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"And as thy Glory was thy ultimate End in my "Glory; fo fhall it alfo be my End, when thou haft "crowned me with that Glory which hath no End. "Unto the King eternal, immortal, invifible, the only "wife God, be Honour and Glory, far ever and ever. "Amen (n)."

§14. THUS I have endeavoured to fhew you a Glimpfe of approaching Glory. But how short are my Expreffions of its Excellency! Reader, if thou be an humble fincere Believer, and waiteft with Longing and Labouring for this Reft, thou wilt fhortly fee, and feel, the Truth of all this. Thou wilt then have fo high an Apprehension of this bleffed State, as will make thee pity the Ignorance and Distance of Mortals, and will tell thee, all that is here faid falls fhort of the whole Truth a Thousand fold. In the mean Time, let this much kindle thy Defires and quicken thy Endeavours: Up and be doing, run, and strive, and fight, and hold on; for thou haft a certain, glorious Prize before thee. God will not mock thee; do not mock thyfelf, nor betray thy Soul by delaying, and all is thine own. What Kind of Men, doft thou think, would Chriftians be in their Lives and Duties, if they had ftill this Glory fresh in their Thoughts? What Frame would their Spirits be in, if their Thoughts of Heaven were lively and believing? Would their Hearts be fo heavy? their Countenances be fo fad? or would they have need to take their Comforts from below? Would they be fo loth to fuffer? fo afraid to die? or would they not think every Day a Year till they enjoy it? May the Lord heal our carnal Hearts, left we enter not into this Reft, because of Unbelief (0)!

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CHA P. IV.

The Character of the Perfons for whom this Reft is defigned.

§ 1. 'Tis wonderful that fuch Reft should be defigned for Mortals. § 2. The People of God, who fhall enjoy this Reft, are (1) chofen from Eternity. §3. (2) Given to Christ. § 4. (3) Born again. § 5-8. (4) Deeply convinced of the Evil of Sin, their Mifery by Sin, the Vanity of the Creature, and the Allfufficiency of Chrift. $9. (5) Their Will is proportionably changed. § 10. (6) They engage in Covenant with Chrift. § 11. And (7) They perfevere in their Engagements. $12. The Reader invited to examine himself by thefe Characteristicks of God's People. 13. Further Teftimony from Scripture that this Reft fhall be enjoyed by the People of God. § 14. Alfo that none but they shall enjoy it. § 15-16. And that it remains for them, and is not to be enjoyed till they come to another World. § 17. The Chapter concludes with fhewing, that their Souls fhall enjoy this Reft while feparated from their Bodies.

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HILE I was in the Mount, defcribing the Excellencies of the Saint's Reft, I felt it was good being there, and therefore tarried the longer; and was there not an extreme Difproportion between my Conceptions and the Subject, much longer had I been. Can a Profpect of that happy Land be tedious? Having read of such an high and

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unfpeakable Glory, a Stranger would wonder for what rare Creature this mighty Preparation fhould be made, and expect fome illuftrious Sun fhould break forth. But behold! only a Shell full of Duft, animated with an invifible, rational Soul, and that rectified. with as unfeen a reftored Power of Grace; and this is the Creature that muft poflefs fuch Glory. You would think it muft needs be fome deferving Piece, or one that brings a valuable Price: But behold! One that hath Nothing, and can deferve Nothing; yea, that deferves the contrary, and would, if he might, proceed in that Deferving; but being apprehended by Love, he is brought to him that is All (a); and most affectionately receiving him, and refting on him, he doth, in and thro' him, receive All this. More particularly the Perfons, for whom this Reft is defigned, are-chofen of God from Eternity;-given to Chrift, as their Redeemer ;-born again ;-deeply convinced of the Evil and Mifery of a finful State, the Vanity of the Creature, and the All-fufficiency of Christ;-their Will is renewed; they engage themselves to Chrift in Covenant; and they perfevere in their Engagements to the End. $2. (1) THE Perfons for whom this Reft is defigned, whom the Text calls the People of God, are the Chofen of God from Eternity (b). That they are but a finall Part of Mankind, is too apparent in Scripture and Experience. They are the little Flock, to whom it is their Father's good Pleasure to give the King. dom(c). Fewer they are than the World imagines; yet not fo few as fome drooping Spirits think, who are fufpicious that God is unwilling to be their God, when they know themfelves willing to be his People.

