. A Heaven Unto Me by Thomas Brooks . That knowledge which accompanies salvation is a heart-affecting knowledge. It affects the heart with Christ and all spiritual things. Oh, it does wonderfully endear Christ and the things of Christ to the soul.

O feed me with your love, Your raisins and your apples, For I am utterly lovesick. Song of Songs 2 5

Oh, says the spouse, my heart is taken with Christ. It is ravished with his love. My soul is burning. My soul is beating towards Christ. Oh, none but Christ, none but Christ. I cannot live in myself. I cannot live in my duties. I cannot live in external privileges. I cannot live in outward mercies. I can live only in Christ, who is my life, my love, my joy, my crown. my all in all.

Oh, the more I come to know Him, in His natures, in His names, in His offices, in His discoveries, in His visits, in His beauties, the more I find my heart and affections to prize Christ, to run after Christ, to be affected with Christ, and to be wonderfully endeared to Christ. Oh God, forbid that my heart should be affected or taken up with anything in comparison with Christ. The more I know Him, the more I love Him. The more I know Him, the more I desire Him. The more I know Him, the more my heart is knit unto Him.

His beauty is captivating. His love is ravishing. His goodness is attracting. His manifestations are enticing. His person is enamoring. His lovely looks please me. His pleasant voice delights me. His precious spirit comforts me. His holy word rules me. All these things make Christ to be a heaven unto me.

Oh, but all that mere notional knowledge, that speculative knowledge, which leaves a man short of salvation, never affects the heart. It never draws it. It never endears the heart to Christ. or to the precious things of Christ. Hence it is that such men, under all their notions, under all their light and knowledge, have no affection to Christ, no delight in Christ, no workings of heart after Christ.

If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. 1 Corinthians 16.22