our Title to it. What Comfort is it to a Man that is naked, to see the rich Attire of others? What Delight is it for a Man that hath not a House to put his Head in, to fee the fumptuous Buildings of others? Would not all this rather increase his Anguifh, and make him more fenfible of his own Mifery? So for a Man to know the Excellencies of Heaven, and not know whether ever he fhall enjoy them, may raise Defire, and urge Purfuit, but he will have little Joy.. Who will fet his Heart on another Man's Poffeffions? If your Houses, your Goods, your Cattle, your Children, were not your own, you would lefs mind them, and lefs delight in them. O Chriftian! reft not, therefore, till you can call this Reft your own: Bring thy Heart to the Bar of Trial: Set the Qualifications of the Saints on one Side, and of thy Soul on the other, and then judge how near they refemble. Thou haft the fame Word to judge thyself by now, as thou must be judged by at the great Day. Miftake not the Scripture's Defcription of a Saint, that thou neither acquit, nor condemn thyfelf upon Miftakes. For as groundless Hopes tend to Confufion, and are the greatest Caufe of moft Men's Damnation; fo groundlefs Doubts tend to, and are the great Caufe of, the Saints Perplexity and Diftrefs. Therefore lay thy Foundation for Trial fafely, and proceed in the Work deliberately, and refolutely, nor give over till thou canft fay, either thou haft, or haft not yet, a Title to this Reft. O! if Men did truly know, that God is their own Father, and Chrift their own Redeemer and Head, and that thofe are their own everlasting Habitations, and that there they must abide and be happy for ever; how could they chufe but be tranfported with the Fore-Thoughts thereof? If a Chriftian could but look upon Sun, Moon, and Stars, and reckon all his own in Chrift, and fay, "These are the Blef «fings fings that my Lord hath procured me, and Things "incomparably greater than thefe;" what holy Raptures would his Spirit feel? $12. THE more do they fin against their own Comforts, as well as against the Grace of the Gofpel, who plead for their Unbelief, and cherifh diftruftful Thoughts of God, and injurious Thoughts of their Redeemer; who reprefent the Covenant, as if it were of Works, and not of Grace; and Chrift as an Enemy, rather than a Saviour; as if he were willing they fhould die in their Unbelief, when he hath invited them fo often, and fo affectionately, and fuffered the Agonies that they should fuffer. Wretches that we are! to be keeping up Jealoufies of our Lord, when we fhould be rejoicing in his Love. As if any Man could chufe Chrift, before Chrift hath chofen him; or any Man were more willing to be happy, than Chrift is to make him happy.. Away with thefe injurious, if not blafphemous, Thoughts! If ever thou haft harboured fuch Thoughts in thy Breaft, caft them from thee, and take Heed how thou ever entertaineft them more. God hath written the Names of his People in Heaven, as you use to write your Names, or Marks, on your Goods; and fhall we be attempting to rafe them out, and to write our Names on the Doors of Hell? But bleffed be God, whofe Foundation ftandeth fure (u); and who keepeth us by his Power thro' Faith unto Salvation (w). When § 13. (3) Labour to apprehend how near thy Reft is. What we think near at Hand, we are more fenfible of, than that which we behold at a Distance. Judgments or Mercies are far off, we talk of them with little Concern; but when they draw close to us, we tremble at, or rejoice in, them. This makes Men think on Heaven fo infenfibly, because they conceit conceit it at too great a Distance; they look on it as twenty, thirty, or forty Years off. How much better were it to receive the Sentence of Death in ourselves (x), and to look on Eternity as near at Hand? While I am thinking, and writing, of it, it hafteth near, and I am even entering into it before I am aware. While thou art reading this, whoever thou art, Time pofteth on, and thy Life will be gone, as a Tale that is told. If you verily believed you should die To-morrow, how feriously would you think of Heaven To-night? When Samuel had told Saul, To-morrow shalt thou be with me; this ftruck him to the Heart. And if Chrift fhould fay to a believing Soul, To-morrow fhalt thou be with me; this would bring him in Spirit to Heaven before Hand. Do but fuppofe that you are still entering into Heaven, and it will greatly help you more seriously to mind it. $14. (4) Let thy eternal Reft be the Subject of thy frequent