Fragment on ‘Love’

Summary

To Speak fully and distinctly concerning Lov is impossible. As it is more Sweet in it self then in all other Sweetness which is included in its Gifts, more rich then all its Riches, more highly honorable then all the Honors it can confer; so is it more full of Perfections then all its Works, and infinitly exceedeth theirs in its nativ Excellencies. Four Cares and concerns it has, which abov all other I shall chuse to speak of: all which it secures with infinit Ease in one Operation. It Beautifies it self, bec. it desires to be acceptable to its Beloved. It desires all manner of Perfection and Beauty in its Beloved. It delights in magnifying the felicity of its object, and endeavors after an infinit Nearness and Communion with it. for what is infinitly Beautifull it infinitly desires to enjoy, and aspires to an infinit Union with that of which it infinitly desires to be enjoyed. Infinitly desiring to be enjoyed, its prime Work is to make it self infinitly Glorious with all Kinds of Ornaments and Beauties, Interior Properties and Exterior Circumstances conspiring to make it honorable and delightfull; it is extremely copious in multiplying these, and accurate in compleating them, that its Ambition might be satisfied in being pleasing to its Beloved. God loves him self, and that he might be pleasing to him self is his Supreme Desire. And bec: he loves him self with an infinit Love, must of necessity be an Object of infinit excellence; that in Merit and delight he might answer the Lov wherwith he is beloved. Loving him self, it is both ways necessary that he should be infinitly Excellent, [1. that he should be infinitly amiable to him self as the Lover [2. that he should be infinitly compleat and Lovly as the Beloved. For a Lover to be infinitly amiable to his Object is desirable, bec. he desires to be beloved; That is the 1. Point.