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it is that calls to thee,, " Come near, and view the "Lord thy Saviour, and be not faithlefs, but believing

Peace be unto thee, fear not, it is I." Look well upon Him. Doft thou not know Him? It is He that brought thee up from the Pit of Hell, reve:fed the Sentence of thy Damnation, bore the Curfe which thou should have borne, reftored thee to the Bleffing thou hadst forfeited, and purchafed the Advance ment which thou must inherit for ever. And doft thou not yet know Him? His Hands were pierced, His Head, His Side, His Heart were pierced, that by these Marks thou mighreft always know Him. Doft thou not remember when He fund thee lying in thy Blood, and took Pity on thee, and dreffed thy Wounds, and brought thee Home, and faid unto thee, Live? Haft thou forgotten fince He wounded Himfelf to cure thy Wounds, and let out His own Blood to flop thy bleeding? If thou knoweft Him not by the Face, the Voice, the Hands, thou mayft know Him by the Heart; that Soul pitying Heart is His; it can be none but His; Love and Compaffion are its certain Signatures: This is He, who chofe thy Life before His own; who pleads His Flood before His Father, and makes continual Interceffion for thee.. If He had not fuffered, what hadst thou suffered? There was but a Step between thee and Hell, when He stepp'd in, and bore the Stroke. And is not here Fuel enough for Love to feed on? Doth not thy throbbing Heart ftop here to ease itself, and, like Jofeph, feek for a Place to weep in? Or do not the Tears of thy Love bedew thefe Lines? Go on then, for the Field of Love is Jarge; it will be thy eternal Work to behold and love; nor needeft thou want Work for thy pre ent Meditation.

$12. How often hath thy Lord found thee, like Hagar, hitting, and weeping, and giving up thy Sout

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for loft, and He opened to thee a Well of Confola tion, and alfo opened thine Eyes to fee it? How of en, in the Pofture of Elijah, defiring to die out of thy Mifery, and He hath fpread thee a Table of unexpected Relief, and fent thee on His Work refreshed and encouraged? How often, in the Cafe of the Prophet's Servant, crying out, Alas! what shall we do, for an Hoft dith incompass us; and He hath opened thine Eyes to fee mire for thee, than against thee? How often, like Jonah, peevish, and weary of thy Life, and He hath mildly faid, doft thou well to be angry with me, or murmur against me? How often hath He fet thee on watching and praying, repenting and believing,. and when He hath returned, bath found thee afleep, and yet hath covered thy Neglet with a Mantle of Love,. and gently pleaded for thee, that the Spirit is willing,, but the Flesh is weak? Can thy Heart be cold, when thou thinkeft of this? Can it contain, when thou remembereit thofe boundless Compaffions? Thus, Reader, hold forth the Goodness of Chrift to thy Heart; plead thus with thy frozen Soul, till, with David,. thou canst fav, my Heart was hot within me, while I was mufing, the Fire burned. If this will not rouze up thy. Love, thou haft all Chrift's perfonal Excellencies to add, all His particular Mercies to thyfelf, all His fweet and near Relations to thee, and the Happiness. of thy everlasting Abode with Him. Only followthem close to thy Heart. Deal with it, as Christ did› with Peter, when He thrice afked him, Loveft thou me? till he was grieved, and anfwers, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee: So grieve and shame thy Heart aut of its Stupidity, till thou canst truly fay, "I› know, and my Lord knows, that I love Him." $13. (2) The next Affection to be excited in heavenly Contemplation, is Defere. The Object of it is Goodnefs confidered as abfent, or not yet attained. If

Q 3.

Love

Love be hot, Defire will not be cold. Think with thyfelf, "What have I feen? O the incomprehen"fible Glory! O the tranfcendent Beauty! O blessed "Souls that now enjoy it! who fee a thoufand Times "more clearly, what I have seen at a Distance, and "through dark interpofing Clouds. What a Diffe"rence between my State and theirs! I am fighing,

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and they are finging. I am offending, and they "are pleafing God. I am a Spectacle of Pity, like Feb, or a Lazarus, but they are perfect, and "without Blemish. 1 am here entangled in the "Love of the World, while they are fwallowed up "in the Love of God. They have none of my "Cares and Fears; they weep not in fecret; they "languifh not in Sorrows; thefe Tears are wiped

