When men look into themselves, and behold the meanness that is found there, the fitting state of mind is, first, humility; but soon the sense of their very weakness begets in them charity and compassion towards others, while the sense also of a certain human dignity raises within them feelings of love towards the author of their being.

The treatise _De Amore Dei_ sets forth the nature of this love, which is the highest exercise of human powers.

Its fundamental characteristic is its disinterestedness.

It has its reward, but from meriting, not from seeking.

It is purely voluntary, and, as a free sentiment, necessarily unbought; it has God for its single object, and would not be love to God, if he were loved for the sake of something else.
He distinguishes various degrees of love.