The True Christians T est, Part 2 · Meditation 47
MEDITAT. XLVII. A Further Motive to the Love of God.
TO this conſideration might well be added, That the Lover of God in gaining God▪ gains all other things▪ Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia. All things are yours, ſays the Apoſtle, to the Lovers of God; and all other things ſhall be added to you, ſays Chriſt, to the ſeekers of the Kingdom of God. Love God, and you gain all other things in him and with him. It was a generous Speech of the Roman General, when they offered him great Treaſures to be Friends with him? I matter not your gifts (ſaid he,) I had rather command a People, that have all thoſe Riches, than have them my ſelf. If it ſhould be ſuppos'd, That a Man ſhould enjoy God, and nothing of the World with him, yet it were a more excellent and happy condition to enjoy him, who hath and indeed is All things, than to enjoy all other things without him. The Lovers of God are ſure of enjoying other things with him; the things even of this World ſhall be added to them, ſo far as is convenient for them. However, though they ſhould live and die as Poor as Job, when he was at the pooreſt; and as forlorn as Lazarus, yet they enjoy all things in God: For whatever is truly ſweet, pleaſant, lovely, beautiful in the whole Creation, is more excellently enjoy'd in God, than as it lies ſcatter'd up and down amongſt the Creatures. Duleius (yea and Plenius too) ex ipſo forte libuntur aquae. The witty conceit of the Rabbins concerning their Manna, that it taſted that to every particular Palate, which he deſired to eat; and ſo the Fathers that fed upon it, eat as many ſorts of Meat as they deſir'd out of the ſame Diſh (the more ſhame for them then to Luſt after Quails.) This conceit … ſay, will a little illuſtrate that great Truth of a compendious enjoyment of all things in God: In him alone the deliciouſneſs of the whole Creation is enjoy'd and re…ſht all at once; and ſo the Apoſtles Riddle is intellig…ly interpreted, That the Lovers of God, though they have nothing, yet poſſeſs all things.
But this is onelyonly by the by. I paſs to a further Motive to the Love of God. If we do not Love him, we ſhall not, we cannot Live with him. Surely to Live with God and abide with him for ever, muſt needs be accounted the happieſt State that man is capable of; and moſt men (at leaſt when they ſee they muſt Live here no longer) do profeſs to deſire it: And thoſe few, that do not deſire it, yet are afraid of the contrary; even theſe dread the Sentence of Depart from me ye Curſed. S…re there is no man ſo profligate, that can firmly believe and ſteadily think of an eternal ſeparation and excluſion from the beautiful preſence of God, but would ten thouſand times rather wiſh to be quite unmade, than be made ſo miſerable. But ſo miſerable muſt all the Lovers of the World, all the Haters of the Father be. There are many Manſions in our Fathers Houſe indeed, but they are only prepared for them of the Houſhold: The Sons of the Bond-women muſt be caſt out, be there never ſo much Room in the Houſe to hold them: Theſe Children of Whoredom, this ſpurious off-ſpring of Chriſtian mamoniſts are hateful and muſt be caſt forth, not by their Brethren as Jephthah was, but by that God of whom they falſly ſay, That he is their Father. Ye hated me and caſt me out, Jephthah ſaid: Ye hated me and therefore I will caſt you out will God ſay; to them that once ſaid, Depart from us, we deſire not the knowledge of thy ways, will he ſay, Depart from me, I know you not: But to the Lovers of the Father, will the Son ſay, Come ye beloved of the Father, inherit the Kingdom. Th…ſe ſhall for ever abide and dwell with him whom their Soul loved; as they ſought him earneſtly, they ſhall find him certainly, and having found him, enjoy him everlaſtingly. They ſhall not come and ſee where Jeſus dwells, and abide with him a day, as the two Diſciples did of old, but for evermore. For ſo it is his gracious Pleaſure, that where he is, there they ſhould be alſo.