3.14.2014 THE LIFE OF GOD IN THE SOUL OF MAN by henry scougal

george whitefield, in his journals, identifies the time of his salvation to when he read this book.

'perfect love is a kind of self dereliction (deliberate or conscious neglect)
a wandering out of ourselves;
it is a kind of voluntary death,
wherein the lover dies to himself and all his own interest,
not thinking of them nor caring for them any more
and minding nothing but how he may please and gratify the party whom he loves'.
-quote from the book found before the introduction to the book.

10 (this book) was written to counteract religious formalism and sectarian strife by stimulating a renewal of
VITAL, INWARD and ETHICAL religion
-a need as urgent today as it was then.
now, as then, the springs of spiritual life have been running dry,
leaving a void in the lives of countless numbers of Christian men and women
who find no help in external forms which have long since lost their meaning.
the sectarian spirit, moreover, still plagues a world
which desperately needs a unifying faith to transcend the (note: doctrinal)
differences that separate man from man.

the root of our trouble, Scougal maintains, is a fundamental misconception as to the nature of religion.
we mistake the trappings of religion for religion itself.
actually, the external forms and rites of religion bear the same relationship to true religion
as a puppet to a man.
true religion is life, not form.
it is not making orthodox affirmations,
saying prayers,
going to Church,
receiving the Sacrament
or doing any other external act.
it is rather the 'union of the soul with God,
a real participation of the divine nature
(note:  it is a RELATIONSHIP with God through Jesus Christ marked by
FEALTY AND OBEDIENT OUT POURED LOVE
FILLED WITH FULLNESS OF PRAISE AND COMPLETE SATISFACTION
HONORING THE ONE WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR US
BY literally GIVING UP OUR LIFE FOR HIM, His purposes, His glory.)
the very image of God drawn upon the sou
or, in the apostle's phrase, it is Christ formed within us'.

the outward forms of religious expression and devotion, S asserts,
are not to be repudiated by subordinated.
(but) an undue emphasis upon them, by diverting attention from essentials to nonessentials,
tends to produce bitterness and divisions.
...no law need be prescribed to those that love God,
for the 'divine love wherewith they are actuated makes them become a law unto themselves'.

...dugald butler has called this book the 'textbook' of the Holy Club (of which john and charles wesley
as well as whitefield were a part)...

the testimony of george W is interesting and significant.
'though i had fasted, watched and prayed and received the sacrament so long,
yet i never knew what true religion was till God sent me that excellent treatise
by the hand of my never to be forgotten friend. (charles wesley)...
'o what a ray of divine life did then break in upon my soul!...'

15...as late as 1825 this paper covered edition was still being reprinted and
-to use the words of the preface-
by directing attention from 'matters of doubtful disputation, about which the best and wisest men differ'
to 'matters of greatest importance, about which all good and wise men must agree'
it undoubtedly contributed largely to that great tide of co operative activity
which characterized the early decades of the 19th century in america.

20 a major objective which S had set for himself in life
was to abate the spirit of controversy that was bedeviling scotland in the seventeenth century.
to this end he sought to keep the students from becoming addicted 'to the disputing humour'
and developing an 'itch' to wrangle 'pro and con about anything'.
unlike the majority of the presbyteries, whose chief demand at ordination
was that the candidate be 'weill seen in contraversies',
S felt that the minister's task was not 'so much the managing of controversies and debates of religion,
as the guiding of men's souls to eternity,
the rescuing of the vicious from their sins and vices
and directing the serious to the true practice and exercise of religion;.
he, therefore, urged the students to avoid the
'subtle speculations, metaphysical niceties, perplexed notions foolish questions which engender strife'
and concentrate on inculcating 'the great and uncontroverted truths of our religion'.

controversy, S was convinced, was largely ineffective.
he believed that men are more apt 'to be reasoned out of their erroneous persuasions by a good life
than by many arguments'.
not only, however, were controversies unprofitable; evil consequences actually flowed from them.
for one thing, by transforming religion, 'the bond of love' into the 'bone of contention',
christianity was brought into disrepute and christendom was 'most unhappily divided'.
a second consequence of controversy, equally serious, was to divert men's minds
from essentials to nonessentials in religion.
the quarrels of the day were not over matters of vital importance,
and he called upon the students to put first things first.
'it were to be wished, he said in one of his sermons,
that there were less noise and debate about matters of this nature
and that, being agreed in the more substantial parts of religion,
we did all charitably acquiesce in that excellent advice of the apostle, which he giveth in a parallel instance,
let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth'.

