Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

of mind will be entranced at my admission into thy beatific presence! All the heavenly graces will sing in concert at receiving the crown of perfection! All the angels of light will welcome me with joy to their great Master's house! and the whole church of the first-born will shout my happy accession to the purchased throne !

Yet, for all this, my welcome would be but dry, and their song but dull, didst not thou, O Jehovah! re joice over me! didst thou not rest in thy love, and joy over me with SINGING. How can hosts or angels look sad, if their Maker joy? How can the heavens be silent, if Jehovah sing? All thine attributes, all thy perfections shall harmonize in my salvation. Mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, shall meet and kiss, and shout and sing. O what astonishing transports and entrancing meiody shall fill the highest heavens! where, O amazing! where the subject of our songs, and object of our love, shall himself be the sweetest singer, because he does every thing according to the grandeur of a God.

IX.

THE JOY OF SAINTS UNSEEN.

HOW do the men of the world mistake religion, and think the Christian dull and melancholy, dumpish, and morose! But, O Fountain of my joy! thou knowest what divine delight I find in my retired moments I only lament that I am not more alone, or, when alone, that I am not more with thee. The request of the spouse shall be mine-Come, my beloved, let me

get up early from an enchanting world, let me go forthr from the vanities of time, let me lodge in the humble village of solitude, let me walk in the flowing field of the promise, and there will I give thee my loves. In these sweet moments heaven smiles in my face, and my soul exults in God. I grasp at my expected bliss, and taste the joys on high.

X.

HEAVEN THE BEST INHERITANCE.

A DIVIDED sea, and a flaming Sinai, falling manna, and a friendly cloud, were wonders of old; but, O what a wonder this, that the God of glory should come down to give wings to worms of the earth to bear them to the skies! Amazing! to see insects soar above the stars, and arrive at the realms of day! When, O when shall I also join the shining multitude that sits on Zion's hill?-But there is not one crawling insect in all the heavenly country. So, though I be a worm below, while I rise to the throne, I shall rise into an angel in the assimilating beam.

Truly, O King eternal! my faith sees that the land of promise is a pleasant land, and that thy presence makes heaven a desirable habitation. Let the men of the earth contend about thy footstool; I will not be satisfied with any thing beneath thy throne. What is a province, what is a kingdom, what is an empire, what a continent, what the whole world to an inheritance in the highest heaven! To thy honour, O thou King of kings! all thy glorified subjects are both altogether and always kings. In thy favor they are exalted, and

none shall ever drive them from their state. A portion, or division, of the Arabian desarts, would have been no compliment to the tribes who were travelling toward the land of promise; nor shall I much esteem a plot of this enchanting world, who desire to be only charmed with my heavenly possession.

O pleasant country! O land of delight! where the winter is past, and eternal summer dwells! Sin dares not pass the frontiers of Immanuel's land; sorrow and sickness dare not invade the seats of bliss. Shall I hereafter inhabit the land where sin shall no more infest it? I who have been in hot wars with it all my life! Shall, then, a land that is within the sea-mark of wrath, engage my attention, or gain my esteem, when my native country is so very near? I have but a little way to go till I pass over Jordan, and enter into mine eternal possession, not of Canaan, not of paradise, not of heaven, but of Jehovah and the Lamb, where I shall enjoy all thy communicable fulness, ages with. out end.

XI.

ENEMIES OVERTHROWN.

THOUGH Israel was, without doubt, safe under the conduct of the man of God, while recoiling seas left their bed a passage for the ransomed tribes, and the angel and the cloud interposed between the heirs of promise, and the hardened pursuers; yet when their enemies are no more, but their lifeless bodies, which caused their terror in the land of the living, are lying

on the shore, how do they sing and boast in their divine Deliverer! Even so, though under thy conduct, O Captain of salvation! I am safe in spite of earth and hell at my heels, in spite of sin and corruption rising in my heart; yet how desirable is it to enter into the land of rest! how pleasant to join the triumphant throng, who 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 tranquility, 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, in 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 fatigue 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, then, 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 mingling 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

« AnteriorContinuar »