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eth in the morning of eternity. I must fight while on the field of battle; and it is enough to get the crown when won. I am as an hireling, and I must not lie down to rest until the evening-shadows cover my weary limbs. The world is too barren a soil to bear true joy; for where sin within and round about abounds, how can consolation triumph, which rises only as the other falls, and falls as the opposite rises? But in this my comfort lies, that though in the world I shall have trouble, yet in him I may be of good cheer, because he has overcome the world. Moreover, in midst of all the sorrow that now surrounds me, I have an inward joy that causes all my bones to sing and blossom with the beautiful prospect of a joy coming from its divine fountain, which, without the least fear of returning sorrow, shall be the strength of my soul for ever.

MEDITATION LXXII.

THE MADNESS OF THE WORLD IN THEIR CHOICE.

Under sail, Feb. 19, 1759.

WHY rejects the world the Saviour of the world?

Why abhor they him who is altogether lovely, and hate him who is the best Friend of mankind? Had I the tongue of a cherub, that has heard the language of glory, and mingled in the discourse of the hosts before the throne for these five thousand years; or could I talk in every tongue, extend my voice to every nation, and speak. so loud and long, that the as-. sembled universe should hear, what should be my theme, my darling, favourite theme? Surely the Son

of God, the Saviour of the world. How would I dwell on his divine name, and enlarge on his transporting relations, till all the needy nations fell prostrate adorers before the throne of their kinsman-Redeemer, and their God! But if they disdained to listen to a fellow-creature, how would my soul cheerfully pour out herself into articulate thunder, or distinct echo, thereby to repeat his praise, and convey his excellencies into the ear of thousands, and ten thousands of attentive hearers, till they should submit to him, bow the knee, and begin the work of heaven on earth. Then would I, with contentment, drop down into the dust, mingle with my kindred clay, and be no more. Yea, what would it matter though I should no more exist, if ten thousand thousand warbling tongues were added to the general song, to extol the fairest One, the Plant of renown, for ever? Such an insignificant nothing as I am, would make no blank in the list of beings, or the roll of creation; and O what massy joy would it afford me to think of the happiness of millions of my fellow-creatures!-But to quit with my being, I must quit with thee, my life, my love, my God, my all! I fly the very thought, and to my happiness shall still exist, and to my greater happiness still, exist the friend of God!

But what shall I do for my best Beloved? I dare not sometimes speak of him, and many times on his account I am a derision. But, O men of the world! what can you desire that is not in Christ? What distress can you dread, from which he cannot deliver you? The excellencies of earth are but his footstool, the excellencies of heaven are but his throne; how excellent, then, must he himself be! His treasures are infinite, and open for you: Riches, if ye are

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poor; honour, if ye are despised; friendship, if are forsaken; help, if ye are orphans; justice, if ye are injured; mercy, if ye are miserable; joy, if ye are disconsolate; protection, if ye are exposed; deliverance, if ye are in danger; health, if ye are in disease; life, if ye are mortal; and, in brief, all things, if ye have nothing at all. Time and eternity are his, and he can give you all the good things of the one, and all the glorious things of the other.— Moreover, he can deliver you from all your fears; from sin, the worst of all evils; from self, the most hurtful of all companions; from death, the most awful of all changes; from satan, the most subtle of all enemies; from hell, the most horrible of all prisons; and from wrath, the doom of all sinners.

Now, where will ye find such an one as he? Why, then, refuse life, and seek after death? All heaven is enamoured with his beauty; and why, then, will ye prefer a midnight-gloom before his meridian glory? The longer we look on created gaities, they grow the leaner and more ill-favoured; so that, by the time we have viewed them forty, fifty, or sixty years, we see nothing but vanity in the creature ; but when ten thousand ages are employed in beholding this Perfection of beauty, still he appears more and more lovely, even altogether lovely. Why will not the world awaken from its fatal dream, let go shadows, and grasp at everlasting substance? Alas! I can say nothing of his excellencies; they overwhelm my labouring thought, and are too vast for my feeble conception to bring forth.

But let the world choose whom or what it will for a portion, still, as for me and my house, and all I can prevail upon, we will choose this well-beloved, and serve this Lord.

MEDITATION LXXIII.

THE APPROACHING HAPPINESS OF THE SAINTS.

Feb. 23, 1759.

To escape my sorrow, and triumph in the midst

of grief, let me suppose futurity present, and eternity at hand, which may very soon, but must ere long, be the case. May I not, then, with the eye of all-triumphant faith, think I see myself walking with my well-beloved in white along the fields of glory, and my whole soul going out to him in a manner it never could below! While floods of glory from his reconciled face overflow me, and the smile of his amiable countenance entrances my soul for ever! While I join the hosannas of the higher house, the eternal hallelujahs, and begin the song which none can learn but the chosen number, the sealed ones! With what transport do I mingle with the hosts of God, and, to my extreme comfort, fear not one sinner in the heavenly company, or any thing expressed against the majesty of the Most High! Where all the heavenly multitudes, transforming in his beams, kindling in his flames, and drinking at his ecstatic rivers, are happy beyond conception.

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Such is the felicity the saints shall enter into, yea, in a manner are entered into already. So short is the interval between now and then, this present and that future state, that their glory is as it were begun. Faith and hope entering like an anchor within the vail, the saints of God rise at one step from this vale of tears, to the hill of God, to the mount of communion. Now, why should the noise of the rabble, or

uproar in the street, trouble me, when I am entering the very door of my everlasting habitation, and shall soon be eternally out of the reach of their confusion and murmurs? Henceforth, let the near prospect of that eternal triumph blunt my present grief, scatter my troubles, and spread serenity in my breast.

MEDITATION LXXIV.

WHAT WE SHOULD EXPECT AND WAIT FOR.

Gibraltar Bay, Feb. 24, 1759.

How are our joys heightened by hope, and that sometimes an hope that is false! And how vainly are our expectations pointed at some future enjoyment, which, when it comes, shall perhaps disappoint us in the enjoyment! Yet, for such things we long, though, in a manner, we are hankering after our own misery. But how much does it rather become me, if I be an heir of God, an expectant of bliss, and a candidate for glory, to be waiting for him who shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation; to be hastening unto the day of the Lord, and crying, "Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariot ?" When will these empyrean heavens divide, to let my Lord descend? When will these celestial doors fly open, that the exalted One may come in all his state, in his own and in his Father's glory, with his holy angels? When shall the starry way of eternal communion be stretched out between the highest heavens, and the new earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness? When shall I begin to behold him in all his glory, whom eye hath not seen, and to

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