....the major factor in shaping S's thought was probably the general point of view prevailing in aberdeen
after the time of bishop patrick forbes, but an important influence
which gave his thinking its own distinctive slant, came from south of the border.
it was the influence of the so called 'antinomians' among the english independents
and of their stepchildren, the cambridge platonists, several of whose words S possessed.

at aberdeen a loosely knit group of mystics had come into being.
friends of robert leighton and disciples of john forbes, of corse,
they were much more interested in religion than in theology.
tolerant, liberal and comprehensive,
they gave small place to dogma and stressed the inwardness of true religion.
the essential element in christianity was not the observance of external forms
nor the definition and acceptance of orthodox tenets,
bu an inner personal communion with God.

the appearance of mysticism in scotland may seem a strange development,
for 'scottish religion is proverbially theological and scottish theology notoriously dogmatic'.
when one considers, however, that interest in mystical religion always develops
when religious controversy becomes heated and sectarian strife sever,
it does not seem surprising that it should have appeared in 17th century scotland.

...the mysticism of aberdeen found its best and finest expression in henry scougal-'aberdeen's immortal mystic

29 OF THE NATURE OF TRUE RELIGION

i cannot speak of religion but i must lament that, among so many pretenders to it,
so few understand what it means;
some placing it in the understanding, in orthodox notions and opinions
and all the account they can give of their religion is that they are of the other persuasion
and have joined themselves to one of those many sects where into christendom is most unhappily divide.
others place it in the outward man,
in a constant course of external duties and a model of performances:
if they live peaceably with their neighbors,
keep a temperate diet,
observe the returns of worship, frequenting the church and their closet
and sometimes extend their hands to the relief of the poor,
they think they have sufficiently acquitted themselves.
others again put all religion in the affections,
in rapturous heats and
ecstatic devotion
and all they aim at is to pray with passion
and think of heaven with pleasure
and to be affected with those kind and melting expressions wherewith they court their Saviour,
till they persuade themselves that they are mightily in love with Him;
and form thence assume a great confidence of their salvation
which they esteem the chief of christian graces.
thus are those things which have any resemblance of piety
and at the best are but means of abstaining it or particular exercises of it,
frequently mistaken for the whole of religion;
nay, sometimes wickedness and vice pretend to that name.
i speak not now of those gross impieties wherewith the heathens were wont to worship their gods:
there are but too many christians who would consecrate their vices and hallow their corrupt affections,
whose rugged humor and sullen pride must pass for "Christian severity,
whose fierce wrath and bitter rage against their enemies must be called holy zeal,
whose petulancy towards their superiors or rebellion against their governors
must have the name of christian resolution and courage.

but certainly religion is quite another thing
and they who are acquainted with it will entertain far different thoughts
and disdain all those shadows and false imitations of it.
they know by experience that true religion is an union of the soul with God,
a real participation of the divine nature,
the very image of God drawn upon the soul or, in the apostles phrase, it is Christ formed within us.
briefly, i know not how the nature of religion can be more fully expressed than by calling it a DIVINE LIFE.
and under these terms i shall discourse of it,
showing first how it is called a life, and then how it is termed divine.

i choose to express it by the name of life;
first, because of its permanency and stability
religion is not a sudden start or passion of the mind;
not though it should rise to the height of a rapture and seem to transport a man to extraordinary performances.
there are few but have convictions of the necessity of doing something for the salvation of their souls
which may push them forward some steps with a great deal of seeming haste.
but anon they flag and give over;
they were in a hot mood but now they are cooled;
they did shoot forth fresh and high but are quickly withered because they had no root in themselves.
these sudden fits may be compared to the violent and convulsive motions of bodies newly beheaded,
caused by the agitations of the animal spirits after the soul is departed which,
however violent and impetuous, can be of no long continuance;
whereas the motions of holy souls are constant and regular,
proceeding from a permanent and lively principle.
it is true, this divine life continueth not always in the same strength and vigor,
but many times suffers sad decays and holy men find greater difficulty in resisting temptations
and less alacrity in the performance of their duties;
yet it is not quite extinguished,
nor are they abandoned to the power of those corrupt affections which sway and overrule the rest of the world.

