The Puritans talked a bit about it. Here are a few examples.
2. Study and practice that great Command of Love, as the Lesson of thy whole Life, with which alone thou art to entertain thyself, and all the heavenly Company, both here and in eternity. This is the first and great Command; That thou love God with thy whole self; and then, That thou love thy Neighbor as thyself, which is a second Law, a second Love, like unto the first. Indeed it is so like, that it is one with it. Be thou thyself in thy whole Person, the Sacrifice of a whole Burnt-Offering, ascending in a Sacred flame of heavenly love to God, the only and eternal Beauty. As the zeal of the House of God, which is Love flaming, did eat up David and Christ; so let this heavenly Love of the Divine Beauty, which is the Beauty itself, descending in a pure and sweet flame upon thee, by consuming thee, convert thee into one spiritual flame with itself. Now live thou nowhere, but where thou lovest, in thy Beloved. Let thy Beloved alone now live in thee; when thou hast thus lost thyself by an heavenly Love in thy Beloved, in thy God; when thou hast thus by the Sacred and sweet mystery of this Love found thy Beloved, thy God, in the place of thyself; Then love thy Neighbor as thy self. Love thy Neighbor in thy Jesus, thy God. Love thy Jesus, thy God, in thy Neighbor. Let this Neighbourhood of Divine Love be as large as the God of Love himself is. Let every other Person and Spirit, which lives and moves, and hath its being in God, within the encompassing, upon the Ground and Root of the Divine Being, be thy Neighbor, thy Brother, another self, as thyself to thyself; the Object to thee of an heavenly and incorruptible Love.
Upon this Commandment, saith Jesus Christ, hang all the Law and the Prophets. This Love is the Centre and the Circle of all the Works of God, of all Motions and Rests, of all mysteries in Nature and Grace, in Time and Eternity. Plato saith, That three sorts of Persons are led to God, The Musician by Harmony, the Philosopher by the beam of Truth, the Lover by the light of Beauty. All these Conductors to the supreme Being meet in this Love, of which we speak; the first and only true Beauty, being the first Birth, the first Effulgency, the essential Image of the supreme Goodness, is also the first, the supreme, the only Truth; the Original, the measure, the end of all Truth; which by its amiable attractive Light, conducteth all Understandings in the search of Truth, and giveth them rest only in its transparent and blissful Bosom. This also is the first, the only, the universal Harmony, the Musick of all things in Heaven and on Earth; the Music, in which all things of Earth and of Heaven, meet to make one melodious Consort.
While the holy Lover then pursues the tracts of this Beauty, through all the works and ways of God, he is encompassed with the Light of Divine Truth shining through him, and round about him. He is carried on in the Spirit by the force of the Divine Harmony; He carrieth along this Harmony of things, charming all things round about him, as he passeth on. So he seeth the God of God's at last on Mount Zion, the perfection of Beauty, Harmony, Truth and Goodness, which all Center in the Divine Love, the Divine Unity, the band of perfection.
Peter Sterry – A discourse on the Freedom of the Will
1. Mutual choice, besides the eternal choice, which is not only in Christ as Mediator, but also by Christ as the eternal Son of God; Christ doth in time actually choose some of the children of men, passing by others, without the least respect to any worthiness, or desirable qualification in them, but freely, of his mere grace, to make them his Spouse, and to bring them into the Marriage covenant, and relation to himself; and herein Christ doth begin, he chooseth them first, as he telleth his Disciples, John. 15. 16. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you: and then they make choice of him above all to take him for their Lord and Husband; Christ findeth them deformed, defiled, enslaved, poor, miserable, wretched, very despicable and loathsome by reason of sin; and he maketh choice of them, not because they have any beauty, and suitable qualifications for this match; but that he may put his beauty and comeliness upon them, and endow them himself with such qualifications as may make them meet for his embracements: but in their making choice of Christ, they are drawn to it by the most attractive and powerful motives of the transcendent beauty, and superlative excellency which they see in him beyond all persons and things in the world.
