תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

Occafion of repining! Have we Strength of Reason, and Gifts of Learning? O how prone to be puft up, hunt after Applaufe, and defpife our Brethren! Are we unlearned? How apt then to defpife what we have not! Are we in Places of Authority? Howstrong is the Temptation to abuse our Truft, make our Will our Law, and cut out all the Enjoyments of others by the Rules and Model of our own Intereft and Policy! Are we Inferiors? How prone to grudge at others Preeminence, and bring their Actions to the Bar of our Judgment! Are we rich, and not too much exalted? Are we poor, and not discontented? Are we not lazy in our Duties, or make a Chrift of them? Not that God hath made all thefe Things our Snares; but thro' our own Corruption they become fo to us. Ourfelves are the greatest Snare to Ourfelves. This is our Comfort, our Reft will free us from all these. As Satan hath no Entrance there, fo neither any Thing to ferve his Malice; but all Things there fhall join with us in the high Praifes of our great Deliverer.-As we rest from the Temptations, we shall likewife from the Abufes and Perfecutions of the World. The Prayers of the Souls under the Altar will then be anfwered, and God will avenge their Blood on them that dwell on the Earth(z). This is the Time for crowning with Thorns; that for rowning with Glory. Now, all that will live Godly in Chrift Jefus, fall fufer Perfecution (a): then, they that fuffered with him, fhall be glorified with him (b). Now, we must be hated of all Men for Chrift's Name Sake (c): Then, Chrift will be admired in his Saints that were thus hated (d). We are here made a Spectacle unto the World, and to Angels, and to Men; as the Filth of the World, and the Offfcouring of all Things (e); Men feparate us from

(a) Rev. vi, 9, 10. Mat. . 22. Luke vi. 22.

(a) 2 Tim, ii. 12 (d) z Theff. i. 10.

(b) Rom. viii. 17.
(e) Cor. iv. 9, 13.

from their Company, and reproach us, and caft out our Names as evil (f); But we shall then be as much gazed at for our Glory, and they will be fhut out of the Church of the Saints, and feparated from us, whether they will or no. We can now fcarce pray in our Families, or fing Praifes to God, but our Voice is a Vexation to them: How muft it torment them then, to fee us praifing and rejoicing, while they are howling and lamenting! You, Brethren, who can now attempt no Work of God without lofing the Love of the World, confider, you fhall have none in Heaven but will further your Work, and join Heart and Voice with you in your everlafting Joy and Praife. Till then, poffefs ye your Souls in Patience (g). Bind all Reproaches as a Crown to your Heads. Efteem them greater Riches than the World's Treasures. It is a Righteous Thing with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you, who are troubled, Reft· with Chrift (h).-We fhall then reft from all our fad Divifions, and unchristian Quarrels with one another. How lovingly do Thoufands live together in Heaven, who lived at Variance upon Earth! There is no Contention, because none of this Pride, Ignorance, or other Corruption. There is no plotting to ftrengthen our Party, nor deep defigning against our Brethren. If there be Sorrow or Shame in Heaven, we fhall then be both forry and afhamed, to remember all this Carriage on Earth; as Joseph's Brethren were to behold him, when they remembred their former unkind Ufage. Is it not enough that all the World is against us, but we must also be against one another? O happy Days of Perfecution, which drove us together in Love, whom the Sun-fhine of Liberty and Profperity crumbles into Duft by our Contentions! O happy Day of the Saint's Reft in Glory, when, as there is one God, D 2

[blocks in formation]

one

one Chrift, one Spirit, fo we fhall have one Heart, one Church, one Employment for ever! -We shall then reft from our Participation of our Brethren's Sufferings. The Church on Earth is a mere Hofpital; kome groaning under a dark Understanding, fome under an, infenfible Heart, fome languishing under unfruitful Weakness, and fome bleeding for Miscarriages and Wilfulness, fome crying out of their Poverty, fome groaning under Pains and Infirmities, and fome bewailing a whole Catalogue of Calamities. But a far greater Grief it is, to fee our deareft and moft intimate Friends turned afide from the Truth of Chrift, continuing their Neglect of Christ and their Souls, and nothing will awaken them out of their Security: To look on an ungodly Father or Mother, Brother or Sifter, Wife or Husband, Child or Friend, and think how certainly they fhall be in Hell for ever, if they die in their prefent unregenerate State: To think of the Gospel departing, the Glory taken from our Ifrael, poor Souls left willingly dark and deftitute, and blowing out the Light that should guide them to Salvation! Our Day of Reft will free us from all this, and the Days of mourning fhall be ended; then thy People, O Lord, fhall be all righteous; they fall inherit the Land for ever, the Branch of thy planting, the Work fthy Hands, that thou mayft be glorified (i).Then we hall reft from all our own perfonal Sufferings. This may feem a fmall Thing to thofe that live in Eafe and Profperity; but to the daily-afflicted Soul it makes the Thoughts of Heaven delightful. O the dying Life we now live! as full of Sufferings as of Days and Hours! Our Redeemer leaves this Measure of Mifery upon us, to make us know for what we are beholden, to mind us of what we fhould elfe forget, to be ferviceable to his wife and gracious Designs, and advantageous to

