6¢$ THE FIRST FRLITS OF TFIE SPIRtT ; OR CbTSC. I[: away captive above all earthly things, and brings thetas near to the heavenly world. There is an unknown joy which arises from such intense love to an object so lovely and so deserving; such is that which is spoken concerning the saints to whom St. Peter wrote ; 1 Pet. i. 8. " whom having not seen, ye love, in whom though now you see him not, yet .believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." It is through this divine taste of love, and joy, and glory communicated by the blessed Spirit, revealing the things of Christ to their souls, that many of the confessors and martyrs in the primitive ages, and in-later times, have not only joyfully parted with all their possessions and their comforts in this life, but have fol- lowed the call of God through prisons and deaths of a most dreadful kind, through racks and fires, and many torments, for the sake of the love of Jesus ; and perhaps, there may be some in our day who have had so lively and strong a sensation of the love of Christ let in upon their souls, that they could not only be content to be absent from all their carnal delights for ever, but even from their intellectual and more spiritual entertainments, if they might be for ever placed in such a situation to Jesus Christ, as to_ feel, the everlasting beams of his love let out upon them, and to rejoice in him with perpetual de- light. As he is the nearest image of God the Father, they-can love nothing beneath God equal to their love of Mini nor delight in any thing beneath God equal to their delight in Jesus Christ Indeed their love and their joy are so wrapped up in the great and blessed God as he appears in Christ Jesus, that they do not usually divide their affections in this matter, but love God supremely for ever, as revealing himself in his most perfect love in Christ Jesus unto their souls. How near this may ap- proach to the glorified love of the saints in heaven, or what difference there is between the holy ones above the saints below in this respect; may be hard to say. SECTION VIII. Foretastes of heaven in the transcendent love of the saints to each other." I might here ask some advanced saints, " Have you never seen or heard of a fellow christiaf growing unto such a near resemblance to the blessed Jesus, in all the virtues and graces of the Spirit, that 4
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