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away from their Eyes. O happy, a thoufand Times "happy Souls! Alas, that I muft dwell in finful. "Fleth, when my Brethren and Companions dwell "with God! How far out of Sight and Reach of "their high Enjoyments do I here live? What poor "feeble Thoughts have I of God? What cold Af"fections toward him? How little have I of that Life, that Love, that Joy, in which they continually live? How foon doth that little depart, and "leave me in thicker Darkness? Now and then a "Spark falls upon my Heart, and while I gaze upon

it, it dies, or rather my cold Heart quenches it. "But they have their Light in His Light, and drink continually at the Spring of Joys. Here we are vexing each other with Quarrels, when they are of "one Heart and Voice, and daily found forth the

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Hallelujahs of Heaven with perfect Harmony. O "what a Feaft hath my Faith beheld, and what a "Famine is yet in my Spirit! O bleffed Souls! I "may not, I dare not, envy your Happiness; I ra"ther rejoice in my Brethren's Profperity, and am

glad

“ glad to think of the Day when I fhall be admitted "into your Fellowship. I wish, not to difplace you,

but to be fo happy as to be with you. Why muft "I stay, and weep, and wait? My Lord is gone; "He hath left this Earth, and is entered into His "Glory; my Brethren are gone; my Friends are "there; my Houfe, my Hope, my All is there. "When I am fo far diftant from my God, wonder “not what aileth me, if I now complain; an ignorant "Micah will do fo for his Idol, and fhall not my Sout "do fo for the living God? Had I no Hope of En"joyment, I would go hide myfelf in the Deferts, and lie and howl in fome obfcure Wilderness, and "fpend my Days in fruitlefs Wifhes; but fince it is

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the Land of my promifed Reft, and the State I muft myfelf be advanced to, and my Soul draws "near, and is almoft at it, I will love and long, I "will look and defire, I will be breathing, How "long, Lord! how long wilt thou fuffer this Soul 66 to pant and groan, and not open to him who waits, "and longs to be with thee!" Thus, Chriftian Reader, let thy Thoughts afpire, till thy Soul longs, as David, O that one would give me to drink of the Wells of Salvation! And till thou canft fay as he did, I have longed for thy Salvation, O Lord (b). And as the Mother and Brethren of Chrift, when they could not come at Him because of the Multitude, fent to Him faying, Thy Mother and Brethren ftand without, defiring to fee thee; fo let thy Meffage to Him be, and He will own thee; for He hath faid, They that hear my IVord, and do it, are my Mother, and my Brethren (c).

§14. (3) Another Affection to be exercifed in heavenly Contemplation, is Hope. This helps to fupport the Soul under Sufferings, animates it to the greatest Difficulties, gives it Firmnefs in the most fhaking 0 4 Trials,

(b) Pfalm exix, 174.

(c) Luke viii, 20, 21,

Trials, enlivens it in Duties, and is the very Spring that fets all the Wheels a going. Who would believe, or ftrive for Heaven, if it were not for the Hope that, he hath to obtain it? Who would pray, but for the Hope to prevail with God? If your Hope dies, your Duties die, your Endeavours die, your Joys die, and your Souls die. And if your Hope be not in Exercife, but afleep, it is next to dead. Therefore, Chriftian Reader, when thou art winding up thy Affections to Heaven, forget not to give one Lift to thy Hope. Think thus, and reafon thus with thy own Heart; "Why fhould I not confidently and com"fortably hope, when my Soul is in the Hands of so "compaffionate a Saviour? And when the Kingdom "is at the Difpofal of so bountiful a God? Did He difcover the leaft Backwardness to my Good, "or Inclination to my Run? Hath He not fworn, "that He delights not in the Death of him that dieth, but "ruther that be should repent and live? Have not all "His Dealings witneffed the fame? Did He not mind

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me of my Danger, when I never feared it, becaufe "He would have me efcape it? Did He not mind "me of my Happinefs, when I had no Thoughts of "it, because He would have me enjoy it? How often "hath He drawn me to Himfelf, and His Chrift, "when I have drawn backward? How hath His

Spirit inceffantly follicited my Heart? And would "He have done all this, if He had been willing that "I fhould perifh? Should I not hope, if an honeft "Man had promifed me fomething in his Power? And fhall I not hope, when I have the Covenant, and Oath of God? It is true, the Glory is out of Sight; we have not beheld the Manfions of the "Saints; but is not the Promife of God more certain

than our Sight? We must not be faved by Sight, "but by Hope, and Hope that is feen is not Hope; for

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