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Temporal Crowns and Kingdoms could not make a Reft for Saints. As they were not redeemed with fo low a Price(n), neither are they endued with fo low a Nature. As God will have from them a fpiritual Worship, fuited to his own fpiritual Being, he will provide them a fpiritual Reft, fuitable to their fpiritual Nature. The Knowledge of God and his Chrift, a delightful Complacency in that mutual Love, an everlasting Rejoicing in the Enjoyment of our God, with a perpetual Singing of his high Praises; this is a Heaven for a Saint. Then we fhall live in our own Element. We are now as the Fifh in a Veffel of Water, only so much as will keep them alive; but what is that to the Ocean? We have a little Air let into us, to afford us Breathing; but what is that to the fweet and fresh Gales upon Mount Sin? We have a Beam of the Sun to lighten our Darkness, and a warm Ray to keep us from freezing; but then we fhall live in its Light, and be revived by its Heat for ever. As the Natures of Saints are, fuch are their Defires; and it is the Defires of our renewed Nature which this Reft is suited to. Whilft our Defires remain corrupted and misguided, it is a far greater Mercy to deny them, yea, to destroy them, than to fatisfy them: But thofe which are fpiritual are of his own planting, and he will furely water them, and give the Incrcafe. He quickened our Hunger and Thirst for Righteoufnefs, that he might make us happy in a full Satisfaction. Chriftian, this is a Reft after thy cwn Heart; it contains all that thy Heart can with; that which thou longeft, prayeft, laboureft for, there thou fhalt find it all. Thou hadft rather have God in Chrift, than all the World: There thou fhalt have him. What wouldst thou not give for Affurance of his Love? There thou fhalt have Affurance without.

(n) 1 Pet, i, 18,

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Sufpicion. Defire what thou canft, and ask what thou wilt, as a Christian, and it shall be given thee, not only to half of the Kingdom, but to the Enjoyment both of Kingdom and King. This is a Life of Defire and Prayer, but that is a Life of Satisfaction and Enjoyment.This Reft is very fuitable to the Saints Neceffities also, as well as to their Natures and Defires. It contains whatsoever they truly wanted; not fupplying them with grofs created Comforts, which, like Saul's Armour on David, are more Burthen than Benefit. It was Chrift and perfect Holinefs which they moft needed, and with thefe shall they be fupplied.

$10. (8) STILL more, this Reft will be abfo lutely perfect. We fhall then have Joy without Sorrow, and Reft without Wearinefs. There is no Mixture of Corruption with our Graces, nor of Suffering with our Comfort. There are none of thofe Waves in that Harbour, which now fo tofs us up and down. To-Day we are well, To-morrow fick; To day in Efteem, To-morrow in Difgrace; To-day we have Friends, To-morrow none; nay, we have Wine and Vinegar in the fame Cup. If Revelations raise us to the third Heaven, the Messenger of Satan muft prefently buffet us, and the Thorn in the Flesh fetch us down (o). But there is none of this Inconftancy in Heaven. If perfect Love cafteth_out Fear (p), then perfect Joy muft needs caft out Sorrow, and perfect Happiness exclude all the Reliques of Mifery. We fhall there reft from all the Evil of Sin, and of Suffering.

§11. HEAVEN excludes nothing more direly than Sin, whether of Nature, or of Converfation. There shall in no wife enter any Thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh Abomination, or maketh a Lye(q). What

(0) 2 Cor. xii. 2, 7. (p) John iv, 18.

(e) Rev. xxi. 27.

What need Christ at all to have died, if Heaven could have contained imperfect Souls? For this Purpose the Son of God was manifefted, that he might destroy the Works of the Devil (r). His Blood and Spirit have not done all this, to leave us after all defiled. What Communion bath Light with Darkness and what Concord hath Chrift with Belial (s)? Chrifiian, if thou be once in Heaven,, thou fhalt fin no more. Is not this glad News to thee, who hast prayed, and watched against it fo long? I know, if it were offered to thy Choice, thou wouldst rather chufe to be freed from Sin, than have all the World. Thou fhalt have thy Defire.That hard Heart, thofe vile Thoughts, which accompanied thee to every Duty, fhall now be left behind for ever.-Thy Understanding shall never more be troubled with Darkness. All dark Scriptures fhall be made plain; all feeming Contradictions reconciled. The pooreft Chriftian is presently there a more perfect Divine than any here. O that happy Day, when Error shall vanish for ever! When our Understanding fhall be filled with God himself, whofe Light will leave no Darkness in us! His Face fhall be the Scrip ture, where we fhall read the Truth. Many a godly Man hath here, in his mistaken Zeal, been a Means to deceive and pervert his Brethren, and when he fees his own Error, cannot again tell how to undeceive them. But there we fhall confpire in one Truth, as being one in him who is the Truth.