$3. (2) THESE Perfons are given of Ged to his Bai, to be by him redeemed from their lyf State, and ad

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(c) Luke xii. 32.

vanced to this Glory. God hath given all Things to his Son, but not as he hath given his Chofen to him. God bath given him Power over all Flesh, that he fhould give eternal Life to as many as the Father hath given him (d). The Difference is clearly expreffed by the Apofile; he hath put all Things under his Feet, and gave him to be the Head over all Things to the Church (e). And tho' Chrift is, in fome Sense, a Ransom for all (f), yet not in that special Manner as for his People.

$4. (3) ONE great Qualification of these Perfons is, that they are born again (g). To be the People of God without Regeneration, is as impoffible as to be the Children of Men without Generation. Seeing we are born God's Enemies, we must be new-born his Sons, or else remain Enemies ftill. The greatest Reformation of Life that can be attained to, without this new Life wrought in the Soul, may procure our farther Delusion, but never our Salvation.

$5. (4) THIS new Life in the People of God dif covers itfelf by Conviction, or a deep Senfe of divine Things. As for Inftance-They are convinced of the Evil of Sin. The Sinner is made to know and feel, that the Sin, which was his Delight, is a more loathfome Thing than a Toad or Serpent, and a greater Evil than Plague or Famine; being a Breach of the righteous Law of the Moft High God, difhonourable to him, and deftructive to the Sinner. Now the Sinner no more hears the Reproofs of Sin, as Words of Courfe; but the Mention of his Sin fpeaks to his very Heart, and yet he is contented you fhould fhew him the worst. He was want to marvel, what made Men keep such a Stir against Sin; what Harm it was for a Man to take a little forbidden Pleasure; he faw no fuch Heinoufnefs in it, that Chrift muft needs die for

(d) John xvii. z.
(1) 1 Tim. ii, 6.

(e) Ephef. i. 22.
(8) John i 3.

59 for it, and a Chriftlefs World be eternally tormented in Hell. Now the Cafe is altered, God hath opened his Eyes to fee the inexpreffible Vileness in Sin.

§6. THEY are convinced of their own Mifery by Reafon of Sin. They who before read the Threats of God's Law, as Men do the Story of foreign Wars, now find it their own Story, and perceive they read their own Doom; as if they found their Names written in the Curfe, or heard the Law fay, as Nathan, Thou art the Man (h). The Wrath of God feemed to him before, but as a Storm to a Man in a dry Houfe, or as the Pains of the Sick to the healthful Stander-by; but now he finds the Disease is his own, and feels bimself a condemned Man, that he is dead and damned in Point of Law, and that nothing was wanting but mere Execution to make him abfolutely and irrecoverably miferable. This is a Work of the Spirit, wrought in fome Measure in all the Regenerate. How fhould he come to Chrift for Pardon, that did not firft find himself guilty, and condemned? or for Life, that never found himself spiritually dead? The While need not a Phyfician, but they that are fick (i). The Discovery of the Remedy, as foon as the Mifery, muft needs prevent a great Part of the Trouble. And perhaps the joyful Apprehensions of Mercy may make the Senfe of Mifery fooner forgotten.

$7. THEY are alfo convinced of the Creature's Vanity and Infufficiency. Every Man is naturally an Idolater. Our Hearts turned from God in our first. Fall, and ever fince the Creature hath been our God. This is the grand Sin of Nature. Every unregenerate Man afcribes to the Creature divine Prerogatives, and allows it the higheft Room in his Soul; or if he is convinced of Mifery, he flies to it as his Saviour, Indeed, God and His Chrift fhall be called Lord and D 6 Saviour;

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