again, religion may be defined by the name of life because it is an inward, fee and self moving principle
and those who have made progress in it are not actuated only by external motives
driven merely by threatenings nor bribed by promise, nor constrained by laws,
but are powerfully inclined to that which is good and delight in the performance of ti.
the love which a pious man bears to God and goodness
is not so much by virtue of a command enjoining him so to do
as by a new nature instructing and prompting him to it;
nor doth he pay his devotions as an unavoidable tribute
only to appease the divine justice or quiet his clamourous conscience,
but those religious exercises are the proper emanations of the divine life, the natural employments of the new born soul.
he prays and gives thanks and repents, not only because these things are commanded,
but rather because he is sensible of his wants and of the divine goodness
and of the folly and misery of a sinful life.
his charity is not forced nor his alms extorted from him:
his love makes him willing to give
and though there were no outward obligation his heart would devise liberal things..
injustice and intemperance and all other vices are as contrary to his temper and constitution
as the basest actions are to the most generous spirit
and impudence and scurrility (grossly or obscenely abusive) to those who are naturally modest;
so that i may well say with st. john,
whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;
for his seed remaineth in him
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
though holy and religious persons do much eye the law of God and have a great regard unto it,
yet it is not so much the sanction of the law
as his reasonableness and purity and goodness which do prevail with them.
they account it excellent and desirable in itself and that in keeping of it there is great reward
and that divine love wherewith they are actuated makes them become a law unto themselves.

who shall prescribe a law to those that love?
love's a more powerful law which doth them move.

in a word, what our blessed saviour said of himself is in some measure applicable to His followers,
that it is their meat and drink to do their Father's will
and as the natural appetite is cried out toward food,
though we should not reflect on the necessity of it for the preservation of our lives,
so are they carried with a natural and unforced propension (obs. = propensity, natural inclination)
toward that which is good and commendable.
it is true, external motives are many times of great use to excite and stir up this inward principle,
especially in its infancy and weakness when it is often so languid that the man himself can scarce discern it,
hardly being able to move one step forward but when he is pushed by his hopes or his fears,
by the pressure of an affliction or the sense of a mercy, by the authority of the law or the persuasion of others
now, if such a person be conscientious and uniform in his obedience
and earnestly groaning under the sense of his dullness
and is desirous to perform his duties with more spirit and vigor;
these are the first motions of the divine life which, though it be faint and weak,
will surely be cherished by the influences of heaven and grow unto greater maturity.
but he who is utterly destitute of this inward principle
and doth not aspire unto it, but contents himself with those performances whereunto he is prompted
by education or custom,
by the fear of hell or carnal notions of heaven,
can no more be accounted a religious person than a puppet can be called a man.
this forced and artificial religion is commonly heavy and languid like the motion of a wight forced upward;
it is cold and spiritless like the uneasy compliance of a wife married against her will,
who carries on dutifully toward the husband whom she doth not love out of some sense of virtue or honor.
hence also this religion is scant and niggardly,
especially in those duties which do greatest violence to men's carnal inclinations;
and those slavish spirit will be sure to do no more than is absolutely required.
it is a law that compels them
and they will be loath to go beyond what it stints them to;
nay, they will ever be putting such glosses on it as may leave themselves the greatest liberty;
whereas the spirit of true religion is frank and liberal,
far from such peevish and narrow reckoning
and he who hath given himself entirely unto God will never think he doth too much for Him.

37 it is now time to return to the consideration of that divine life whereof i was discoursing before;
that life which is hid with Christ in God
and therefore hath no glorious show or appearance in the world
and to the natural man will seem a mean and insipid notion.
as the animal life consisteth in that narrow and confined love which is terminated on a man's self
and in his propension towards those things that are pleasing to nature,
so the divine life stands in an universal and unbounded affection and in
the mastery over our natural inclinations that they may never be able to betray us
to those things which we know to be blamable.
the root of the divine life is faith;
the chief branches are:
love to God, charity to man, p0urity and humility.
for (as an excellent person hath well observed)
however these names be common and vulgar and make no extraordinary sound,
yet do they carry such a might sense that the tongue of man or angel can pronounce
nothing more weighty or excellent.
faith hath the same place in the divine life which sense hath in the natural,
being indeed nothing else but a kind of sense or feeling persuasion of spiritual things.
it extends itself unto all divine truths;
but, in our lapsed estate, it hath a peculiar relation
to the declarations of god's mercy and reconcilableness to sinners through a Mediator
and therefore, receiving its denomination from that principal  object,
is ordinarily termed faith in Jesus Christ.

