed in the Red~emer · till my foul were.ravifhed and filled with his Love, how littlefh~uld I care who hotd the Pleafures of t11is deceitful world·' ! Had I more of that bleifed fpirit of Adoption, and more of rhofe filial affedions to my heavenly Father, which his unutterable Love b~fpeaks; and we-re I more fen£ible of his abundant mercy, and dtd my foul but breath and long after him more earnefrly, I wo.ti!ld pitty the miferable Tyrants of the world, that are worfe· then Beggars while they domineer , ,- ·and tall not of that Kingdom of Love a-nd Plcafure that dwelleth in my ·bredl:. All the Pleafures of the world, are the la.ughing of a mad man, or the · fports of a child, or the dreams of a fick .man, in comparifon o£ the Pleafures of the Love of God. . 2. And the ·Love of Hr;/inefs, the 1.rn.age :o-f God bath, its qe.; gree ,of Plea[Hre. And fo bath the Love of the Holy fernms of the Lord. There is a fweetnefs in the foul in its goings out after any Holy objeCt, in fpiritual Love. Yea more, our very com111on Love of men, and our Love of Enemies, bath its pro. portion of pleafure, far better then the fenfl:lal Pleafure of the ungodly. To feel fo m\'lch o( the operations of .gracell .and to anfwer our holy pattern, in Loving them that bate us, doth give much eafe and pleaf9re to the ~ind. The ex. ercifes of Love to God and man, and that for hts fake, are the exceeding Plcafure of a gracious foul. · And here by the way. you may take notice of one reafoa why Hypocrites and ungodly men find no fgch fweern~fs in the exercifes of Religion ; Becaufe they let alone the ·inward Plea– /Ant work,_ of Love, which is the fo~al and life of Ou,tward duty: This inward work.. is the Pleafllnt work : wh1·le they are fl rangers unto this, their outward dutie~ will be but a toil, and teem a. drudgery or a wearyfome ernploymem. . . · There is a Pleaft-tre even in Holy Defires: When a_Chnihan fee leth his heart enlarged, in longing after the wellfare of the Church and the good of others. Though .the abfence of the thing dcfired be a trouble ye1 the ell<:retfe of holy defire, . - · ' - - (which

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