the Mercies of the Lord for ever! Than which Song(faith S. Aug.) to the Glory of the Grace of Chrift, by whofe Blood we are deliver'd, What can be sweeter to that City!

III. What fhall I fay to the Course of Times and Ages, from the Beginning to the End? How big a Pleasure will it bring, to Record fo many Changes of things, and fuch abundant Variety, with which the unimitable Providence of God fo ftrangeby Govern'd and Directed, and brought all. to their due Period's! Here, it may be, is that Stream of the River, Pfal 46. 4. which fo miraculoufly makes Glad the City of God. For what is the order of Ages, devolving with a mighty Velocity, and never Intermitting the Flux, but that Impetus of the River, Rolling on, and hurrying away its Waters, with an inceffant Rapidity, till they be plung'd and Loft in the mighty Ocean? While now the River is flowing on, and Times Sliding away, Many make bold to difpute and Arraign the Providence of God Nay, even fome of his Servants are often under no fmall Disturbance, at the Violence of the Flood, which brings fo ma ny Damages to the Good, and no fewer Advantages to the Bad: Sometimes carrying away Wealth from the Righteous, and Throwing it upon the Wicked. Hence are they Tempted to Complain, as Pfal. 73,

2. As for me, my feet were almoft gone, my fteps bad well nigh flipt. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the Profperity of the Wicked. And Jer. 12. 1. Righteous art thou O Lord, yet let me talk with thee of thy fudg ments. Wherefore does the way of the Wicked Profper? Wherefore are they all Happy that deal very treacherously? And Hab. I. 3, 42. 5. Why dost thou cause me to behold Grievance? For Spoiling and Violence are before me. Therefore the Law is flacked: And Fudgment doth never go forth. For the Wicked doth compass about the Righteous; Therefore, wrong Judgment proceedeth. A bitter and basty Nation fhall march through the breadth of the Land; to poffefs the dwelling places that are not theirs.

But after the Courfe of Times is Revol ved, and the River is fwallowed up in the Sea; and the Saints in Heaven fhall call to mind that whole Courfe, and plainly read (in the Book of Divine Providence,) the Reasons of all the ftarting Changes; 'Tis incredible to fay, how exceedingly the rapid flowing of the River, reprefented a fresh to their Memory, will make Glad the City of God.

Then fhall they fee, why God permit ted the firft Angel and the firft man to Fall: And how his Mercy Recover'd the Man, and not the Angel. Then fhall they fee why God Chofe (for his Peculiar people,)

the

the Sons of Abraham, whom he Forefaw would be a Stiff-necked Generation; And how great Good he would Prepare for the Gentiles, by their very Perverseness; and 6 make the Fall of them, the Riches of the World. Rom. II. 12. And, (to pass by endless particulars,)

Thus fhall they fee, Why he permitted many, and even moft of the Juft, in this World, to endure Hardships; That he might moft Gloriously Crown them in the next. And from this very Remembrance fhall they take occafion, with overflowing Joy, to Blefs even the Croffes, by which they Suffer'd upon Earth, when they fee 'em turn'd to never-fading Crowns, in Heaven: Saying, as Pfal. 94. 19. In the mul titude of my Thoughts within me, Thy Com forts, O Lord, Delight my Soul.

CHAP. V.

Of the Joy of the Eyes.

ET us now Contemplate the Joys of the Glorify'd Body. And that which firit here offers it felf is the Joy of the Senfe of Seeing; which, of all the bodily Senfes, is the Nobleft, and its Office extends wideft and fartheft. This (when

entred

entred the Heavenly Countrey,) will firft of all Rejoyce in the Splendor and beauty of its own Body.. For it fhall fee this Bo-. dy changed by our Lord, and fashion'd like to bis own Glorious Body, Phil. 3. laft ver. Nor fhall its Brightnefs be less than that of the Sun. For he, to whofe Splendor it fhall be Conformed, was feen by S. Paul, above the Brightness of the Sun, Act. 26. 13. And the Lord himself tells us, Mat. 13. 43. That the Just fhall shine as the Sun, in the Kingdom of their Father.

"O then, what a Sight, and how delightful a Spectacle fhall the Eyes of the Bleffed behold, when they fhall fee their own Hands and Feet, and all their Members fend forth fuch Rays of Light, that they shall no more need any Light of the Sun or Moon, much lefs of Lamp or Candie, to Diffipate and drive away all manner of Darknefs!

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Nor fhall they fee only their own Bodies, Vying with the Sun; but (next to their Glorious Lord's, the Bodies alfo of all his Saints. And if one Sun Rifing chears the whole Earth, O then, what fhall it be to fee innumerable Suns not Illuftrious only with Light, but moft Lovely with the Refplendency and Beauty of all their Parts! Nor fhall we need there to clofe our Eyes, Left they fhould be Oppret and hurt with the Splendor ; when they shall be made Impaffible

paffible and Immortal. For he that fhall fo Fortify the Eyes of the Mind in the Light of Glory, that they fhall not at all be Oppreft with that Glory, but fee God Face to Face; will alfo Corroborate the Eyes of the Body, with fuch ftrength and Impaffibility; that without any manner of Uneafinefs, they may fee not One Sun alone, but fuch Suns without Number.

And as an Addition to this Joy of the Eyes, may be that which S. Aug. fuppofes in his Book of the City of God, That the bleed Martyrs, in those parts of their Bodies where they receiv'd their mortal Wounds, fhall carry fome fair and Glorious Badges of their eminent Virtues: As the Wounds of our Lord remain'd to be feen after his Refurrection. And then, what Tongue can utter the Brightness, with which thofe facred Enfigns fhall fhine forth! We must leave to Admiration, things beyond our Conception, as well as Expreffion.

Now what fhall I, what can I fay, worthy of the Pleasure, which the Eyes of the Bleffed fhall perceive in the Profpect of all that mighty City which the facred Writers, (for want of better Terms to exprefs its Beauty,) have fet forth, as all Golden, and adorn'd with Jewels, and Pearls, and Precious Stones? And yet farther, what Delineation fhall I undertake of that New Heaven and New Earth, which

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