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Thus, to many it has not been found Heavy and Tedious, but fhort and Delicious, to spend even whole Nights, as well as Days, in the Religious Service. And fo, St. Auguftine came to declare, How delightful it was to him, To want thofe carnal Delights, which once he thought there was no Living without: i. e. When he came to Relish the Sweets of Divine Love, and the Joys of Internal Heavenly Contemplation. Let none then here Defpond, and Faint in their Minds; but hope in the Help of the most High and Almighty; who, as he Made us for Himself, alfo Draws us to Himfelf: And will grant us that highest Favour, To fit down in his Kingdom, thro' the Merits of his Son; as he has been pleas'd to Remember us in our Lowest State, and Redeem us, at the Expence of his Blood.

Do not Deject thy felf then, O Chriftian Soul, with the Difficulties of the Way; but Confide in the Lord, who would not Invite thee to Seek firft his Kingdom, If he were not Ready to Enable thee with his Affiftance. But with a Greatnefs and Fortitude of Mind, Set upon this heavenly Expedition, where's no room for Demurring or Hefitation. For if there be a great Work to be done, There's also a moft glorious Reward to be Won. And if mighty are the Enemies that make Oppofition, Stronger is the Power of his Arm, who Calls and Girds thee to the

Combat.

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Combat. And where fo many of all Ages, Sexes, and Qualities have gone before thee, thro' this Way to the Kingdom, Why muft not thou (following their Steps,) alfo reach happily to the fame bleffed End? For they were not of Stone or Iron; but of. the fame Flesh and Blood, and as Frail, as Thy felf. Therefore, 'twas not thro' their own Ability; but going forth in the Strength of the Lord Almighty: And be thou never fo Infirm thy felf, yet why may'st thou not Succeed alike, Trusting in the Name of the Lord, and ftaying thy felf upon thy God? Caft thy Self upon him (faith St. Aug.) and he will not leave thee to Mifcarry. So depending with an Humble Confidence, Thou shalt find bis Favour and Affiftance. For God is Faithful, and cannot Deny himself. But Two things here he does require of thee; The one, that thou firmly Refolve to prefer the Glory of God and the Salvation of thy Soul, above all Confiderations elfe in the World: The other, that thou Confide not in thy own Wit or Strength, but in his Omnipotence and infinite Love. And thus doing, Thou fhalt find the Crooked made Strait, and the Rough places Plain, Ifa. 40. 4. Yea, thou fhalt Serve the Lord with Gladness; and, as Pfal. 138. 5. Sing in the Ways of the Lord, because great is the Glory of the Lord.

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The Second BooK

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Of the Saints Eternal Felicity;
Under the Title of

The CITY OF GOD.

CHA P. I.

Of the Beauty of God's City.

Lorious things are Spoken of thee thou City of God, Pfal. 87. 3. Therefore has it been my Ambition, by. the help of Meditation, (tho' as but thro' a Glafs darkly,) to fee thy Glo

ry. And what firft here offers it felf to be confider'd, is why the Saint's Felicity, which holy Scripture calls the Kingdom of. God, fhould alfo be called the City of God?

The First Reafon of which I take to be this; Because, as it goes by the name of a

Kingdom, for its Wideness, So may it bear the title of a City, for its Fairness. For to hear of a Vaft Kingdom, fuggefts the unpleafing Ideas of many Defart and Rude places in it; many craggy Mountains, rough Valleys, wild Forefts, Rocky Precipices, Boggs and Wafts, fit only for the Poffeffion of Savage Beafts: But because the Blefedness above can admit of nothing that in the leaft fhall be offenfive or Inconvenient, therefore the Holy Ghoft in Scripture fets it forth, under the Similitude of a most beautiful City. And tho' it be Ex- tended far and wide, as a Kingdom; Yet does the whole fhine and glitter, as a moft frequented and moft Opulent City.

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For in Cities, (especially the Capital and greater,) are to be feen all the finest and brightest Objects, to please and amaze the Spectators; Adorned Churches, ftately Palaces, pleasant Gardens, large Courts, a multitude of rich Houses, noble Streets, Fountains, Pillars, Pyramids, Obelisks, Theatres, Towers, Treafuries, and Repofitories of all Good things, for the Ufe and Comfort of Life.

O what would be the Beauty of Italy, were it clear'd of all the barren and defolate Places: So that the whole Nation all over fhould fhine like Rome: Not as now it is; But as under Auguftus; who found it of Brick, and made it of Marble! And how

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fplendid had been the Holy Land of old, If the whole had made that Figure which Ferufalem did, before deftroyed by the Romans; as Jofephus describes it, The Wonder of the World, for Magnificence, and every thing in it, to Entertain and Ravib the Senfe!

O then, what is that Jerufalem above, the City of the great King, which takes up all the Kingdom of Heaven; and makes that Kingdom of all Kingdoms, fo Refulgent every where, as if the whole were but one fweet and Glorious City No where Void, no where Deformed, no where Horrid,Squalid,or Unpolifht! Such, most affur. edly,is the Heavenly City that no one can in earnest think any thinga greeably of it, but he must be Enflam'd with Longings after it: And none fo Longs for it, but above all things in the World, ftill he will Seek it, and never reft, till he find it.

Hear how the elder Tobit fings its Praise, Chap. 13. 11, 16, 17, 18. All generations shall praife thee with great Joy. For Jerufalem Thall be built up with Saphires, and Emeralds, and precious Stones: Thy Walls and Battlements, and Towers with pure Gold: And the Street Shall be par'd with Beril, and Carbuncle, and. ftones of Ophir. All her streets shall say, Allelujah. And they shall praise him, saying, Bleffed be God, that hath Exalted thee for ever. With whom St. John joins in Čonfort,

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