Thomas Vincent – Christ the Best Husband
But 2ly, If this be matter of praise that we may praise; how much more the cause of this days praise, to witthe grand, & stupendous deliverance of this Common-wealth, comprehending three Nations; and all the Churches, and the thousands of the people of God in those Nations. And therefore it is (though I say no more) our justice to praise God; Suum cuique tribuere, to give God his due; whose justice to the weeds, was mercy to the Corn, according to the 5. and 10. verses after my Text in that Psalm, pressing my Text, The Lord loveth righteousness, and judgment; the Lord bringeth the counsel of the Heathen to naught; he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. And of this our justice, in praising God, there is a kind of Comlinesse too. For if of every moral acquired virtue there is a transcendent beauty that would ravish the sons of men if they could visibly behold it: How much more of infused grace (called the divine nature ). So that our duty is like the cause, both being glorious. For our deliverance is like the cloud that was the convoy of Israel in all their deliverances from Egypt to Canaan, viz. Darkness to our enemies, but glorious light to us, if we consider these four Qualifications of it.
Nathanael Homes – A Sermon Preached Before Parliament
Which heretofore they were involved in.
Their wonted paths they willingly forsake,
And in the ways of God much pleasure take.
The signet of the word and heavenly print
Hath stamped on their hearts once Satan's mint.
The spirits gale hath blown upon them, and
Turned their course towards the Holy Land;
Their lives bespangled are with holiness,
His Virtues that hath called them they express,
The rays of Christ's transcendent beauty shine
Upon them, and their hearts to him incline.
Francis Taylor – Grapes from Canaan
2. But especially in the state of Exaltation, his body must needs be fairer then the sons of men: for if the face of Moses did shine so, after he had been with God upon the mount, where nothing but lightening and thundering was to be expected, how must needs the precious body of the Son of God now shine with incomprehensible splendor, being next to God's own right hand in that holy hill above, where there is nothing but light; and bliss, brightness, and blessedness to be enjoyed forever and ever. See Phil. 3.20. How therefore that holy and blessed Apostle calls his body a glorious body, or, a body of his glory, which is more, according to the original, as if he should say, a body all full, or made of glory; and of his glory, which is the glory of the only begotten Son of God, whose bright shining Deity doth so illustrate, clarify, and glorify all his body, as that every part and member of it must needs be infinitely more resplendent and bright then that of the sun, which yet is far more glistering and glorious then the burnished gold of Ophir; And therefore, O my soul, do thou elevate and lift up thyself above thyself, and consider this ravishing and transcendent beauty of thy most dear and glorious Savior, so as that no creature under the sun may be fairer and dearer in thine eyes then he, who is fairer then all.
Christopher Jelinger – The Excellency of Christ
God is worthy of our loves, and we may safely put our trust in his word; which cannot be affirmed of anything below God. Saints may well say and sing of Christ, There is no Beloved like this Beloved! Stand aside Vanity, away with all the gilded glory and pomp of the world; here is a Brightness that outshines it, and a Glory that swallows it up! As the shining of the Sun makes the stars to disappear; so the transcendent Beauty, and the matchless Glory of Jesus Christ, draws a veil upon the splendor of this world! Christ is the Apple-tree among the trees and shrubs of the Forest: Christ must have the preeminence: And what is Heaven but to see and enjoy Christ?
Robert Dingly – Divine Optics
Every true Believer loves holiness for itself, because it is the image of God. And (as Bucer used to say) where there is Aliquid Christi (i. e.) any impression of the image of Christ, there we ought to place our love. Wherefore the Apostle gives a strict Command— Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that ye put on the new man, which after the image of God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Where this image of God is, (which consists in righteousness and true holiness) it is stamped upon the heart, and is visible in the life, and there is such a transcendent beauty, purity, and excellency, and amiableness in all the ways of holiness, as the least glimpse of them are abundantly sufficient to delight, rejoice and ravish the soul of every true believer.
Henry Dean Wilkinson
Than any joy or comfort, Lord I find,
There's nothing in this world gives peace of mind.
In that Celestial place where thou dost dwell,
That place of glory that no tongue can tell,
Nor mortal eye hath seen, nor heart conceive
What's there in store for them that do believe,
There where thy Presence is, there's fullness, store
Of joy and pleasures, now and evermore.
Then, by thy Spirit give me to behold
The Glory of thy Self, to me unfold
That most transcendent Beauty, and that Light,
Where Angels worship thee both day and night;
That though no heart is able to conceive it,
Nor mortal eye perceive the Brightness of it,
John Griffith – Some Prison Meditations
The hope which Jacob had, to enjoy the beautiful Rachel, was a comfortable hope; yet but a shadow of ours; who hope to enjoy the transcendent beauty, of the blessed face of God, in the Kingdom of heaven.
