eternity pursue the blissful theme. Then, and not till then, shall I know what it is to see God, to have communion and fellowship in their perfection with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ, and, with saints and angels, to enjoy him in all his inexhaustible fulness. There shall not be an unemployed moment, nor an idle thought there. Crowns and kingdoms shall not excite one wish there (why then should lesser things excite so many wishes now, since, I am to be so soon there?) but God's infinite self shall be my all in all through eternity!

XXIII.

A REPREHENSION FOR DECAY IN GRACE.

Dec. 17, 1775.

WITH tears of blood might I write bitter lamentations over the deadness of my soul, the darkness of my state! Is the beloved of my soul in heaven, and shall the love of my soul grovel on the earth? Has he who is fairer than the children of men, than the angels of God, lost all his beauty with me? Has he no form nor comeliness that I should desire him, meditate on him, and long for him? O the mad career of my unestablished mind, to hunt after shadows, vanity, wind, and let heaven and glory go! O happy day of glory that is on the wing, when sin shall poison my pursuits no more; but all my soul, with the ardor of heavenly love, and the vigor of perfected grace, shall search the adorable perfections of God,

XXIV.

THE NOBLE INDIFFERENCE.

April 13, 1776.

THE brevity of time, and the near approach of eter nity, give to the rightly-exercised soul a noble indifference about every thing below. What matters it whether I dwell in a palace or a prison, since it is but for a day, an hour, a moment! What disappointment should pain me in time, if I shall possess God for eternity? L look around me, and see multitudes eager on the chace, keen in the pursuit of created good, forgetful that the world passeth away. I look forward to the invisible world, and see multitudes in their eternal state, astonished at the stupidity of saints and sinners, that the trifles of a day should with them preponderate so much. I also find myself in the deluded throng of triflers, and condemn my own conduct. An hundred years ago, O ye disembodied nations, some of you were inhabitants in time, and ere an hundred years hence, I shall dwell. in eternity. Ye then straggled along the road of human life with care and concern, with burdens and bitterness, but now are forever at your journey's end; I am now travelling the thorny path, and shall also shortly arrive at home. Then there shall be no difference between you and me, when both dwelling in the same eternal world; and the interim is so short, that nothing that can befal me should either give pain or pleasure. I am on the wing to the celestial paradise, and no blasts in my face shall hinder my flight to the mount of God. The brevity of time may be bitter to the sinner, because torment and eternity seize him in the same mo

ment; but it must afford me joy, for the shorter my time, the nearer to my endless felicity. Bodies can never be larger than the orbits in which they move; then all the complicate afflictions of time must disappear when time is no more. Why, then, take deep thought, or long sorrow, or much joy, or lasting delight, at the ill or good of a few flying moments. My soul is immortal, and God is eternal; therefore in thee below, and in thee above, in thee in time, and in thee in eternity, shall my soul find boundless pleasures and unfading bliss.

XXV.

NO HAPPINESS BELOW.

Νου. 18, 1777.

NEVER shall I attain to happiness, while I seek it in the creature, or expect it out of heaven; and O how little copcern have I with the things of time, who am so far on my journey towards eternity! When the world gets into the affections, there is nothing but tumult and disorder there; this I have long found; but when heaven dwells within, the heart becomes a little heaven, and all is peace and serenity, composure and joy. O then, to keep the heart barred against enchanting trifles, and to live above every thing below. At the hour of death, I shall make my triumphant entry into the New Jerusalem, and from the walls of the holy city I shall bid defiance to all the cares of life, the pleasures of sense, the armies of corruption, and the legions of hell.

XXVI.

GOD A NEVER-FAILING PORTION.

Dec. 12, 1778.

WITH respect to this world, I sleep but a part of every day; but with respect to a world to come, alas ! how long is my sleep, how little am I awake! O it is sad to be taken up with dreams and shadows, and to neglect eternal realities! I am happy to be shaken out of my false confidences, and to hang on my heavenly Father alone, and if disappointed in my support, it will not be owing to the instability of my prop, but to my not leaning aright on him. However, I am happy, and I claim to be happy with his rich grace and overflowing love, in spite of all temporal disasters, should the whole of my time be one series of disappointments, one continued tempest and storm, since the hour of death brings me safe to the other shore, where the enjoyment of God and the Lamb shall replenish my whole soul.

XXVII.

GOD CLAIMS THE WHOLE HEART.

May 30, 1779.

O TO have communion with God in all things, and at all times; and for this end I should keep for him my heart. If I am visited of a great friend, I must not speak twice to an impertinent neighbor that intrudes into our company, and but once to him, lest he take it amiss, and depart; I must not give some rascally acquaintance the chief seat in the best part of the room, and set him in the corner, lest he grow angry, and be gone. Just so, God expects my heart, claims my me

ditations, and is affronted when he is not in all my thoughts. O! then, to get my idols destroyed, my meditations swept of vanities, and my heart wholly kept for God.

XXVIII.

THE BEST EMPLOYMENT.

June 13, 1779.

TO prepare for a world to come may well employ me while in this world, and the sweet hopes of the heavenly paradise may well support me while travelling through this earthly wilderness; and when I arrive there, it shall not diminish my bliss, that in my pilgrimage I had sometimes storms and tempests in my face, clouds and thick darkness around me, troubles and dangers in my way, aliens and enemies as my companions by the way, and that I was often walking without any company at all, or with company worse than none. When I arrive there, I shall get such a view of the wisdom that conducted me along, that I shall now only approve of it, but admire, adore, and sing of it for ever.

XXIX.

ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS.

Dec. 9, 1781.

IF we love to converse with our friends, or where the greatest part of our friends dwell, surely I should love to converse much with the unseen world, where almost all my friends are. Several years ago, death swept off all my father's family, but him who now laments a second stroke, by which the complete half of