We fhall also rest from all the Sin of our Will, Affection, and Converfation. We fhall no more retain this rebelling Principle, which is ftill drawing us from God: No more be oppreffed with the Power of our Corruptions, nor vexed with their Prefence: No Pride, Paffion, Slothfulness, Infenfibility, fhall enter with us; no Strangeness to God, and the Things of Gods

(T) John iii. 8.

(s) 2 Cor. vi. 34, 85.

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God; no Coldness of Affections, nor Imperfection in our Love; no uneven Walking, nor grieving of the Spirit; no fcandalous Action, nor unholy Converfation; we fhall reft from all these for ever. Then fhall our Will correfpond to the divine Will, as Face anfwers Face in a Glafs, and from which, as our Law and Rule, we shall never fwerve. For he that is entered into his Reft, he also hath ceafed from his own Works, as God did from his (t).

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§ 12. OUR Sufferings were but the Confequences of our finning, and in Heaven they both fhall cease together. We fhall reft from all our Doubts of God's Love. It fhall no more be faid, that "Doubts are like the Thiftle, a bad Weed, but growing in "good Ground (u)." They fhall now be weeded out, and trouble the gracious Soul no more, We fhall hear that Kind of Language no more, "What "fhall I do to know my State? How fhall I know "that God is my Father? that my Heart is upright?

that Converfion is true? that Faith is fincere? I "am afraid my Sins are unpardoned; that all I do is "Hypocrify; that God will reject me; that he does "not hear my Prayers." All this is there turned into Praife.- We fhall reft from all Senfe of God's Difpleasure. Hell fhall not be mixed with Heaven. At Times the gracious Soul remembered God, and was troubled; complained, and was overwhelmed, and refused to be comforted; divine Wrath lay hard upon him, and God afflicted him with all his Waves (w). But that bleffed Day fhall convince us, that though God hid his Face from us for a Moment, yet with everlasting Kindness will he have Mercy on us (x).We fhall reft from all the Temptations of Satan. What a Grief is it to a Chriftian, tho' he yield not to the Temptation,

(t) Heb. iv. 10

(av) Pfalm lxxvii. 2, 3. lxxxviii, 7.

(u) Dr. John Preften. (x) Ifa. liv. 8,

tion, yet to be folicited to deny his Lord? What a Torment, to have fuch horrid Motions made to his Soul? fuch blafphemous Ideas prefented to his Imagination? Sometimes cruel Thoughts of God, undervaluing Thoughts of Chrift, unbelieving Thoughts of Scripture, or injurious Thoughts of Providence? To be tempted fometimes to turn to prefent Things, to play with the Baits of Sin, and venture on the Delights of Flefh, and fometimes to Atheifin itfelf? Efpecially, when we know the Treachery of our own Hearts, ready, as Tinder, to take Fire, as foon as one of these Sparks fhall fall upon them? Satan hath Power here to tempt us in the Wilderness, but he entereth not the Holy City; he may fet us on a Pinacle of the Temple in the earthly Jerufalem, but the new ferufalem he may not approach; he may take us up into an exceeding high Mountain, but the Mount Sion he cannot afcend; and. if he could, all the Kingdoms of the World, and the Glory of them (y), would be a defpifed Bait to a Soul poffeffed of the Kingdom of our Lord. No, 'tis in vain for Satan to offer a Temptation more.-All our Temptations from the World and the Flefh fhall alfo ceafe. O the hourly Dangers that we here walk in! Every Senfe, and Member, is a Snare; every Creature, every Mercy, and every Duty, is a Snare to us. We can fcarce open cur Eyes, but we are in Danger of envying those above us, or defpifing those below us; of coveting the Honours and R ches of fome, or beholding the Rags and Beggary of others with Pride and Unmercifulness. If we fee Beauty, 'tis a Bait to Luft; if Deformity, to Loathing and Difdain; How foon do flanderous Reports, vain Jefts, wanton Speeches, creep into the Heart! How conflant and ftrong a Watch docs our Appetite require! Have we Comelinefs and Beauty? What Fuel for Pride! Are we deformed? What an Occafion

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(y) Mat. iv, 1, 5, 8,

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