the love of God is a delightful and affectionate sense of the diving perfections
which makes the soul resign and sacrifice itself wholly unto Him,
desiring above all things to please Him
and delighting in nothing so much as in fellowship and communion with Him
and being ready to do or suffer any thing for His sake or at His pleasure.
though this affection may have its first rise from the favors and mercies of God towards ourselves,
yet doth it in its growth and progress transcend such particular considerations
and ground itself on His infinite goodness manifested in all the works of creation and providence.
a soul thus possessed with divine love must needs be enlarged towards all mankind
in a sincere and unbounded affection,
because of the relation they have to God, being his creatures
and having something of His image stamped upon them.
and this is that charity i named as the second branch of religion
and under which all the parts of justice, all the duties we owe to our neighbor,
are eminently comprehended;
for he who doth truly love all the world will be nearly concerned in the interest of every one
and so far from wronging or injuring any person, he will resent any evil that befalls others as if it happened to himself.

by purity, i understand a due abstractedness from the body and mastery over the inferior appetites
or such a temper and disposition of mind as makes a man despise and abstain
from all pleasures and delights of sense or fancy which are sinful in themselves
or tend to extinguish or lessen our relish of more divine and intellectual pleasures,
which doth also infer a resoluteness to undergo all those hardships
he may meet with in the performance of his duty.
so that not only chastity and temperance, but also christian courage and magnanimity may
come under this head.

HUMILITY imports a deep sense of our own weakness,
with a hearty and affectionate acknowledgment of our owing all that we are to the divine bounty,
which is always accompanied with a profound submission to the will of God
and great deadness towards the glory of the world and applause of men.


these are the highest perfections that either men or angels are capable of;
the very foundation of heaven laid in the soul.
and he who hath attained them needs not desire to pry into the hidden rolls of God's decrees
or search the volumes of heaven to know what is determined about his everlasting condition,
but he may find a copy of God's thought concerning him written on his own breast.
his love to God may give him assurance of god's favor to him,
and those beginnings of happiness
which he feels in the conformity of the powers of his soul to the nature of God and compliance with His will,
are a sure pledge that his felicity shall be perfected and continued to all eternity.
and it is not without reason that one said,
'i had rather see the real impressions of a God like nature upon my own soul
than have a vision from heaven
or an angel sent to tell me that my name was enrolled in the book of life.

when we have said all that we can,
the secret mysteries of a new nature and divine life can never be sufficiently expressed;
language and words cannot reach them, nor can they be truly understood
but by those souls that are enkindled within and awakened unto the sense and relish of spiritual things.
there is a spirit in man
and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.
THE POWER AND LIFE OF RELIGION
MAY BE BETTER EXPRESSED IN ACTIONS THAN IN WORDS,
BECAUSE ACTIONS ARE MORE LIVELY THINGS
AND DO BETTER REPRESENT THE INWARD PRINCIPLE WHENCE THEY PROCEED
and therefore we may take the best measure of those gracious endowments
from the deportment of those in whom they reside,
especially as they are perfectly exemplified in the holy life of our blessed Saviour,
a main part of whose business in this world
was to teach by His practice
what He did require of others
and to make his own conversation (obs. behavior, manner of living)
an exact resemblance of those unparalleled rules which he prescribed,
so that if ever true goodness was visible to mortal eyes,
it was then when His presence did beautify and illustrate this lower world.

49 THE EXCELLENCY OF DIVINE LOVE
...the worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.
he who loveth mean and sordid things doth thereby become base and vile,
but a noble and well placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit into a conformity
with the perfection which it loves.
the images of these do frequently present themselves unto the mind
and by a secret force and energy insinuate into the very constitution of thee soul
and mould and fashion it unto their own likeness.
hence we may see how easily lovers or friends do slide into the imitation of persons whom they affect
and how, even before they are aware, they begin to resemble them,
not only in the more considerable instances of their deportment,
but also in their voice and gesture
and that which we call their mien and air.
and certainly we should as well transcribe the virtues and inward beauties of the soul,
if they were the object and motive of our love.
but now, as all the creatures we converse with have their mixture and alloy,
we are always in hazard to be sullied and corrupted by placing our affections on them.
passion doth easily blind our eyes,
so that we first approve and then imitate the things that are blamable in them.
the true way to improve and ennoble our souls is by fixing our love on the divine perfections that we may have them always before us
and derive an impression of them on ourselves
and beholding with open face, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord,
we may be changed into the same image, from glory to glory.
he who with a generous and holy ambition hath raised his eyes towards that uncreated beauty and goodness
and fixed his affection there,
is quite of another spirit, of a more excellent and heroic temper than the rest of the world
and cannot but infinitely disdain all mean and unworthy things,
will not entertain any low or base thoughts which might disparage his high and noble pretensions.
love is the greatest and most excellent thing we are master of
and therefore it is folly and baseness to bestow it unworthily.
it is indeed the only thing we can call our own.
other things may be taken from us by violence, but none can ravish our love.
if any thing else be counted ours, by giving our love we give all,
so far as we make over our hearts and wills by which we possess our other enjoyments.
it is not possible to refuse him any thing, to whom by love we have given ourselves. ...