ferious Difcourfe; efpecially with thofe that can (peak from their Hearts, and are feafoned them- · felves with a heavenly Nature. It is Pity Chriftians fhould ever meet together, without fome Talk of their meeting in Heaven, or of the Way to it, before they part: It is Pity fo much Time is fpent in vain. Converfation, and ufelefs Difputes, and not a serious Word of Heaven among them. Methinks we fhould meet together on purpose, to warm our Spirits with difcourfing of our Reft. To hear a Chriftian fet forth that bleffed, glorious State, with Life and Power, from the Promises of the Gofpel; methinks fhould make us fay, Did not our Hearts burn within ue, while he opened to us the Scriptures (y)? If a Felix will tremble, when he hears his Judgment powerfully reprefented, why fhould not the Believer be revived, when he hears his eternal Reft defcribed? Wicked Men (x) 2 Cor. i. 9. (y) Luke xxiv. 32. Men can be delighted in talking together of their Wickedness; and fhould not Chriflians then be delighted in talking of Chrift? and the Heirs of Heaven in talking of their Inheritance? This may make our Hearts revive, as it did Jacob's to hear the Meffage that called him to Goshen, and to fee the Chariots that should bring him to Jofeph. O that we were furnished with Skill and Refolution,, to turn the Stream of Men's common Difcourfe to thefe more fublime and precious Things! And when Men begin to talk of Things unprofitable, that we could tell how to put in a Word for Heaven, and say, as Peter of his bodily Food, Not fo, for I have never eaten any Thing that is common or unclean! O the Good that we might both do and receive by this Courfe! Had it not been to deter us from unprofitable Converfation, Chrift would not have talked of our giving an Account of every idle Word in the Day of Judgment (z). Say then, as the Pfalmift, when you are in Company, Let my Tongue cleave to the Roof of my Mouth, if I prefer not Ferufalem above my chief Joy (a). Then you fhall find it true, that a wholefome Tongue is a Tree of Life (b). $15. (5) Endeavour in every Duty to raise thy Affections nearer to Heaven. God's End in the Inftitution of his Ordinances was, that they fhould be as fo many Steps to advance us to our Reft, and by which, in Subordination to Chrift, we might daily afcend in our Affections. Let this be thy End in ufing them, and doubtlefs they will not be unfuccefsful. How have you been rejoiced by a few Lines from a Friend, when you could not fee him Face to Face? And may we not have Intercourfe with God in his Ordinances, though our Perfons be yet so far remote? May not our Spirits rejoice in reading those Lines, (2) Matt. xii. 36, (a) Pf. cxxxvii. 6. (b) Prov, x. 4. Lines, which contain our Legacy and Charter for Heaven? With what Gladnefs and Triumph may we read the Expreffions of divine Love, and hear of our celeftial Country, though we have not yet the Happiness to behold it? Men that are separated by Sea and Land, can by Letters carry on great and gainful Trades; and may not a Chriftian, in the wife Improvement of Duties, drive on this happy Trade for Reft? Come then, renounce Formality, Cuftom, and Applaufe, and kneel down in fecret or publick Prayer, with Hope to get thy Heart nearer to God before thou rifeft up. When thou openest thy Bible, or other Book, hope to meet with fome Paffage of divine Truth, and fuch Bleffing of the Spirit with it, as will give thee a fuller Tafte of Heaven. When thou art going to the House of God, fay, "I hope to meet with fomewhat from God to "raife my Affections, before I return; I hope the "Spirit will give me the Meeting, and fweeten my Heart with thofe celeftial Delights; I hope Chrift “will appear to me in that Way, and fine about me "with Light from Heaven, let me hear his inftructing "and reviving Voice, and caufe the Scales to fall " from my Eyes, that I may fee more of that Glory than I ever yet faw. I hope, before I return, my “Lord will bring my Heart within the View of "Reft, and fet it before his Father's Prefence, that "I may return, as the Shepherds from the heavenly Vifion, glorifying and praifing God for all the Things "I have heard and feen." When the Indians first faw that the English could converfe together by Letters, they thought there was fome Spirit inclofed in them. So would By-ftanders admire, when Chriftians have Communion with God in Dusies, what there is in thofe Scriptures, in that Sermon, in this Prayer, that fills their Hearts fo full of Joy, and fo tranfports them |