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 ecstasies 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 employment of the higher house, till I am transported thither.

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 honor 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 my love shall go out on God, and I in very deed long to be for ever with the Lord!

XIV.

PREPARATION FOR HEAVEN.

WERE I to go abroad, with all my substance, and spend the remainder of my days in anotherland, 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 were to take up my fixed abode. 3. I would use my utmost endeavor to contract acquaintance, and establish a friendship with the men of the place. And, 4. If possible, would get recommend!ed to the favor 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 firstborn, 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 assimilated to the glorious object we behold. And, 4. Since in the smiles of thy countenance I shall find my eternal heaven, how should I esteem thy favour above life, and ardently breathe after communion with thee below! I may dwell in any country here, and neither know nor be known of the king; but so I cannot in thy land, O Immanuel! for unless I know and be known personally to the King, I will not have one known face in all the world of spirits!

XV.

THE ETERNAL SABBATH..

HOW is it that I, who pretend to love thee, should ever be wearied with a Ŝabbath-day's devotion? If the body is fatigued, or the spirits exhausted, how shall I stand under much intenser ardours, through eternity itself? What say ye, ye adorers round the throne? do ye never long to rest from your divine employment? "O poor mortal! how ignorant art thou of our frame, our faculties, our felicity and strength! The rest thou speakest of would be our torment ; an intermission of praise would pierce us with the severest pangs of anguish. Didst thou see him as we do, thou wouldst wholly melt in admiration, dissolve in love, and pour forth in praise, and never cease, and never tire through eternity itself."

Father of lights! pity my darkness, and enlighten me! O fountain of life! pity my deadness, and enliven me! While I call in mine own experience to

convince me,that the saints in glory never are fatigued or dulled in their divine exercises, have not I had some happy moments, of which I did not weary? Now, when in my best frames, I have found it so for a short while, but corruption and infirmity daily distressing me altered all, else I should have found it so for a long time. But in heaven the spiritual frame is fixed, and infirmity and corruption are no more; therefore, with equal ease and vigor I will worship God through eternity, as I would one hour on earth. Well may the fire of love continually burn in heaven, having fresh fuel added to it by the hand of God; well may my soul follow hard after thee, being upheld by the arm of thine Omnipotence. Then to worship at thy throne shall be both the business and the bliss of my eternity. When once I have tasted what it is to rest in the bosom of God, to drink the spiced wine of bliss, to hold communion in the holy of holies, and to worship at the highest throne, then all created beings joined together will not drive me one moment' from my dear enjoyment and divine employ! Roll on, thou longed-for day, when I shall mourn no more over feeble nature, and the short-lived frame, a hiding Jesus and imperfect love; but rise to ardors only known above, and, full of heaven, go wholly out on God.