51...again, as divine love doth advance and elevate the soul,
so it is that alone which can make it happy.
the highest and most ravishing pleasures,
the most solid and substantial delights that human nature is capable of,
are those which arise from the endearments of a well placed and successful affection.
that which imbitters love and makes it ordinarily a very troublesome and hurtful passion,
is the placing it on those who have not worth enough to deserve it
or affection and gratitude to require it
or whose absence may deprive us of the pleasure of their converse
or their miseries occasion our trouble.
to all these evils are they exposed those chief and supreme affection is placed on creatures like themselves,
but the love of god delivers us from them all.

first, i say, love must needs be miserable and full of trouble and disquietude
when there is not worth and excellency enough in the object to answer the vastness of its capacity.
so eager and violent a passion cannot but fret and torment the spirit
where it finds not wherewith to satisfy its cravings.
and, indeed, so large and unbounded is its nature that it must be extremely pinched and straitened when confined to any creature;
nothing below an infinite good can afford it room to stretch itself and exert its vigor and activity.
what is a little skin deep beauty
or some small degrees of goodness,
to match or satisfy a passion which was made for God, designed to embrace an infinite good?
no wonder lovers do so hardly suffer any rival
and do not desire that others should approve their passion by imitating it.
they know the scantiness and narrowness of the good which they love,
that it cannot suffice two, being in effect too little for one.
hence love, which is strong as death,
occasioneth jealousy which is cruel as the grave;
the coals whereof are coals of fire, which hath a most violent flame.

but divine love hath no mixture of this gall;
when once the soul is fixed on that supreme and all sufficient good,
it finds so much perfection and goodness as doth not only answer and satisfy its affection,
but master and overpower it too.
it finds all its love to be too faint and languid for such a noble object
and is only sorry that it can command no more.
it wisheth for the flames of a seraph and longs for the time when
it shall be wholly melted and dissolved into love;
and because it can do so little itself, it desires the assistance of the whole creation,
that angels and men would concur with it in the admiration and love of those infinite perfections.

again, love is accompanied with trouble when it misseth a suitable return of affection.
love is the most valuable thing we can bestow
and by giving it, we do in effect give all that we have
and therefore it needs must be afflicting to find so great a gift despised,
that the present which one hath made of his whole heart cannot prevail to obtain any return.
perfect love is a kind of self dereliction,
a wandering out of ourselves;
it is a kind of voluntary death, wherein the lover dies to himself and all his won interest,
not thinking of them nor caring for them any more
and minding nothing but how he may please and gratify the party whom he loves.
thus he is quite undone unless he meet with reciprocal affection;
he neglects himself and the other hath no regard to him'
but if he be beloved, he is revived, as it were and liveth in the soul and care of the person whom he loves;
and now he begine to mind his own concernments ,
not so much because they are his as because the beloved is pleased to own an interest in them.
he becomes dear unto himself, because he is so unto the other.

but why should i enlarge on so known a matter?
nothing can be more clear than that the happiness of love depends on the return it meets with.
and herein the divine lover hath unspeakably the advantage,
having placed his affection on Him whose nature is love;
whose goodness is as infinite as His being;
whose mercy prevented us when we were His enemies
and therefore cannot choose but embrace us when we are become His friends.
it is utterly impossible that god should deny his love to a soul wholly devoted to Him
and which desires nothing so much as to serve and please him.
he cannot disdain his own image, nor the heart in which it is engraven.
love is all the tribute which we can pay him,
and it is the sacrifice which He will not despise.

