this praising and blessing of God
becomes nothing less than a continual ecstasy for both soul and
creature, and, indeed, because of this and by means of this burning
appreciation of God's works, both soul and creature find their
sweetest consolations as they wait to be taken to a holier world.

When they both bless God with the fire of their love for every tender
thing that He has made, then their days become to them one long
delight.

This blessing of God and His works is not just a blessing with lips,
but feels this way. The words being said by the heart, a burning
spark of enthusiasm is immediately kindled there, which spark sets
light to a spark in the soul; and this invisible fire joining another
Invisible Fire, instantly in immense exaltation we enter the joys of
God. But because of our flesh we cannot stay but only enter and
come back.

We are made to love and adore God, but the mode of entry into this
is not by beseeching God to come down and love us, but by constant
endeavour to enter up into _His_ estate, to offer _Him_ love: this
enthusiasm for God brings about a mysterious accomplishment of all
needs, desires, joys.

We are made to love and adore God, and because of this without
Him we are an Emptiness, a Great Want. Such is the lovely and
perfect reciprocity of love that as this Great Want we are the
pleasure and the joy of the All-Giving God. And He is the
All-Giving that He may rejoice and fill our extremity of Want. So we
are each to each that which each most desires. This is Divine Love.

Do not let us imagine that by making very much of earthly loves we
shall by that obtain the heavenly: on the contrary, love of creatures,
and too much turning to and thinking of and depending upon
creatures, is a sure manner of hindering us _till_ we have learnt to
unite with Divine Love. This love for creatures is often for the heart
and soul what treacle is to the wings of a fly! Do not be content with
creatures, but seek beyond the creaturely for the heavenly.

This is not to say that we are not to love our fellow-creatures, attend
to them, wait upon them, bear with them, and work for them; but
whilst doing all these we are not to make them the object of our life:
we are not to think that by merely running about amongst creatures
frenzied with plans for their social improvement and comfort the
nearer we are necessarily getting to God, or even truly pleasing Him.
All these multiplicities of frenzied interest