tance of the Saints in Light! O thou that numbereft the very Hairs of my Head, number all the Days that my Body lies in the Duft; and thou that writest all my Members in thy Book, keep an Account of my fcattered Bones! Omy Saviour, haften the Time of thy Return; fend forth thy Angels, and let that dreadful, joyful Trumpet found! Delay not, left the Living give up their Hopes; delay not, left • Earth fhould grow like Hell, and thy Church by Divifion be all crumbled to Duft; delay not, left thy Enemies get Advantage of thy Flock, and left Pride, Hypocrify, Senfuality, and Unbelief prevail against thy little Remnant, and share among them thy whole Inheritance, and when thou comest thou find not Faith on the Earth; delay not, left the Grave fhould boast of Victory, and having learned Rebellion of its Gueft, fhould refufe to deliver thee up thy Due! O haften that great RefurrectionDay, when thy Command fhall go forth, and none 'fhall difobey; when the Sea and Earth all yield up their Hoflages and all that fleep in the Grave fhall awake, and the Dead in Chrift fhall rife firft; when the Seed which thou fowedit corruptible, shall come forth incorruptible; and Graves that received Rottennefs and Duft, fhall return thee glorious Stars and Suns! Therefore dare I lay down my Carcafe in the Duft, intrufting it, not to a Grave, but to thee; and therefore my Flefh fhall reft in Hope, till • thou fhalt raife-it to the Poffeffion of everlasting Reft. Return, O Lord, how long? O let thy Kingdom come! Thy defolate Bride faith, Come; for thy Spirit within her faith, Come; and teacheth her thus to pray with Groanings which cannot be uttered; yea, the whole Creation faith, Come, waiting to be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption, into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God; thou thyfelf + haft Ch. 16. haft faid, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even fo, • Come Lord Jefus!' $28. THUS, Reader, I have given thee my best Advice for maintaining a heavenly Converfation. If thou canst not thus meditate methodically and fully, yet do it as thou canft; only be fure to do it seriously and frequently. Be acquainted with this heavenly Work, and thou wilt, in fome Degree, be acquainted with God; thy Joys will be fpiritual, prevalent, and lafting, according to the Nature of their bleffed Object; thou wilt have Comfort in Life and Death: When thou haft neither Wealth, nor Health, nor the Pleasure of this World, yet wilt thou have Comfort: Without the Prefence, or Help of any Friend, without a Minifter, without a Book, when all Means are denied thee, or taken from thee, yet mayst thou have vigorous, real Comfort. Thy Graces will be mighty, active, and victorious; and the daily Joy which is thus fetch'd from Heaven will be thy Strength. Thou wilt be as one that ftands on the Top of an exceeding high Mountain; he looks down on the World as if it were quite below him; Fields and Woods, Cities and Towns, feem to him but little Spots. Thus defpicably wilt thou look on all Things here below. The greatest Princes will feem but as Grafhoppers; the bufy, contentious, covetous World, but as a Heap of Ants. Men's Threatenings will be no Terror to thee; nor the Honours of this World any ftrong Enticement; Temptations will be more harmless, as having loft their Strength; and AfAictions lefs grievous, as having loft their Sting; and every Mercy will be better known, and relifhed. It is now, under God, in thy own Choice, whether thou wilt live this bleffed Life or not; and whether all this Pains I have taken for thee fhall profper, profper, or be loft.. If it be loft thro' thy Lazinefs, thou chyfelf wilt prove the greatest Lofer. O Man! What haft thou to mind but God and Heaven? Art thou not almoft out of this World already? Dost thou not look every Day, when one Disease or other will let-out thy Soul? Does not the Grave wait to be thine Houfe; and Worms to feed upon thy Face and Heart? What if thy Pulfe muft beat a few Strokes more? What if thou haft a little longer to breathe, before thou breathe out thy laft; a few inore Nights to fleep, before thou fleepest in the Duft? Alas! what will this be, when it is gone? And is it not almoft gone already? Very fhortly thou wilt fee thy Glafs run out, and fay to thyfelf, "My Life is done! My Time is gone! "Tis paft recalling! There's nothing now but Hea"ven or Hell before me!" Where then should thy Heart be now, but in Heaven? Didft thou know what a dreadful Thing it is, to have a Doubt of Heaven