another thing which disturbs the pleasure of love and renders it a miserable and unquiet passion,
is absence and separation from those we love.
it is not without a sensible affliction that friends do part, though for some little time.
it is sad to be deprived of that society which is so delightful;
our life becomes tedious, being spent in an impatient expectation of the happy hour
wherein we may meet again.
but if death hath made the separation, as sometime or other it must,
this occasions a grief scarce to be paralleled by all the misfortunes of human life
and wherein we pay dear enough for the comfort of our friendship.
but oh how happy are those who have placed their love on Him who can never be absent from them!
they need but open their eyes and they shall everywhere behold the traces of his presence and glory
and converse with Him whom their soul loveth.
and this makes the darkest prison or the wildest desert, not only supportable
but delightful to them.

in fine, a lover is miserable if the person whom he loveth be so.
they who have made an exchange of hearts by love
get thereby an interest in one another's happiness and misery
and this makes love a troublesome passion when placed on earth.
the most fortunate person hath grief enough to mar the tranquillity of his friend
and it is hard to hold out when we are attacked on all hands,
and suffer not only in our own person but in another's.
but if god were  the object of our love, we should share in an infinite happiness
without any mixture or possiblity of diminution;
we should rejoice to behold the glory of God and receive comfort and pleasure
from all the praises wherewith men and angels do extol Him.
it should delight us beyond all expression to consider that the beloved of our souls
is infinitely happy in Himself
and that all His enemies cannot shake or unsettle his throne,
that our god is in the heavens and doth whatsoever He pleaseth.

behold, on what sure foundations His happiness is built whose soul is possessed with divine love,
whose will is transformed into the will of God
and whose greatest desire is that his Maker should be please.
oh, the peace, the rest, the satisfaction that attendeth such a temper of mind!

what an infinite pleasure must it needs be thus, as it were,
to lose ourselves in him
and being swallowed up in the overcoming sense of His goodness,
to offer ourselves a living sacrifice, always ascending unto him in flames of love!
never doth a soul know what solid joy and substantial pleasure is till,
once being weary of itself, it renounces all property,
gives itself up to the author of its being
and feel itself become a hallowed and devoted thing
and can say from an inward sense and feeling,
My Beloved is mine (i account all His interest mine own)
and I am His:
i am content to be any thing for him and care not for myself but that i may serve Him.
a person moulded into this temper would find pleasure in all the dispensations of providence.
temporal enjoyments whold have another relish when he would taste the divine goodness in them
and consider them as tokens of love sent by his dearest Lord and master.
and chastisements, though they be not joyous but grievous, would hereby lose their sting;
the rod as well as the staff would comfort him;
he would snatch a kiss from the hand that was smiting him and gather sweetness from that severity.
nay, he would rejoice that though God did not the will of such a worthless and foolish creature as himself,
yet  He did His own will and accomplished His own designs,
which are infinitely more holy and wise.

the exercises of religion, which to others are insipid and tedious,
do yield the highest pleasure and delight to sould possessed with divine love.
they rejoice when they are called to go up to the house of the lord,
that they may see His power and His glory,
as they have formerly seen it in his sanctuary.
they never think themselves so happy as when, having retired from the world
and gotten free from the noise and hurry of affairs
and silenced all their clamourous passions (those troublesome guests within,
they have placed themselves in the presence of god and entertain fellowship and communion with Him.
they delight to adore His perfections and recount His favors
and to protest their affection to Him, and tell Him a thousand times that they love Him;
to lay out their troubles or wants before Him and disburden their hearts in his bosom.
repentance itself is a delightful exercise when it floweth from the principle of love:
there is a secret sweetness which accompanieth those tears of remorse,
those meltings and relentings unto God
and lamenting their former unkindness.

the severities of a holy life and that constant watch which we are obliged to keep over our hearts and ways,
are very troublesome to those who are overruled and acted by an external law
and have no law in their minds inclining them to the performance of their duty.
but where divine love possesseth the soul, it stands as sentinel to keep out everything
that may offend the beloved
and doth disdainfully repulse those temptations which assault it.
it complieth cheerfully, not only with explicit commands,
but with the most secret notices of the beloved's pleasure;
and is ingenious in discovering what will be most grateful and acceptable unto Him.
it makes mortification and self denial change their harsh and dreadful names
and become easy, sweet and delighful things.


