Part 70

*Oh! Sir, would you know the blessing of all blessings, it is the _God of love_ dwelling in your soul, and killing every root of bitterness which is the pain and torment of every earthly love. For all wants are satisfied, all disorders are removed, no life is any longer a burden, every day is a day of peace, every thing you meet becomes a help to you, because every thing you see or do is all done in sweet, gentle love. For as love has no by-ends, wills nothing but its own increase, so every thing is as oil to its flame; it must have that which it wills, and cannot be disappointed, because every thing naturally helps it to live in its own way. The spirit of love does not want to be honoured, or esteemed; its only desire is to propagate itself, and become the blessing and happiness of every thing that wants it. And therefore it meets wrath, and evil, and hatred, and opposition, with the same _one will_, as the light meets the darkness, only to overcome it with all its blessings. Did you want to avoid the ill-will, or to gain the favour of any persons, you might easily miss of your ends; but if you have no will but to all goodness, every thing you meet must be assistant to you. For the wrath of an enemy, the treachery of a friend, and every other evil, only helps the spirit of love to be more triumphant, to find all its blessings in a higher degree. Whether therefore you consider _perfection_ or _happiness_, it is all included in the spirit of love, and must be so, because the infinitely perfect and happy God is mere love, an unchangeable will to all goodness: and therefore every creature must be corrupt and unhappy, so far as it is led by any other will. Thus you see the ground of the spirit of love. Let me now, shew you the necessity of it: no creature can have any union or communion with the Deity, but so far as its life is a spirit of love. This is the one band of union betwixt God and the creature. All besides this, call it by what name you will, is only so much error and corruption got into the creature; and must be entirely separated from it, before it can see God, or find the divine life. For as God is an _immutable will_ to all goodness, so the divine will can unite with no creatures will, but that which willeth with him that which is good. Here the necessity is absolute; nothing will do instead of this will; all contrivances of holiness, all forms of religious piety, signify nothing without this will to all goodness. For as the will to all goodness is the _whole nature_ of God, so it must be the _whole nature_ of every service, that can be acceptable to him. And therefore every thing that followeth our _own will_, forsaketh the _one will_ to all goodness. The necessity therefore of _the spirit of love_, is what God cannot dispense with in the creature, no more than he can deny himself, or act contrary to his own holy being. But as it was his _will to all goodness_, that brought forth angels, and the spirits of men, so he can will nothing in their existence, but that they should live and work, and manifest that same spirit of love and goodness which brought them into being. Every thing therefore, but the _will_ to goodness, is some degree of _apostasy_, yea, rebellion against the _whole nature_ of God.