when a Man is dying, it would rouze thee up. And what else but doubt can that Man then do, that never seriously thought of Heaven before? $29. SOME there be that fay, "It is not worth "fo much Time and Trouble, to think of the Great"nefs of the Joys above; fo that we can make sure "they are ours, we know they are great." But as thefe Men obey not the Command of God, which requires them to have their Conversation in Heaven, and to fet their Affections on Things above; fo they wilfully make their own Lives miferable, by refufing the Delights which God hath fet before them. And if this were all, it were a fmall Matter; but see what Abundance of other Mischiefs follow the Neglect of thefe heavenly Delights. This Neglect-will damp, if not deftroy, their Love to God;will make it unpleafant to them to think or speak of God, or engage in His His Service; it tends to pervert their Judgments concerning the Ways and Ordinances of God; it makes them fenfual and voluptuous;it leaves them under the Power of every Affliction and Temptation, and is a Preparative to total Apoßacy; it will also make them fearful and unwilling to die. For who would go to a God, or a Place, he hath no Delight in? Who would leave his Pleasure here, if he had not better to go to? Had I only propofed a Courfe of Melancholy and Fear, and Sorrow, you might reasonably have obr jected. But you must have heavenly Delights, or none that are lafting. God is willing you fhould daily walk with Him, and fetch in Confolations from the everlasting Fountain; if you are unwilling, even bear the Lofs; and when you are dying, feek for Comfort where you can get it, and fee whether Befhly Delights will remain with you; then Confcience will remember, in Spight of you, that you was once perfuaded to a Way for more excellent Plea fures, Pleafures that would have followed you thro' Death, and have lafted to Eternity. $30. As for you, whofe Hearts God hath weaned from all Things here below, I hope you will value this heavenly Life, and take one Walk every Day in the new Ferufalem. God is your Love, and your Defire; you would fain be more acquainted with your Saviour; and I know it is your Grief, that your Hearts are not nearer to Him, and that they do not more feelingly love Him, and delight in Him. O try this Life of Meditation on your heavenly Reft! Here is the Mount, on which the fluctuating Ark of your Souls may reft, Let the World fee by your hea venly Lives, that Religion is fomething more than Opinions and Difputes, or a Tafk of outward Duties. If ever a Chriftian is like himself, and answerable to his Principles and Profeffion, it is when he is most ferious Terious and lively in this Duty. As Mofes, before he Hied, went up into Mount Nebo, to take a Survey of the Land of Canaan; fo the Chriftian afcends this Mount of Contemplation, and by Faith furveys his Reft. He looks upon the glorious Manfions, and fays, «Glorious Things are defervedly spoken of thee, "thou City of God!" He hears, as it were, the Melody of the heavenly Choir, and fays, "Happy "is the People that are in fuch a Cafe; yea, happy is that "People, whofe God is the Lord!" He looks upon the glorified Inhabitants, and fays, "Happy art thou, ** Ifrael; who is like unto thee, O People faved by the "Lord, the Shield of thy Help, and who is the Sword of "thine Excellency!' When he looks upon the Lord Himself, who is their Glory, he is ready with the reft, to fall down and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and fay, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Allmighty, which was, and is, and is to come! Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive Glory, and Honour, "and Power!" When he looks on the glorified Saviour, he is ready to fay, Amen, to that new Song, Bleffing, and Honour, and Glory, and Power, be unto Him that fitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever: For thou waft flain, and haft redzemed us to God by thy Blood, out of every Kindred, and Tongue, and People, and Nation; and haft made us unto our God 66 Kings and Priefts!" When he looks back on the Wildernefs of this World, he blaffes the believing, patient, defpifed Saints; he pitics the ignorant, obftinate, miferable World; and for himfelf, he fays, as Peter, "It is good to be here;" or as Afaph, “It is "good for me to draw near to God, for lo, they that are "far from thee, shall perish." Thus, as Daniel in his Captivity daily opened his Window toward Jerufalem, though far out of Sight, when he went to God in his R Devo |