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fuch a Joy to Jacob to fee the Face of Joseph in Egypt? and fhall we be contented without the Sight of Christ in Glory, and yet fay we love him? I dare not conclude, that we have no Love at all, when we are fo loth to die; but I dare fay, were our Love more, we fhould die more willingly. If this holy Flame were thoroughly kindled in our Breafts, we fhould cry out with David, As the Hart panteth after the WaterBrooks, fo panteth my Soul after thee, O God. My Soul thirfteth for God, for the living God; when fhall I come and appear before God?By our Unwillingness to die, it appears we are little weary of Sin. Did we take Sin for the greatest Evil, we fhould not be willing to have its Company fo long. "O foolifh finful Heart! "Haft thou been fo long a Cage of all unclean Lufts, "a Fountain inceffantly ftreaming forth the bitter "Waters of Tranfgreffion, and art thou not yet "weary? Wretched Soul! Haft thou been fo long "wounded in all thy Faculties, fo grievoufly lan"guishing in all thy Performances, fo fruitful a Soil "of all Iniquities, and art thou not yet more weary? "Wouldst thou ftill lie under thy Imperfections? "Hath thy Sin proved fo profitable a Commodity, "fo neceffary a Companion, fuch a delightful Em"ployment, that thou doft fo much dread the part

ing Day? May not God juftly grant thee thy "Wishes, and feal thee a Leafe of thy defired Dif "tance from Him, and nail thy Ears to these Doors of "Mifery, and exclude thee eternally from His "Glory?"It fhews that we are infenfible of the Vanity of the Creature, when we are fo loth to hear or think of a Removal. "Ah foolish wretched Soul! "Doth every Prifoner groan for Freedom? and every "Slave defire his Jubilee? and every fick Man long

for Health? and every hungry Man for Food? and ❝doft thou alone abhor Deliverance? Doth the Sailor

"wish to see the Land? Doth the Husbandman defire "the Harvest, and the Labourer to receive his Pay? "Doth the Traveller long to be at Home, and the "Racer to win the Prize, and the Soldier to win the "Field? And art thou loth to fee thy Labours "finished, and to receive the End of thy Faith and "Sufferings? Have thy Griefs been only Dreams?. "If they were, yet methinks thou fhouldft not be "afraid of waking. Or is it not rather the World's "Delights that are all mere Dreams and Shadows? "Or is the World become of late more kind? We may, at our Peril, reconcile ourselves to the World, "but it will never reconcile itself to us. O unworthy "Soul! who hadft rather dwell in this Land of Dark"nefs, and wander in this barren Wilderness, than "be at Reft with Jefus Chrift! who hadft rather stay "among the Wolves, and daily fuffer the Scorpion's "Stings, than praife the Lord with the Hoft of "Heaven!"

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§ 20. THIS Unwillingness to die, doth actually impeach us of High Treafon against the Lord. Is it not a chufing of Earth before Him, and taking present Things for our Happiness, and confequently making them our very God? If we did indeed make God our End, our Reft, our Portion, our Treafure, how is it poffible but we should defire to enjoy him?- -It moreover

difcovers fome Diffimulation. Would you have any Man believe you, when you call the Lord your only Hope, and fpeak of Chrift as All in All, and of the Joy that is in his Prefence, and yet would endure the hardeft Life, rather than die, and enter into his Prefence? What Self Contradiction is this, to talk fo hardly of the World, and the Flefh, to groan and complain of Sin and Suffering; and yet fear no Day more than that, which we expect fhould bring our final Freedom? What Hypocrify is this, to profefs to

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ftrive and fight for Heaven, which we are loth to come to; and spend one Hour after another in Prayer, for that which we would not have?. -Hereby we wrong the Lord and his Promifes, and difgrace his Ways in the. Eyes of the World. As if we would perfuade them to question, whether God be true to his Word or no? Whether there be any fuch Glory as the Scripture mentions? When they see those fo loth to leave their Hold of prefent Things, who have profeffed to live by Faith, and have boafted of their Hopes in another World, and fpoken difgracefully of all Things below in Comparison of Things above; how doth this con. firm the World in their Unbelief and Senfuality? "Sure," fay they, "if thefe Profeffors did expect fo "much Glory, and make fo light of the World as "they feem, they would not themselves be fo loth to

