“Grace is a spiritual inward thing, an holy Seed, sown by God, springing up in the heart. People have got a notion of grace, but know not the thing. Do not thou matter the notion, but feel the thing; and know thy heart more and more ploughed up by the Lord, that his Seed’s grace may grow up in thee more and more, and thou mayest daily feel thy heart as a garden, more and more enclosed, watered, dressed, and delighted in by him.”
Isaac Pennington (1616-1679)
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Re: “feel thy heart as a garden”
It is one of the central emphases of Protestantism: the covenant written on our hearts, the knowing of God by the inward way. It is found in writings of Luther and Calvin as well as in those of Wesley.
One of the best books I have read (and reread) this year, for many years, perhaps, is Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition by Robert Pogue Harrison. Gardens are made by Care. Harrison is a literary critic and draws from his readings of many works, including the Bible in unique ways.
Surely the Protestant heart is a work of Care, or as Pennington named it, Grace.