thoughts of God, undervaluing thoughts of Christ, unbelieving thoughts of scripture, or injurious thoughts of Providence! to be tempted sometimes to turn to present things, to play with the baits of sin, and venture on the delights of flesh, and sometimes to atheism itself! especially when we know the treachery of our own hearts, ready, as tinder, to take fire as soon as one of these sparks shall fall upon them! Satan hath power here to tempt us in the wilderness, but he entereth not the holy city? He may set us on a pinnacle of the temple in the earthly Jerusalem, but the New Jerusalem he may not approach. He may take us up into un exceeding high mountain, but the mount Sion he cannot ascend; and if he could, all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,(q) would be a despised bait to a soul possessed of the kingdom of our Lord, No, it is in vain for Satan to offer a temptation more. All our temptations from the world and the flesh shall also cease. O the hourly dangers that we here walk in! Every sense, and member, is a spare; every creature, every mercy, and every duty, is a snare to us. We can scarce open our eyes, but we are in danger of envying those above us, or despising those below us; of coveting the honours and riches of some, or beholding the rags and beggary of others with pride and unmercifulness, If we see beauty, it is a bait to lust; if deformity, to loathing and disdain. How soon do slanderous reports, vain jests, wanton speeches, creep into the heart! How constant and strong a watch does our appetite require!-Have we comeliness and beauty? what fuel for pride! Are we deformed? what an occasion of repining? Have we strength of reason, and gifts of learning? O how prone to be puft up, hunt after applause, and despise our brethren! Are we unlearned? how apt then to despise what we have not! Are we in places of authority? how strong is the tempta tion to abuse our trust, make our will our law, and cut out all the enjoyments of others by the rules and model of our own interest and policy! Are we

(q) Matt. iv. 1-5—8.

inferiors? how prone to grudge at others' pre-eminence, 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 Christ of them? Not that God hath made all these things our snares; but through our own corruption they become so to us. Ourselves are the greatest snare to ourselves. This is our comfort, our rest will free us from all these. As Satan hath no entrance there, so neither any thing to serve his ma lice; but all things there shall join with us in the high praises of our great Deliverer. As we rest from the temptations, we shall likewise from the abuses and persecutions of the world. The prayers of the souls under the altar will then be answered, and God will avenge their blood on them that dwell on the earth.(r) This is the time for crowning with thorns: that for crowning with glory. "Now, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution:(s) then, they that suffered with him shall be glorified with him.(t) Now, we must be hated of all men for Christ's name's sake:(u) then, Christ will be admired in his saints that were thus hated.(w). We are here made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men; as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things.(x) Men separate us from their company, and reproach us, and cast out our names as evil:"(y) but we shall then be as much gazed at for our glory; and they will be shut out of the church of the saints, and separated from us, whether they will or not. We can scarce pray in our families, or sing praises to God, but our voice is a vexation to them: how must it torment them then, to see us praising and rejoicing, while they are howling and lamenting! You, brethren, who can now attempt no work of God without losing the love of the world, consider you shall have none in heaven but will further your work, and join heart and voice with you in your everlasting joy and praise. Till then "possess

(r) Rev. vi. 9, 10. (s) 2 Tim. iii. 12. (t) Rom. viii. 17. (u) Matt. iv. 22. (w) 2 Thess. i. 10. (x) 1 Cor. iv. 9, 13. (y) Luke vi. 22.