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change." O how are we ever able to repair the Wrong which we do to God and Souls by this Scandal? And what an Honour to God, what a Strengthening to Believers, what a Conviction to Unbelievers, would it be, if Chriftians in this did answer their Profeffions, and chearfully welcome the News of Reft? -It alfo evidently hows, that we have spent much Time to little Purpose. Have we not had all our LifeTime to prepare to die? So many Years to make ready for one Hour, and are we fo unready and unwilling yet? What have we done? Why have we lived? Had we any greater Matters to mind? Would we have wished for more frequent Warnings? How oft hath Death entered the Habitations of our Neighbours? How oft hath it knocked at our own Doors? How many Diftempers have vexed our Bodies, that we have been forced to receive the Sentence of Death? And are we unready and unwilling after all this? O carelefs, dead-hearted Sinners! unworthy Neglecters of God's Warnings! faithlefs Betrayers of our own Souls!

$21.

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$21. Confider, Not to die, is, Never to be happy. To efcape Death, is, to mifs of Bleffednefs; except God fhould tranflate us, as Enoch and Elijah; which he never did before, or fince. If in this Life only we have Hope in Chrift, we are of all Men mift miferable. If you would not die, and go to Heaven, what would you have more than an Epicure, or a Beaft? Why do we pray, and faft, and mourn? Why do we fuffer the Contempt of the World? Why are we Chriftians, and not Pagans and Infidels; if we do not defire a Life to come? Wouldft thou lofe thy Faith and Labour, Chriftian, all thy Duties and Sufferings, all the End of thy Life, and all the Blood of Chrift, and be contented with the Portion of a Worldling or a Brute? Rather fay, as one did on his Death-Bed, when he was asked whether he was willing to die or no, "Let "him be loth to die, who is loth to be with Chrift."

Is God willing by Death to glorify us, and are we unwilling to die, that we may be glorified? Methinks, if a Prince were willing to make you his Heir, you would scarce be unwilling to accept it; the refufing fuch a Kindness would difcover Ingratitude and Unworthiness. As God hath refolved against them, who make Excufes when they fhould come to Chrift, none of thofe Men, which were bidden, fhall taste of my Supper; fo is it juft with him to refolve against us, who frame Excufes when we fhould come to Glory.The Lord Jefus Chrifi was willing to come from Heaven to Earth for us, and fhail we be unwilling to remove from Earth to Heaven for ourselves and Him? He might have faid, "What is it to me, if thefe Sinners fuffer? "If they value their Flesh above their Spirits, and "their Lufts above my Father's Love, if they will

fell their Souls for nought, who is it fit fhould be "the Lofer? Should I, whom they have wronged? Muft they wilfully tranfgrefs my Law, and I undergo

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"their deserved Pain? Muft I come down from Hea"ven to Earth, and cloath myself with human Flesh, "be fpit-upon and fcorned by Man, and faft, and "weep, and fweat, and fuffer, and bleed, and die a "curfed Death; and all this for wretched Worms, "who had rather hazard their Souls, than forbear ' one forbidden Morfel? Do they caft away them"felves fo flightly, and muft I redeem them fo dearly?" Thus we fee Chrift had Reafon enough to have made him unwilling; and yet did he voluntarily condefcend. But we have no Reafon against our coming to him; except we will reafon against our Hopes, and plead for a Perpetuity of our own Calamities. Chrift came down to fetch us up; and would we have him lose his Blood and Labour, and go again without us? Hath he bought our Reft at fo dear a Rate? Is our Inheritance purchased with his Blood? And are we, after all this, loth to enter? Ah, Sirs! it was Chrift, and not we, that had Cause to be loth. May the Lord forgive, and heal, this foolish Ingratitude!

$22. Do we not combine with our most cruel Foes in their most malicious Defigns, while we are loth to die, and go to Heaven? What is the Devil's daily Bufinefs? Is it not to keep our Souls from God? And fhall we be content with this? Is it not the one Half of Hell, which we wish to ourselves, while we defire to be abfent from Heaven? What Sport is this to Satan, that his Defires and thine, Chriftian, fhould fo concur? that when he fees he cannot get thee to Hell, he can fo long keep thee out of Heaven, and make thee the earneft Petitioner for it thyfelf? O gratify not the Devil fo much to thy own Injury!Do not our daily Fears of Death make our Lives a continual Torment? Thofe Lives which might be full of Joy, in the daily Contemplations of the Life to come, and the fweet delightful Thoughts of Blifs; how do we fill them up

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