may be apt to think our Condition is moft fad and miferable. The more we endure here with Submiffion to God, the more Satisfaction we shall find in the Thoughts of Heaven; the more we fhall rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God, the more will our Refreshments and Joyes be multiplied, and the more will the most excellent Graces and Fruits of the Spirit be increafed, even as the Seed of Abraham was, in the Time of their Affliction. By continuing patiently in well-doing, we fhall feel our Hearts filled with Joy unfpeakable and full of Glory. And for that End,

VIII.

We must live in the Exercife of Divine Love, which is the proper Work of that Faith I have now fpoken of. Let us but love God with all our Hearts, and with all our Souls, and all our Strength, and then we shall not eafily be difcontented with any Thing that he doth. And is there not great Reafon that we fhould love him moft paffionately, when we confider what he hath done, and what he hath promised farther to do for us? Need I ftay to perfwade you to enlarge your Hearts in the greatest Affection to his divine. Goodness? Your own Minds will inftruct you and excite you to it, if you will but give them leave to reflect, how deeply you are indebted to him, and how amiable he is, and how defirable

defirable it is to be ftill more beloved by him. Let us proceed then to confider, how this Love of God, will charm all our unquiet and troublesome Paffions, and put our Souls into the sweetest and most pleafing Humour. For (1.) When our Heart is thus full of him, there can be but little Room (as I have formerly faid) for any Thing else. Some troublesome Thoughts may enter in, but they cannot dwell there; for the Love of God poffeffing the Heart, will thrust them out again. And (2dly.) The Love likewife, which we feel towards him, is very powerful to beget a Perfwafion in us that he loves us fo intirely, as to take a Complacency and Delight in us. For our Love is the Product of his and nothing is more comfortable, than to think that God loves us. Love alfo, (3dly.) Is apt to make us well pleafed with all that they do, to whom we bear an hearty Affection. We take nothing ill at their Hands. We think they mean well, especially if we be fatisfied of their Wisdom and Judgment, as well as their kind Inclinations towards us. It pleases us that they should please themselves. And therefore if we love God, it will bring forth the fame Satisfaction in all his Providences. We fhall love them, because we love him, and believe that he loveth us. Nay we find. (4thly.) That we can be content voluntarily to difplease our felves, I mean, to fuffer many Things which otherwise we should avoid, for the lake of one, that we love. And therefore

therefore how can the Love of God fail to reconcile us to that which he orders, by his excellent Will? Though we he not pleased with the Thing it felf, yet for Love's fake we shall be pleased. And indeed, (5thly.) The Love of God, is directly oppofite to all inordinate Selflove, which is the Root of all Difcontents: and therefore this divine Love muft needs be the Root of true Satisfaction. Contentment is a Stability of the Soul, whereby it ftands in one Temper. It is a pious Indifference, a ftedfaft Unconcernedness in all Things, compared with God's Love and Favour. And how is that to be had, but only by fuch a strong Love to him, as conquers the Love of our felves, and Other Things? As long as that inordinate Love of our felves reigns, it carries us Headlong to every Thing, that is pleafing to any of our carnal Appetites. It makes us range up and down the World, in Purfuit of every Thing, to which we have a Fancy. It makes us vex, if we be croffed: And fets us in a restless Motion, without any Poffibility of ever fixing our felves. And therefore till it be vanquished, we are not like to find Contentment. Now the Love of God being of the quite contrary Nature, poffeffes us of this Happiness. For it concenters, and unites all our roveing Thoughts and Affections in one great Good; which we may always have, and which we may alwayes have Satisfaction in. It carries our Souls continually above. It fets us

out

out of the Reach of thefe worldly Things because it raises us beyond our felves, and makes us touch and feel him that is infinitely better: Who alfo rules and disposes of all thofe Things according to that excellent Goodness, which we feel to be in his moft bleffed Nature. Let us love him therefore, as much as we can: And the more we grow in this Love to him, the more we fhall be pleafed; because every Thing will provoke us to love him.

And if to this Love of God we add, that which is the natural Confequence of it, a great Love to all Mankind, yea, to all God's Creatures, we fhall ftill be the better fatisfied: For that which is prejudicial to our worldly Intereft, may be very beneficial to others. When we fuffer in our private Concerns, the general Good may thereby be promoted; and in this (as the very Heathens confidered) we may find fome Contentment. Oues τὸ ἑκάς καταθύμιον, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ

Ennead. 2. Lib. 9. Cap. 9.

nav de Brinev, as Plotinus speaks: For we ought not to have refpect merely to that which is agreeable to our particular Defires; but to the whole Univerfe, of which we are but a little Portion. The Order of all Ages, faith St. Auguftine, is juft like a fit Song, compofed by God ex quibufdam quafi antithetis, of certain oppofite and contrary Notes; which fkilfully mixed together make up a rare Harmo ny and melodious Concord. Which is the

very Doctrine of Solomon, who, in his Wifdom hath preached the fame Leffon; when he faith, Ecclef. vii. 14. In the Day of Profperity be joyful, but in the Day of Adverfity confider; God alfo bath fet the one over against the other, to the end that Man fhould find nothing after him, i. e. After God had fo difpofed Things in fuch Viciffitudes, no Man fhould be able to alter this Order. And thus Arnobius argues rarely well against the Heathens; You find fault, faith he, with feveral Things Gentes. Lib.i.advi ás Evil, which to the World perhaps are not Evil. But you meafuring all Things by your own particular Convenience and Profit, blame the Events of Nature, and charge them with your falfe and wicked Opinions. It doth not rain perhaps, and there is Scarcity of Corn: What then? Muft every Thing needs ferve thee so far, as to take care that thou mayst live in perpetual Delicacy? What if a Man that is defirous to put forth to Sea should complain, that the Winds have not blown a long time; fhall we fay therefore that a Calm is bad for the World? And what if a Man that is wont to dry and harden his Body in the Sun, fhould find fault because it doth not thine; fhall we fay that cloudy Weather is deftructive? O Men! know that thefe Events are not to be weighed commodulis noftris, by our trifling Emoluments and Gains, but by the general Reafons of Things, and the Orders of Nature. And if any Thing happen, which dotli not favour us and our Defigns, muft it therefore be Ꮓ presently