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have put off their armour, and on their crowns; dropped the spear, and taken up the palm! In a word, how sweet, how ineffably sweet, to cease from sin!

Thou knowest I desire to depend on promised grace, and in the strength thereof to cut my way through all my enemies; but I also desire to pant for promised glory, when not an enemy shall be found in all the heavenly world. Hail happy day, when death, spiritual death, that choaked my graces, and slew my comforts, and hell, even sin and Satan, shall be cast into the lake of fire. To believe in thee is my duty while below, but to behold thee will be my bliss above. Faith and hope refresh and support me in the militant state, but vision and fruition shall transport and ravish me for ever. Indeed my defence is the same, but the sense of my security differs. Though grace shall rise into glory, yet often my faith of this is shaken, and a heavy tumult ensues in my soul; but when crowned with glory, and seated before thy throne, I shall sin no more, I shall fear no more, but enjoy divine ecstasies, sacred tranquillity, and all the pleasures of the land of love.

XII.

THE EXERCISE OF THE blessed.

O YE heavenly hosts, how are you this night employed?" In beholding him, and blessing him, and seeing him, and singing to him. We look on him, and love him; we look to him, and are enlightened; we see him, and are like him; no fa

tigue deadens our devotions, no weakness inclines us to repose; we are immortal, and our theme is eternal; so we cannot be wearied, and it cannot be exhausted!"

What high and beautiful flights are in your songs, O ye redeemed from among men! O the ravishing accents of the hosannahs above, and the raptures of the hallelujah on high! O the sweetness of the song of Moses and the Lamb, and the melody of the tingling notes of men and angels! O the sublime subject of the anthem, and the eternity of the concert!" True, O man! for our day knows no night, our song no pause, our vision no vail, our sun no cloud, our light no shadow, our strength no decay, our felicity no period, our love no allay, and our eternity no end!"

Did ye see, O ye exalted ones! would ye not pity us the sons of men, to find us so anxious and eager in the pursuit of lying vanities, as if eternity were come down to time, or the things of time could suit eternity? Ye are honouring Christ to the highest, for he is in your soul, and in your song; in your love, and in your eye. O blessed exercise! O excellency of bliss! The Most High, in the highest heaven, in the brightest display of his glory, in the sweetest manifestations of his love, is the subject of your song, the object of your adorations, and the plenitude of your possession! My rest would be your uneasiness; for I must fall asleep in order to bear the toils of a perishing world, but ye rest not day nor night, and yet are sufficient for the ecstacies of an eternal heaven! These are the years of the right hand of the Most High; the days of the exalted Son of man, one of which I long to see. O the strength that flows from that

"exceeding and eternal weight of glory!" the more weight, the more might!

Oh! at an immense distance I only look toward that land of bliss, but have I any thing to do with your joys? methinks I claim them all. That God is my God by the same relation, to whom I shall shortly come; that immortality I shall shortly put on; I shall shortly join in that song, possess that glory, plunge into that bliss, be satisfied with that likeness, see that well-beloved of my soul, burn in that love, share of that fulness, and enter into that joy! Therefore, in this low condition, it shall be consolation to me to meditate on the sublime em. ployment of the higher house, till I am transported thither.

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XIII.

COMPLAINTS OF SPIRITUAL LANGUOR.

O LORD, these many years I have pretended to love thee. I have indeed tasted that thou art gracious; but, alas! how can I say that I love thee, when my heart is not with thee? Can I love thee, and not long for thee? Surely it is the nature of love to be impatient and restless till possessed of the object beloved, yet how little do I long for thee! How can I dwell with so much contentment at such a distance from thee! I am not only astonished, but terrified at myself. O lukewarm heart! O lifeless lover that I am! is this my kindness to my friend? Did I esteem the smiles of thy face, and the light of thy countenance, as I should, I could not dwell with so much pleasure in the land of

darkness. Did I regard the honour of thy name as I ought, the daily sight of thine enemies would be my daily grief; and to find myself so often acting the enemy against my dearest Lord, and best friend, would be my continual lamentation and burden. Is it possible I can be an heir of God, an expectant of glory, and not pant after communion with God? Ah! in what delusive dreams have I hitherto been held! Is the whole creation able to balance the loss of one moment in heaven? Shall I dwell so long at Jerusalem, and not long to enter into the palace to see the King's face! O thou chiefest among ten thousand! strike off my fetters, and captivate my love. Divide thy heavens, and let mine eye of faith look in, and my soul will follow mine eye. Why should I, when invited to a crown of heavenly glory, like Saul, hide myself among the stuff of worldly cares? What a struggle have I with stubborn sense and present things, a carnal mind and a weak faith, with cold desires and languid love! O to be enriched with that faith which is the substance of all that a believer can hope for, the evidence and earnest of all the divine excellencies of the unseen world! Then, my faith shall work by love, and love shall go out on God, and I in very deed long to be for ever with the Lord!

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XIV.

PREPARATION FOR HEAVEN.

WERE I to go abroad with all my substance, and spend the remainder of my days in another

land, would not some things gain my attention? 1. I would study the language of the country, that I might converse with the inhabitants in their own dialect. 2. I would get all the knowledge I could of the laws, liberties, &c. of those among whom I was to take up my fixed abode. 8. I would use my uttermost endeavour to contract acquaintance, and establish a friendship with the men of the place. And, 4. If possible, would get recommended to the favour and protection of the lord of the land. Alas, then! am I less provident for heaven than I would be for earth?

Ye inhabitants of the heavenly Canaan, how will ye stare at me, if I enter your assembly an utter stranger to your songs? My trifling discourse, and carnal converse, will sound and smell rank of hell in the courts of heaven! Oh! am I to converse through eternity in the language of love, and yet not know a letter below? 2. Am I to be under the laws of thy sceptre, O King of saints! and not know that God is love? O! now to be searching into the privileges of that land which I am to inhabit, not for the short term of life, but for eternity itself, where I shall see the King in his beauty, and share of the divine fulness of my exalted Head. 3. Would I be acquainted with the church of the first-born, and all the angels of light, (and, ye happy ones, I hope to join you soon); then only in our employment we contract acquaintance, for while we worship at the same throne, and behold the same amiable Being, faith and vision having like effects, we are companions in love, and associates in work; and are assimulated to the glorious object we behold. And, 4. Since in the smiles of thy countenance I shall find my eternal heaven,

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