The divine love makes us partake of an infinite happiness.
10. 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 be the object of our love, we share in an infinite happiness. We rejoice to behold the glory of God, and receive comfort and pleasure from all the praises wherewith men and angels extol him. It delights us beyond 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 whatever pleaseth him.
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 sole desire is, that his Maker should be pleased! O the peace, the rest, the satisfaction, that attendeth such a temper of mind!
He that loveth God finds sweetness in every dispensation.
11. 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 is, till it give itself up unto the author of its being, and feel itself become a devoted thing; and can say, from an inward sense and feeling, My Beloved is mine, 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, finds pleasure in all the dispensations of providence: temporal enjoyments have another relish, when he tastes the divine goodness in them, and considers them as tokens of love sent by his dearest Lord and Maker: and chastisements hereby lose their sting; the rod, as well as the staff, comfort him: he rejoices, that though God does not the will of such a worthless creature as himself, yet he accomplishes his own designs; which are infinitely more holy and wise.
The duties of religion are delightful to him.
12. The exercises of religion, which to others are insipid, yield the highest pleasure to souls 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[¹]. They never think themselves so happy, as when, having retired from the world, they have placed themselves in the presence of God, and entertain communion with him: they delight to adore his perfections, and recount his favours; 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 disburthen 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 accompanies those tears of remorse, those meltings of a soul returning unto God, and lamenting its former unkindness.
[¹] Psalms lxiii. 2.
13. The severities of a holy life, and that constant watch which we are obliged to keep over our hearts and ways, are troublesome to those who are only ruled by an external law, and have no law in their minds inclining them to their duty. But where divine love possesseth the soul, it stands as centinel to keep out every thing that may offend the Beloved. It complieth chearfully, 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 delightful things.
The excellency of charity.