CHAP. XI. To love God above all things is not vouchsaved to all Beloved ones in the same Measure or Degree.

TO love God above all things is to love him Savingly, now forasmuch as e∣ven in Saving Love, there be higher and lower, greater and less degrees, it will not be in vain or unprofitable, to make men∣tion of the said difference or diversity. There are some in this Love of God a∣bove all things, that are called Incipientes i.e. Beginners; others Proficientes Profici∣ents, or goers forward, and some again, Perfecti, that are arrived to the Perfection of it. Of which three sorts, the first love God least, the second more, the third or last, most of all; yet all of them Love, him above all things; for did they love any thing more than God, or equal with him, their Love would rather be Ha∣tred of God, because therein they do not render him his true and due Honour, as, Gods Love saith. Men indeed may build Straw, Hay and Wood, Gold, Silver and Pretious Stones upon the Rock; but for Page  98all that the Foundation doth not suffer it self to be shaken or removed. Christ must still be Christ, and God must be be∣loved as God, that is above all things, this is the true Foundation of all Love, and good Desires, and this is common to all true Lovers of what rank soever. But the Reason of the diversity of some lo∣ving more, some less, some in a higher, and others in a lower degree, is this, be∣cause Gods kind and amiable Manifestati∣on of himself, doth not act necessarily like Nature, according to its utmost Pow∣er and Ability, but more or less, as the Holy Ghost pleaseth, and how, and when, he pleaseth. Therefore to Love God a∣bove all things, is not only Free Grace, but every degree of Love is so likewise.