(i) Kaiah Ix. 20, 21,

our

our full and final Recovery. Grief enters at every Senfe, feizes every Part and Power of Flesh and Spirit. What noble Part is there, that fuffereth its Fain or Ruin alone? But Sin and Flesh, Duft and Pain, wilt all be left behind together. O the bleffed Tranquillity of that Region, where there is nothing but firect, continued Peace! O healthful Place, where none are fick! O fortunate Land, where all are Kings! O holy Affembly, where all are Priefts! How free a State, where none are Servants, but to their fupreme Monarch! The poor Man fhall no more be tired with his Labours: No more Hunger or Thirst, Cold or Nakednefs: No pinching Frofts or fcorching Heats. Our Faces fhall no more be pale or fad: No more Breaches in Friendship, nor parting of Friends afunder; no more Trouble accompanying our Relations, nor Voice of Lamentation heard in our Dwellings: God shall wipe away all Tears from our Eyes(k). Omy Soul, bear with the Infirmities of thine earthly Tabernacle; it will be thus but a little while; the Sound of thy Redeemer s Feet is even at the Door. -We fhall alfo rest from all the Toil of Duties. The confcientious Magiftrate, Parent, and Minifter, cries out "O the Burthen that "lieth upon me!" Every Relation, State, Age, hath Variety of Duties; fo that every confcientious Chrif tian cries out "O the Burthen! O my Weakness that "makes it burthenfome! But our remaining Reft will eafe us of the Burthen-Once more, we fhall reit from all thofe troublesome Affections which neceffarily accompany our Abfence from God. The Trouble that is mixt in our Defires and Hopes, our Longings and Waitings, fhall then cease. We fhall no more look into our Cabinet, and mifs our Treafure; into our Hearts, and mifs our Chrift; no more feek him from Ordinance to Ordinance; but all be concluded in a moft full and bleffed Enjoyment.

(k) Rev. vii, 16, 17.

D 3

$13 (2)

$ 13. (9) THE laft Jewel of our Crown is, that it will be an everlasting Reft. Without this all were comparitively Nothing. The very Thought of leaving it, would embitter all our Joys. It would be a Hell in Heaven, to think of once lofing Heaven: As it would be a Kind of Heaven to the Damned, had they but Hopes of once efcaping. Mortality is the Difgrace of all fublunary Delights. How it fpoils our Pleasure, to fee it dying in our Hands! But O blessed Eternity! where our Lives are perplexed with no fuch Thoughts, nor our Joys interrupted with any fuch Fears! where we fhall be Pillars in the Temple of our God, and go no more out (1). While we were Servants, we held by Leafe, and that but for the Term of a tranfitory Life; but the Son abideth in the Houfe for ever (m). O my Soul, let go thy Dreams of pre

fent Pleafures, and loofe thy Hold of Earth and "Flesh. Study frequently, Study thoroughly, this "one Word, Eternity. What! Live, and never die! "Rejoice, and ever rejoice!" happy Souls in Hell, fhould you but escape, after Millions of Ages! O miferable Saints in Heaven, fhould you be difpoffeffed, after the Age of a Million of Worlds! This Word, everlasting, contains the Perfection of their Torment, and our Glory. O that the Sinner would fiudy this Word, methinks it would ftartle him out of his dead Sleep! O that the gracious Soul would ftudy it, methinks it fhould revive him in his deepest Agony!" And muft I, Lord, thus live for ever? Then "will I alfo love for ever. Must my Joys be immor"tal? And fhall not my Thanks be also immortal?

Surely, if I fhall never lofe my Glory, I will never "ceafe thy Praises. If thou wilt both perfect, and "perpetuate me and my Glory; as I fhall be thine, " and not my own; fo fhall my Glory be thy Glory "And

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
« הקודםהמשך »