ye your souls in patience."(z) Bind all reproaches as a crown to your heads. Esteem them greater riches than the world's treasures. "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with Christ."(a)-We shall then rest from all our sad divisions, and unchristian quarrels with one another. How lovingly do thousands 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 strengthen our party, nor deep designing against our brethren.-If there be sorrow or shame in heaven, we shall then be both sorry and ashamed, to remember all this carriage on earth; as Joseph's brethren were to behold him, when they remembered their former unkind usage. Is it not enough that all the world is against us, but we must also be against one another? O happy days of persecution, which drove us together in love, whom the sun-shine of liberty and prosperity crumbles into dust by our contentions! O happy day of the saint's rest in glory, when, as there is one God, one Christ, one Spirit, so we shall have one heart, one church, one employment, for ever! We shall then rest from our participation of our brethren's sufferings. The church on earth is a mere hospital; some groaning under a dark understanding, some under an insensible heart, some languishing under unfruitful weakness, and some bleeding for miscarriages and wilfulness, some crying out of their poverty, some groaning under pains and infirmities, and some bewailing a whole catalogue of calamities. But a far greater grief it is, to see our dearest and most intimate friends turned aside from the truth of Christ, 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 sister, wife or husband, child or friend, and think how certainly they shall be in hell for ever, if they die in their present unregenerate state; to think of the gospel de(a) 2 Thess. i. 6, 7.

(*) Luke xxi. 19.

parting, the glory taken from our Israel, poor souls left willingly dark and destitute, and blowing out the light that should guide them to salvation! Our day of rest will free us from all this, "and the days of mourning shall be ended;" then thy people, O Lord, shail be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of thy planting, the work of thy hands, that thou mayest be glorified.(c)—Then we shall rest from all our own personal sufferings. This may seem a small thing to those that live in ease and prosperity; 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 misery upon us, to make us know for what we are beholden, to mind us of what we should else forget, to be serviceable to his wise and gracious designs, and advantageous to our full and final recovery. Grief enters at every sense, seizes every part and power of flesh and spirit. What noble part is there, that suffereth its pain or ruin alone? But sin and flesh, dust and pain, will all be left behind together. O the blessed tranquillity of that region, where there is nothing but sweet continued peace! O healthful place, where none are sick? O fortunate land, where all are kings! O holy assembly, where all are priests! How free a state, where none are servants, but to their supreme Monarch! The poor man shall no more be tired with his labours: no more hunger or thirst, cold or nakedness: no pinching frosts or scorching heats. Our faces shall no more be pale or sad: no more breaches in friendship, no parting of friends asunder: no more trouble accompanying our relations, nor voice of lamentation heard in our dwellings! God will wipe away all tears from our eyes.(d) O my 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 shall also rest from all the toils of duties. The conscientious magistrate, parent and minister, cries out, (d) Rev. vii. 16, 17.

(c) Isa. lx. 20, 21.

H

"O the burthen that lieth upon me!" Every relation, state, age, hath variety of duties; so that every conscientious Christian cries out, "O the burthen! O my weakness that makes it burthensome!" But our remaining rest will ease us of the burthens.-Once inore, we shall rest from all these troublesome afflictions which necessarily accompany our absence from God. The trouble that is mixt in our desires and hopes, our longings and waitings, shall then cease.

We shall no more look into our cabinet, and miss our treasure; into our hearts, and miss our Christ: no more seek him from ordinance to ordinance, but all be concluded in a most blessed and full enjoyment.

§ 13. (9) The last jewel of our crown is, that it will be an everlasting rest. Without this all were comparatively nothing. The very thought of leaving it would embitter all our joys. It would be a hell in heaven, to think of once losing heaven; as it would be a kind of heaven to the damned, had they but hopes of once escaping. Mortality is the disgrace of all sublunary delights. How it spoils our pleasure to see it dying in our hands! But O blessed eternity! where our lives are perplexed with no such thoughts, nor our joys interrupted with any such fears! where we shall be pillars in the temple of God, and go no more out! (e) While we were servants, we held by lease, and that but for the term of a transitory life; but the son abideth in the house for ever.(f) O my soul, let go thy dreams of present pleasures, and lose thy hold of earth and flesh. Study frequently, study thoroughly, this one word, eternity. What! live, and never die! rejoice, and ever rejoice! O happy souls in hell, should you but escape, after millions of ages! O miserable saints in heaven, should you be dispossessed, 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 study this word; methinks it would startle him out of his dead sleep! O that the (ƒ) John viii. 35.

(e) Rev. iii. 12.