Sir Richard Baker – Meditations & Disquisitions Upon Psalm 1
For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. And when the Saints are in the visions of the glory of God, and sees by faith that invisible glory in the face of Jesus Christ, they can experience this admirable transcendent beauty of Christ, which the Spouse here sings of, and say Amen to it, Thou art fair my Beloved.
Hanserd Knollys – Exposition of Song of Solomon Ch.1
That most transcendent Beauty which we see
With daily admiration in each Tree,
Plant, Herb, Carnation, Lily, Tulip, Rose,
With worlds of other Flowers, which the Nose
Affect with pleasant smells, and beautify
The Earth and Gardens, more than stars the sky,
Shining with rarest Colours of each kind,
So fresh, mixed, sorted, that they rap the Mind
Into amazement; sweetly manifest,
In some dark measure, to each pious Breast,
God's most surpassing Beauty; to whose Light
The Noone-day Suns more dark than any Night.
William Prynne – Mount-Orgueil
There are only three particulars that we shall insist a little upon: First, We shall show you how faith hath influence upon the attaining of Sanctification, and this we make clear unto you in these respects.
1. In that it discovereth to the soul that matchless excellency, that transcendent beauty, and that surpassing comeliness that is in Christ, which sight doth exceedingly persuade the soul to draw that conclusion, What have I to do anymore with idols? A glorious sight of Christ, and acquaintance with him, maketh us lose our acquaintance with our idols, and when once we are united unto Christ by faith, we break that union we had with them.
Andrew Gray – Great & Precious Promises
Then shall he as an Advocate appear
To plead for Saints; and as a Judge to clear
And crown them too, when Soul and Body shall
Be reunited and enriched with all
The wealth of Heaven; O thrice blessed day!
Wherein Christ shall in his most rich array
Appear triumphantly, and shine more bright
Then Midday-Phoebus. O reviving sight!
O what transcendent beauty will adorn
Christ's person at the Resurrections morn!
How glorious will his Throne be! he shall sit
Upon a Throne of Glory for him fit.
Nicolas Billingsley – A Treasury of Divine Raptures
Thus hath she both his worth, and her own right, in him, to consider. Thirdly, His Presence, or her actual Possession, He is come, and is risen; and in these the Church, and each faithful Soul, may find a double Spring of Affection, the one of Love, the other of Joy: The transcendent Beauty of Christ makes him the choicest object of Love, and her Property in him, or Title to him, together with Possession, is the proper Cause of solid Joy:
Robert Leighton – Sermons Preached
So the Spirit of God now sets before the Soul the riches and the greatness, the beauty and the excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ: he tells him, what a full, what a sweet, what a rich, what an amiable one he is, and withal, tenders him to his embraces: he reveals and offers him to him, as one full of Grace and Truth, as one that has all fullness dwelling in him, all fullness of Life and Peace, or Righteousness and Salvation: as one every way able to save him to the very utmost, which is that which Christ calls his convincing the World of Righteousness, John 16.9. he reveals and offers him to him in the transcendent Beauty, Excellency, and Amiableness of his Person on the one hand; as also in the glorious fullness, largeness, & sufficiency of his Grace and Righteousness on the other hand: Thus (I say) he reveals and offers Christ unto the Soul, and withal, opens his Glory, and causes it to shine forth before him; so that now the Soul sees that in Christ, that fullness, that beauty, that love, that amiableness, that sweetness, which he never saw before; Christ is now another thing in the Souls eye than ever before he was: Now the Soul, as those John 1.14. Beholds his glory, as the glory of the only begotten Son, full of grace and truth: Yea, not only does he thus reveal Christ unto the Soul, but withal fixes the Souls eye upon him: He makes him to pore and gaze upon Christ, as the most excellent and amiable Object, and as one infinitely needful for him; and this is called a seeing of the Son, and that in order to believing; whosoever seeth the Son, and believeth on him, shall have everlasting life; Joh. 6.40.
Edward Pearse – The Best Match
The light is a creature of a most resplendent beauty, luster, and glory, it dazzles the eyes of the beholders; and so God is a God of that transcendent beauty, majesty, and glory, that the very eyes of the Angels are dazzled, as not being able to behold the brightness of his glory, Isa. 6.2.