 56....the next branch of the divine life is an UNIVERSAL CHARITY AND LOVE. 
THE EXCELLENCY OF THIS GRACE WILL BE EASILY ACKNOWLEDGED.
the excellency of this grace will be easily acknowledged.
for what can be more noble and generous than a heart enlarged to embrace the whole world,
whose wishes and designs are levelled at the good and welfare of the universe,
which considereth every man's own interest as its own?
he who loveth his neighbor as himself can never entertain any base or injurious thought
or be wanting in expressions of bounty;
he had rather suffer a thousand wrongs than be guilty of one
and never accounts himself happy but when some one or other hath been benefited by him.
the malice or ingratitude of men is not able to resist his love;
he overlooks their injuries and pities their folly
and overcomes their evil with good
and never designs any other revenge against his most bitter and malicious enemies
than to put all the obligations he can upon them,
whether they will or not.
is it any wonder that such a person be reverenced and admired and accounted the darling of mankind.
this inward goodness and benignity of spirit reflects a certain sweetness and serenity
upon the very countenance
and makes it amiable and lovely.
it inspireth the soul with a noble resolution and courage
and makes it capable of enterprising and effecting the highest things.
those heroic actions which we are wont to read with admiration
have for the most part been the effects of the love of one's country
or of particular friendships
and certainly a more extensive and universal affection must be much more powerful and efficacious.

again, as charity flows from a noble and excellent temper,
so it is accompanied with the greatest satisfaction and pleasure.
it delights the soul to feel itself thus enlarged and to be delivered from
from those disquieting as well as deformed passions-malice, hatred and envy
-and become gentle, sweet and benign.
had i my choice of all things that might tend to my present felicity,
i would pitch upon this, to have my heart possessed with the greatest kindness and affection
towards all men in the world.
i am sure this would make me partake in all the happiness of others,
their inward endowments and outward prosperity;
every thing that did benefit and advantage them would afford me comfort and pleasure.
and though i should frequently meet with occasions of grief and compassion,
yet there is a sweetness in commiseration which makes it infinitely more desirable than a stupid insensibility
and the consideration of that infinite goodness and wisdom which governs the world
might repress any excessive troubled for particular calamities that happen in it
and the hopes or possibility of men's after-happiness
might moderate their sorrow for their present misfortunes.
certainly, next to the love and enjoyment of God, that ardent charity and affection
wherewith blessed souls do embrace one another is justly to be reckoned
as the greatest felicity of those regions above,
and did it universally prevail in the world,
it would anticipate that blessedness and make us taste of the joys of heaven upon earth.


that which i named as a third branch of religion was PURITY
and you may remember i described it to consist in a contempt of sensual pleasures
and resoluteness to under go those troubles and pains we may meet with in the performance of our duty.
now, the naming of this may suffice to recommend it as a most noble and excellent quality.
there is no slavery so base as that whereby a man becomes a drudge to his own lusts,
nor any victory so glorious as that which is obtained over them.
never can that person be capable of any thing that is noble and worthy who is sunk in
the gross and feculent (full of dregs and feculent matter) pleasures of sense
or bewitched with the light and airy gratifications of fancy.
but the religious soul is of a more sublime and divine temper;
it knows it was made for higher things and scorns to step aside one foot out of the way of holiness
for the obtaining any of these.

and this purity is accompanied with a great deal of pleasure.
whatsoever defiles the soul disturbs it too; all impure delights have a sting in them
and leave smart and trouble behind them.
excess and intemperance and all inordinate lusts,
are so much enemies to the health of the body and the interests of this present life
that a little consideration might oblige any rational man to forbear them on that very score;
and if the religious person go higher
and do not only abstain from noxious pleasures but neglect thos that are innocent,
this is not to be looked upon as any violent and uneasy restraint
but as the effect of better choice,
that their minds are taken up in the pursuit of more sublime and refined delights,
so that they cannot be concerned in these.
any person that is engaged in a violent and passionate affection
will easily forget his ordinary gratifications,
will be little curious about his diet or his bodily ease
or the divertisements (diversion or entertainment) he was wont to delight in.
no wonder, then, if souls overpowered with divine love despise inferior pleasures
and be almost ready to grudge the body its necessary attendance for the common accommodations of life,
judging all these impertinent to their main happiness
and those higher enjoyments they are pursuing.
as for the hardships they meet with, they rejoice in them as opportunities to exercise and testify their affection
and since they are able to do so little for God, they are glad of the honor to suffer for Him.

