The Life of God in the Soul of Man by Henry Scougal

divine lover hath unspeakably the advantage, having
placed his affection on him whose nature is love, whose
goodness is as infinite as his being, whose mercy
prevented us when we were his enemies, therefore
cannot choose but embrace us when we are become his
friends. It is utterly impossible that God should deny his
love to a soul wholly devoted to him, and which desires
nothing so much as to serve and please him; he cannot
disdain his own image, nor the heart in which it is
engraven. Love is all the tribute which we can pay him,
and it is the sacrifice which he will not despise.
Another thing which disturbs the pleasure of love, and
renders it a miserable and unquiet passion, is absence
and separation from those we love. It is not without a
sensible affliction that friends do part, though for some
little time: it is sad to be deprived of that society which
is so delightful; our life becomes tedious, being spent in
an impatient expectation of the happy hour wherein we
may meet again: but if death has made the separation, as
some time or other it must, this occasions a grief scarce
to be paralleled by all the misfortunes of human life,
and wherein we may pay dear enough for the comforts of
our friendship. But O how happy are those who have
placed their love on him who can never be absent from
them! They need but open their eyes, and they shall
every where behold the traces of his presence and glory,
and converse with him whom their soul loves; and this
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