Rouse thyself, O faithful soul, and love thou Him who is the Highest Good, in whom is every good thing, and without whom there is nothing truly good. No created thing can really satisfy our souls’ desires, for no creature possesses all of perfect good in itself, but only that good in which it participates. A rivulet of goodness from the divine fountain may flow down to it from above, but the fountain itself always remains in God. Why then should we desire to leave the fountain and follow the rivulet? Every manifestation of good in the creature is but an image of the perfect goodness which is in God, nay, which is God Himself. Why then should we desire to leave the reality to grasp the image? The dove sent out from Noah’s ark could not find, amid the raging waters, a place of rest for her feet (Gen. viii. 8). Thus our souls, amid the vast multitude of earthly comforts, can find nothing to satisfy fully their immortal desires, because these things are so very frail and fleeting in character. Does not that man do himself injury who loves anything beneath the dignity of his nature? Our souls are far more noble than any created thing because redeemed by the passion and death of God. Why then should we stoop to love the creature? Would not that be inconsistent with the dignity to which God has exalted the human soul? Whatever we love, we love because of its power, its wisdom, or its beauty. Now what is more powerful, what is wiser, what is more beautiful, than God? All the power of earthly monarchs is from Him and is subject to Him; all human wisdom, compared with the divine, is foolishness; all creature beauty in comparison with God’s is absolute deformity. (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – IX: Loving God Alone, Repristination Press, p. 49-50)

What if my sins accuse me; in this Intercessor do I trust; greater is He who is for me than my sins that are against me. What if my very weakness terrifies me; in His strength do I glory. What if Satan accuses me, if only this Mediator shall pardon me. What if the heavens and the earth accuse me and mine iniquities declare my guilt; yet it is enough for me that the Creator of the heavens and of the earth and He who is righteousness itself pleads my cause for me. It suffices for me to have Him propitious to me. His merit, because mine will not suffice, suffices enough for me, and the satisfaction of the Beloved One, the Creator of the believers, suffices for me. If I were not so ardently burdened with sin, I should not so ardently desire His righteousness: if I were not sick, I would not call in the aid of the physician. He Himself is my Physician (Matt. ix. 12); He Himself is my Saviour (Matt. i. 21); He Himself is my Righteousness (1 Cor. i. 30). He cannot deny Himself, since I am spiritually sick, I am condemned; I am a sinner, I cannot deny myself. Have mercy upon me, O Thou my blessed Physician, my Saviour, my Righteousness. Amen!  (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – VIII: The Certainty of Our Salvation, Repristination Press, p. 47-48)

Inexpressibly great was the price of our redemption (1 Peter i. 18); great and marvelous, then, is the mercy of God in our redemption. It would almost seem to one as if God loves His elect children as dearly as He loves His only-begotten Son; for what we obtain by purchase we certainly esteem of greater value than that which we give in exchange for it. And that He might have adopted sons, God did not spare His own co-essential Son. What marvel then, that He should have prepared mansions (John xiv. 2) in His heavenly home for us, since He has given His own Son, in whom is all the fulness of the Godhead (Col. ii. 9). Certainly where the fulness of the Godhead is, there is likewise the fulness of eternal life and glory. And if in Christ He hath given the fulness of eternal life, how will He deny us a little particle of it? Truly God has greatly loved us, His adopted sons, since for us He gave His only-begotten Son. Truly the Son has greatly loved us, since for us He gave Himself. To make us rich, He took upon Himself the direst poverty; for He had not where to lay His head (Matt. viii. 20). That He might make us the sons of God, He became a man; and the work of redemption being finished, He does not now neglect us, but sitting at the right hand of the Divine Majesty, He there maketh intercession for us (Rom. viii. 34). What that is necessary to my salvation will He not accomplish for me, since He hath devoted Himself to the work of my eternal salvation? What will the Father deny the Son, who became obedient to Him unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. ii. 8)? What will the Father deny the Son, since He hath already accepted the ransom offered by the Son?  (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – VIII: The Certainty of Our Salvation, Repristination Press, p. 46-47)