Thomas Brooks – An Ark for All Gods Noah’s
But if you be of God's own make, show me your tokens. 'Tis most apparent that all Beings must be from the chief Being, all Truth from the first Truth, all Goodness from supreme Goodness, all Numbers from perfect Unity, and all Ranks and Orders from infinite Wisdom; and this chief Being, first Truth, supreme Goodness, perfect Unity, and infinite Wisdom can be no other than God alone. But if this satisfy not, you may yet further see God's glorious Immensity in the vast capacious Heavens, his invariable Immobility in the immovable Earth, his Faithfulness in the great Mountains, his unsearchable Judgments in the great Deep, his dreadful Justice in the devouring Fire, his wonderful Omniscience in the Sun the rolling Eye of the World, his transcendent Beauty in the Varnish of the Light; the plain foot-steps of the Eternal Power and Godhead in every Creature, and the glorious impress of his own Image and Likeness in Men and Angels. Thus the very Creatures themselves tell us, that their beginning was from God.
Edward Polhill – The Divine Will Considered in its Eternal Decrees
Are you formed into the Likeness and Image of the Spirit? There is in that Soul that is sealed by the Spirit, a certain Impression of Divine Light; former Darkness flies away, and the Eyes of the Understanding are enlightened, the Soul sees an Excellency in God, and in Jesus Christ, a transcendent Beauty in divine Objects, and values the Knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified, above all the things in this World.
Thomas De Laune – Tropologia
When thou hast thus viewed the goodness of the Lord, and considered of the pleasures that are at his right hand; then proceed on with thy Meditation thus; Think with thyself, Where have I been? what have I seen? O the incomprehensible astonishing Glory! O the rare transcendent beauty! O blessed souls that now enjoy it! that see a thousand times more clearly, what I have seen but darkly at this distance, and scarce discerned through the interposing clouds! What a difference is there betwixt my state and theirs! I am sighing, and they are singing: I am sinning, and they are pleasing God: I have an ulcerated cancrous soul, like the loathsome bodies of Job or Lazarus, a spectacle of pity to those that behold me; But they are perfect and without blemish: I am here entangled in the love of the world, when they are taken up with the love of God:
Richard Baxter – The Saints Everlasting Rest
Consider Christ and the Saints meeting at the judgment day; oh how shall the Saints look, and stare, and gaze at the beauty of Jesus Christ? oh how will they break out into admiration at the first view of those glories which never before appeared on this side Heaven? is not this he (will they say) of whom we read so often, that he was fairer than the sons of men? that he was white, and ruddy, the chiefest of ten thousands; that his countenance was as Lebanon, excellent as the Cedars, glorious as when the Sun shineth in his strength: but was ever the half told us of what now we see, and behold? O the super-excellent, transcendent beauty of this Son of righteousness! O the treasures of loveliness in this Jesus Christ never seen before! And thus as they admire, so they adore; now they begin those Hallelujahs, that never, never shall have end; they fall at the feet of Christ, and the Lord Christ takes them up with his hands, and folds them in his arms; oh what mutual reciprocal salutations are these betwixt Christ and his members? oh my head! and oh my body! oh my husband! and oh my spouse! oh my dear! and oh my darling! never two lovers met with such heat of love, as Christ and his Saints; come, saith Christ, and sit you down here at my right hand, and let the world be on my left hand; it was otherwise with you in your life-time, my gold and my jewels were then cast in the dust; you were then clothed with infamy, and the vilest of men were then guilded with honor; but now I will set all right, now the dust shall be swept away, and the jewels of my Kingdom shall be gathered up; now the Goats shall be driven into the desert, and you who are the Sheep shall be brought into my fold. Oh my soul, what a meeting is this? what a sight will this be, to behold the Saints in this condition, and thyself amongst them? couldst thou but realize this one very passage, it were enough to quench thy lust, and to kindle a flame of pure love in thy heart to Jesus Christ; it is a quickening, rousing, rising, rejoicing, consideration.
Isaac Ambrose – Looking Unto Jesus
Men in the dark cannot discern Colours; so in the state of Nature, they cannot discern between Morality and Grace; they take one for the other, pro dea nubem. 2. In the dark the greatest Beauty is hid. Let there be rare Flowers in the Garden, and Pictures in the Room, yet in the dark their Beauty is veiled over; so, though there be such transcendent Beauty in Christ as amazeth the Angels, a Man in the state of Nature, sees none of this Beauty. What is Christ to him? or Heaven to him? the veil is upon his heart?
Thomas Watson – A Body of Practical Divinity
