Claustrum animae, the reformed monastery, or, The love of Jesus a sure and short, pleasant and easie way to Heaven in meditations, directions, and resolutions to love and obey Jesus unto death : in two parts.

§. 20. Of the love of God.

Now as all sins and miseries pro∣ceed from a misplaced love; so all vertues and felicities are the product of love well-guided, and plac'd on the right object; this is as beneficial and advantageous, as the other is pernicious: that is, (as S. Augustine saith) that as self-love is the root of all evil, so the love of God, is the root of all good, the stock whence all vertues do grow. The excellency of Divine Love is so great, so transcendent, that it alone is accepted on its own account, and all other things for its sake; a faith strong enough to work miracles, alms the most expensive, and even the flames of Martyrdom profit no∣thing without love, as S. Paul teacheth; love it is that makes all good works meritorious in the best sense; love it is that gives a value to all other ver∣tues;

or rather, it is love that pro∣duceth all good works and vertues, as they are so indeed. Love is the discharge of our whole duty, the ful∣filling of the law, saith S. Paul; love is that grace which renews and sancti∣fies our natures and abides for ever; it is the greatest, the most excellent gift of God; it is even the Divine Spirit, who unites all things within the bonds of love and unity, saith S. Augustine, and with whom all good things are ever given. Divines teach that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son, by way of love; wherefore he is call'd, nexus amoris quo conjungitur Pater cum Filio, & Filius cum Patre; that is, in the Language of the Church, that in the Unity of the same Spirit the Father and the Son live and reign evermore; or, as S. Augustine expres∣seth it, the love where∣with the Father and the Son love mutually is the Holy Spirit, and represents best the Mystery of their Incomprehensible Union.

Now that Divine Spirit, which is the eternal love of God to himself, is given to us, in the grace of love or charity (which are one and the same) whereby we are all joyn'd to∣gether into one body, and all united to God; therefore in our holding Communion with the Church, we are commanded to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; and we are taught, that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given to us; and that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost are all one: so that to come to the highest pitch, and finish the elo∣gium of love, we may say with S. John, that God is love, and then we have said all. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him, that is, God is an abyss of love and goodness; by love he gives himself to us, and by love we give up our selves to him, and are transformed into him. Wonder not therefore, if the effects of love are so glorious and wonderful, when it

proceeds immediately from God, and is the communication of himself to us; when it is the grace of Jesus Christ, and the most precious gift of the Divine Spirit; when it is the Sanctification of our natures, and the bettering and perfecting of the no∣blest of humane affections, natural love, that powerful passion where∣by all things and all men are go∣vern'd.

Notes

• Sicut radix omnium malorum est cupiditas: ita radix omnium bonorum est charitas. Serm. de Charit.
• Sine charitate fides potest esse; sed non pro∣desse. Aug. 1 Cor. 13.
• Rom. 13.10
• Ʋnitas Spiritus continet omnia. Serm. Pent.

  Donum est Spiritus San∣ctus in quo nobis omnia bo∣na dantur.
• Charitas qua pa••er di∣ligit filium & filius pa∣trem, quae est Spiritus Sanctus, ineffabilem com∣munionem amborum de∣monstrat. De Trin. l. 15.
• Ephes. 4.3.
• Rom. 5.5.
• 2 Cor. 13.14.
• 1 Joh. 4.16.
• Deus chari, tas est; brevis laus sed ma∣••na laus: brevis in sermone & magna in iatellectu, &c. Aug. Tract. 9. in Ep. Johan.