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

suffer in his own nature he assumed ours. The eternal
Son of God did clothe himself with the infirmities of our
flesh, and left the company of those innocent and
blessed spirits who knew well how to love and adore
him, that he might dwell among men, and wrestle with
the obstinacy of that rebellious race, to reduce them to
their allegiance and felicity, and then to offer himself up
as a sacrifice and propitiation for them. I remember one
of the poets hath an ingenious fancy to express the
passion wherewith he found himself overcome after a
long resistance: that the god of love had shot all his
golden arrows at him, but could never pierce his heart,
till at length he put himself into the bow, and darted
himself straight into his breast. Methinks this doth
some way adumbrate God's method of dealing with men.
He had long contended with a stubborn world, and
thrown down many a blessing upon them; and when all
his other gifts could not prevail, he at last made a gift of
himself, to testify his affection and engage theirs. The
account which we have of our Savior's life in the gospel,
doth all along present us with the story of his love: all
the pains that he took, and the troubles that he endured,
were the wonderful effects and uncontrollable evidences
of it. But, O that last, that dismal scene! Is it possible to
remember it, and question his kindness, or deny him
ours? Here, here it is, my dear friend, that we should fix
our most serious and solemn thoughts, "that Christ may
dwell in our hearts by faith; that we, being rooted and
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