Point; what is it then to be feparated from him?7 And what muft the condition of thofe Wretched Spirits be, who have no more Union with God, than what is just enough to fuftain them in Being, and make them capable of fubfifting under that Privation of God, which would otherwife Annihilate them? What must be the Darkness, what the Poverty, what the Barrennefs, what the Coldnefs, Dryness, Deadness, Emptiness, Defolation and Solitude,of fuch a State! Depart from me, je Curfed! I need not add into Everlasting Fire, for here we have Hell enough already. What, to be thrown off from our Center, to be forc'd away from the Point of our Tendency and our Reft, to be banish'd from the only Good, the Joy, the Pleasure, the Life, the Light, the Warmth, the Sun of our Souls: Eye hath not feen, neither hath Ear heard, nor can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive, what a flate of Mifery and Unhappiness this must be. If the Partial and 'fhort Eclipfe of the Light of this great Sun made even the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roar out in a bitter Agony, My God, my God, why hast thou forfaken me; what must be the Mifery, the Damnation, the Hell of that Spirit, who is throughly and eternally forsaken of his God? It is good then for me, may every rational Souf fay, to draw near unto God; fince my whole Per fection, both Natural and Moral,confifts in my Union with him. It is good for me, indeed the best thing I can do, to hold me faft by my God, to unite my felf to him by as many Ties and Bands M 2 Bands as I can, by all the Cords and Chains of Love, and by every Link of that Chain; to make this Union as clofe and as ftrong as is poffible, and so to draw near to him, and fasten my felf upon him by the most Cleaving Love, that he may reward my imperfect Union here, with a Perfect and Everlasting one hereafter. This is the true and only intereft of every Rational Soul; tho' there are but few that are fo rational as to be duly fenfible of it, or that confider how advantagious, how neceffary it is for them to draw. near unto God, and to enter into a close union with him. But to thofe few, who are fenfible of the Interest and Neceffity of this Union with God, and would know by what means they might be beft affifted towards the effecting it; I would advise, 1. To Retire. The Noife, Hurry, Business, Im. pertinence, Folly, Sin, Vanity and Contagion of 6.141. the World, do not well comport with either the 191,192 Habit or the Practice of Divine Love. The Spi rit of Devotion and Divine Application cannot breathe in such thick grofs Air, Cant. 7. 11. Come my Beloved, let us go forth into the Field, let us Lodge in the Villages, is the Voice and Language of the Spouse to Chrift; and so it is of every Devout and Divinely affected Soul. And fays God to his Church, Hof. 2. 14. I will lead her into the Wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. Solitude and Retirement is the proper Advantage and Opportunity of Divine Love, and of uniting Our Souls with God, and of relishing and enjoy ing that Union: The Senfe of which made a Devout Soul once break forth into this Seraphick Rapture, O Solitudo, Mentibus # O vera Cordis Suavitas, Hic nullus auditur fremens Optet M 2 މ Optet Superba Culmina, Hoc fcire demum, hoc vivere eft, 2. To Contemplate. And now thou art retired, thou may'st advantagioufly do fo; and muft,if thou wilt ever unite thy felf to thy God, and kindle in thy Heart a Seraphick Flame of Devotion and Divine Love. The Will always receives its Orders from the Understanding, and we love every thing according to the view which we have of its Amiablenefs. If therefore thou wilt raife in thy Soul a well-grounded and affectionate Love of God, place him before thee in a good Light, and take an advantagious view of him from the Elevations of Contemplation. Meditate upon him frequently and attentively, (for he will bear that levere Teft,) and contemplate the infinite Perfection, the fovereign Goodness, the Tranfcendent Excellency, the Centrality of his Divine Effence; think of his Beauty, think of his Lovelinefs, think of his Love to thee; and whilst thou art thus Mufing, the Fire will kindle. but 3. To Mortify. A very harth. and ungrateful, but very neceffary, Method for the Love of God, and our Union with him. We must first Dye to our our Selves and to the World;before we can either Love God, or Live unto him. Mortifie therefore both thy Body and thy Soul, but efpecially thy Soul; purge it, firft of all, of Self-Love, which of all Difpofitions of Mind is molt oppofite to, and inconfiftent with,the Love of God. Next, empty it of the World, and of all Love towards Senfeble things; unburthen it of all Covetoufpefs, Ambition, Pride, Luft, Envy, and all manner of Carnal and Worldly Sentiments;cleanse it, purify it, ftrip it, fimplify it, let nothing adhere to it that favours either of Self, or of the World; nothing that may by its interpofal hinder that immediate Contract,that Central Touch,between thee and thy God. And when once thou haft redu ced thy Soul to this Singleness and Simplicity, thou wilt find that the leaft Attraction of the Divine Spirit will draw thee after it. When once one Scale of the Ballance is thus emptied of the 7 Creature, the least weight of Divine Grace will weigh down the other. The more we draw off 7 from our Selves and from the VVorld, the nearer we fhall draw to God; and the clofer we are united to him, the nearer we shall be to our Hap pinefs; and the more we shall be still convinc'd, as we draw nearer and nearer, that the Perfection of the Soul is her Union with God. To whom be all Glory.Amer! |