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see thee without a cloud, who art altogether lovely? When shall my soul be revived with the smell of the Rose of Sharon in the paradise of God, and sit down with great delight under the shadow of the Tree of life, the Plant of renown, and eat of thy immortalizing fruit, and drink of thy refined wine? When shall I join my songs with the anthems of eternity, and mingle my grateful notes with the harpers round the throne? When shall the hiding hills, the intervening heights, be molten down by the beatific vision of thy blessed self, and the valley of darkness, and deeps of despondency, rise into the mount of communion ? When shall I enter into the joy of my Lord, walk with thee in white, and be satisfied with thy likeness ? Then shall I know thee as I expect, praise thee as I aspire after, and love thee as I would.

MEDITATION LXXV.

THE SPIRITUAL MISER.

Gibraltar Bay, Feb. 25, 1759.

WHO is more an object of ridicule than the rich

miser, that goes supperless to bed, because he will not give one farthing out of his immense sums to purchase it; being afraid to live on what he is never able to spend, and anxious to heap up what he can never enjoy.

Shall I, then, act the miser in spiritual things? Shall I be afraid to live on the all-sufficient fulness of my Lord, lest his stores decay? Shall I spare to drink of his overflowing ocean, lest it grow dry before my face? Heaven no less loves a liberal re

ceiver, than a liberal giver. Is it decorous to hunger at the table of the king, or to say to the enriching hand, Hold, thou canst not spare so much? The miser's wretched parsimony may, after his death, advantage his heirs, and, in the mean time, accumulate his own riches; but the case is not so with me. My living for the present poorly and sparingly on the promises, will never advantage my after-state, nor leave any greater plenty for other saints; neither will it make the celestial treasures any fuller, that I fetch not daily from them. Though Daniel looked fairer than those that fed on the polluted bread of the king. of Babylon, yet my soul will look but thin and lean, unless it feed and feast on the daily allowance of the King of glory, whose table is covered with an infinite plenty. All the angels and all the saints may banquet continually without lessening the divine store, which, as to the display and manifestation, increases, as once or twice in the days of his flesh, among the numerous eaters, and grows among the happy guests. Why then pine at such a table, starve in the midst of so much plenty, and convert divine liberality into the parsimony of unbelief? Shall I confine that bounty that is rather nonplussed where to pour its plenitude (because few will accept of Christ and his fulness) than at a loss for a superabundancy to bestow?

Henceforth let my soul by faith live at large on the promises, and be spiritually grand at the expences of the King, who will not grudge it. Let me put on the royal apparel of the Son of God, the vesture of imputed righteousness; and, as a sign that this is the embroidered garment of my inner man, keep clean hands, and an holy walk. Why should I creep and grovel in the by-ways of darkness, and foot-paths of

despondency, when I may ride in the chariot of the covenant, which Solomon has built for the daughters of Jerusalem, and paved its midst with love? Why should I walk a-foot through fear and faithlessness, when my seat is empty there, and none can take it up? Then, to the honour of him to whom I belong, I will appear like one of the royal family of heaven. I will rejoice in him always, and again I will rejoice. I wili feast my soul with his divine dainties, and suck the honey of the promises. I will satiate myself with his goodness, and drink at his river that gladdens the city of God. I will not dwell in the shadow of sorrow, but come out and walk in the light of his countenance, in the brightness of his glory. I will importune his sin-subduing grace, and plead for strength to fight the battles of the Lord, that in his name I may conquer all my foes. I will expatiate on the opulence of my treasure, the extent of my inheritance, and the excellencies of my Beloved; and live to the glory of him who giveth me all things richly to enjoy, according to the rank of an heir of God, according to the grandeur of a joint-heir with Christ.

MEDITATION LXXVI

CONTRADICTIONS.

Gibraltar Bay, Feb. 26, 1759.

I AM ever guilty of some folly, some unaccountable

folly; and either my faith condemns my fears, or my fears accuse my faith of folly. If I may safely trust to God as my guardian and guide, in the shadow, in the darkness of death, where, for all my friends,

where, for the whole world, I must walk alone; why should I distrust him in the high-way of life, where thousands walk with me? Dare I commit the concerns of my soul to him, and hope for salvation in his name, yet distrust him with the cares of my present life, nor hope for its necessaries in his providence? Can I venture my soul into his hand, and think it safe through the intricate mazes of an eternal duration, yet doubt if I may depend on his promise and providence, through the few windings of a transitory life? Or will God care for the soul, but cast off the body? Will he feed the raven, deck the lily, but starve the saint? Will he give of the good things of this life, even to superfluity, to his enemies, and withhold necessary supplies from his people? A naked supply here is enough for those that shall inherit all things hereafter. Can he guide the stars in their courses, and the orderly revolution of day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, and not over-rule the occurrences of my life? Can he, who has given up his Son freely for me, not as freely to me with him give all good things? Do I conceit God to be the God of the mountains of eternity, but not of the valleys of time; and that because his habitation is in the heights of glory, he governs not the deep places of the earth, which are also in his hand? How great a beast in sacred matters am I, who can devolve my great all on him, and yet distrust him with trifles, and what is nothing at all!

Now, as all I seek is to enter the gate of glory, not anxious what will become of me afterward, or how the vast demands of my enlarged soul, mine immortal powers, shall be supplied through endless ages; even so, as I am already entered among the

numerous beings of this lower orb, all which are supplied from his bounty, preserved by his power, and governed by his providence, I have no cause of anxiety about my present situation, about my passing life; only, in the lawful use of lawful means, to commit all into his hand, who does all things well, and gives to all his people an expected end.

MEDITATION LXXVII.

THE CONFUSION OF THE WICKED AT THE GENERAL

JUDGMENT.

Gibraltar Bay, Feb. 28, 1759.

ALAS! men now sin with impunity and boldness; but when I dart my thoughts beyond the grave, and see the sinning multitude gathered before the awful bar, the angry tribunal, the vindictive Judge, how will they look? Have I ever seen one affronted, and put to the blush? Once sentenced to infamy, one put into the highest throws of unruly passion, or one condemned to death? All this is but like modesty blushing, in comparison of the confusion of guilt, and the eternal gloom of horror, which shall take fast hold on them, when the incensed Judge pronounces their sentence in these killing words, Depart from me. Where will they hide their guilty heads, and where conceal their shame? They will not be able to cover with a good countenance their condemnation, as they do now their sin which causes it. How will the ground shake, and the earth tremble beneath the trembling multitude! What fearful aspects! What rueful looks! what rolling eyes! what fright

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