the lst branch of religion is HUMILITY
and however to vulgar and carnal eyes this may appear an abject, base and despicable quality,
yet really the soul of man is not capable of a higher and more noble endowment.
it is a silly ignorance that begets pride,
but humility arises from a nearer acquaintance with excellent things,
which keeps men from doating on trifles or admiring themselves because of some pretty attainments.
noble and well educated souls have no such high opinion of
riches, beauty, strength and other such like advantages,
as to value themselves for them or despise those that want them
and as for inward worth and real goodness,
the sense they have of the divine perfections makes them think very meanly of any thing they have hitherto attained,
and be still endeavoring to surmount themselves
and make nearer approaches to those infinite excellencies which they admire.

i know not what thought people may have of humility,
but i see almost every person pretending to it and shunning such expressions and actions
as may make them be accounted arrogant and presumptuous,
so that those who are most desirous of praise will be loath to commend themselves.
what are all those compliments and modes of civility so frequent in our ordinary converse,
but so many protestations of the esteem of others and the low thought we have of ourselves
and must not that humility be a noble and excellent endowment when the very shadows of it
are accounted so necessary a part of good breeding?

again, this grace is accompanied with a great deal of happiness and tranquillity.
the proud and arrogant person is a trouble to all that converse with him,
but most of all not himself;
every thing is enough to vex him, but scarce any thing is sufficient to content and please him.
he is ready to quarrel with every thing that falls out, as if he himself were such a considerable person
that God Almighty should do every thing to gratify him
and all the creatures of heaven and earth should wait upon him and obey his will.
the leaves of high trees do shake with every blast of wind
and every breath, every evil word will disquiet and torment an arrogant man;
but the humble person hath the advantage when he is despised,
that none can think more meanly of him than he doth of himself
and therefore he is not troubled at the matter
but can easily bear those reproaches which wound the other to the soul.
and withal, as he is less affected with injuries,
so indeed he is less obnoxious unto them:
contention, which cometh of pride, betrays a man into a thousand inconveniences
which those of a meek and lowly temper seldom meet with.
true and genuine humility begetteth both a veneration and love among all wise and discerning persons;
while pride defeateth its own design
and depriveth a man of that honor it makes him pretend to.

but as the chief exercises of humility are those which relate unto Almighty God,
so these are accompanied with the greatest satisfaction and sweetness.
it is impossible to express the great pleasure and delight which religious persons feel
in the lowest prostration of their souls before god;
when, having a deep sense of the divine majesty and glory,
they sink (if i may so speak) to the bottom of their beings
and vanish and disappear in the presence of God,
by a serious and affectionate acknowledgment of their own nothingness
and the shortness and imperfections of their attainments;
when they understand the full sense and emphasis of the psalmist's exclamations, Lord, what is man?
and can utter it with the same affection.
never did any haughty and ambitious person receive the praises and applause of men with so much pleasure
as the humble and religious do renounce them:
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, etc.

thus have i spoken something of the excellencies and advantage of religion in its several  branches,
but should be very injurious to the subject did i pretend to have given any perfect account of it.
let us acquaint ourselves with it, my dear friend;
let us acquaint ourselves with it and experience will teach us
more than all that ever hath been spoken or written concerning it.
but if we may suppose the soul to be already awakened
unto some longing desires after so great a blessedness,
it will be good to give them vent and suffer them to issue forth in some such aspirations as these:

oh, the happiness of those souls that have broken the fetters of self love
and disentangled their affection from ever narrow and particular good;
whose understandings are enlightened by the Holy Spirit
and their wills enlarged to the extent of Thine;
who love Thee above all things and all mankind for Thy sake!
i am persuaded, O God!
i am persuaded that i can never be happy, till my carnal and corrupt affections be mortified
and the pride and vanity of my spirit be subdued
and till i come seriously to despise the world and think nothing of myself.
but oh, when shall it once be!
Oh, when wilt Thou come unto me and satisfy my soul with Thy likeness,
making me holy as Thou art holy, even in all manner of conversation!
hast Thou given me a prospect of so great a felicity and wilt Thou not bring me unto it?
hast Thou excited these desires in my soul
and wilt Thou not also satisfy them?
Oh, teach me to do Thy will, for Thou are my God;
Thy spirit is good, lead me into the land of uprightness.
quicken me, O Lord, for Thy name's sake
and perfect that which concerneth me.
Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever:;
forsake not the work of Thine own hands.