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on my soul, so that I have often pleaded a visit from the Lord of the Sabbath, and implored his pity against my foes, and longed for this eternal day of rest. Now, what streaming joys dilate my ravished soul, to find myself possessed of everlasting Sabbath! nothing from without, nothing from within, can defile my soul, or distract my devotions. This is the day that I have longed for; and in thy presence, O thou Son of man, O thou Majesty of heaven, shall eternity be one Sabbath-day! and all the day shall I worship at thy throne, and the length of the day shall be the delight of my soul; nor shall my sanctified heart need a constant watch, as once, against her rovings, seeing it is essential to the perfect state, and heavenly frame, to go out only on God.

1769.

THE heirs of heaven need not take it amiss that they are mourners while travelling through the fields of Bochim, the vale of Achor. So short is the duration of their sorrow to the eternity of their song, that they have hardly time to heave the deep-fetched sigh, till their heart-strings snap, and their joyful soul flies into their heavenly Father's arms, and enters eternally into the joy of their

Lord.

Such is now my happy state above; and though in the dark night of time I mistook every mole hill of trial for mountains of distress, yet it was only the shadow of trouble that attended me, the shadow of grief that way-laid me, and the shadow of death that I walked through; so that trouble

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could not distract me, grief could not destroy me, and death could not devour me. But now even shadowy evil is past, and solid, sure, substantial good is mine. I enjoy the essence of joy, the quintessence of bliss, even God in his own heaven, God in his own Son! noon-days of glory, rivers of pleasures, fulness of joy, oceans of ecstacy, ages of communion, entrance my every ravished power.

Feb. 1777.

How happy are all the hosts around the throne! how content those who have been often disappointed! how chearful the mourners, and how happy all the sons of sorrow! Glory is such a weight, God is such a portion, that every power of soul is ravished and blessed above conception. O the fulness of the heavenly bliss! there is neither want nor woe, vanity nor vexation, preying on any soul; but God, in his divine perfections, fills and overfloweth all.

XVIII.

A CHECK FOR NOT MEDITATING ON DIVINE THINGS.

Jan. 1.

DOES my faith expect a kingdom, an heavenly. kingdom, and a crown of glory that fadeth not away? and can I live days and weeks, months and years, without a real ardent desire to be put in possession of the promised land? I wonder not so much that the wicked think nothing of heaven,

(for who admire unknown lands?), as that the saints think so little of it, though now and then allowed to pluck the fruits of paradise! Were the day fixed, on which I should make my appearance at an earthly court, to be created a peer, and continue in my prince's favour and presence ever after till death, how often would my thoughts revolve the auspicious day, and feast on the imaginary, the transitory grandeur! And in the mean time, were it notified to me, that my sovereign would not only permit me, but would take it kindly, and expected that I should often meditate on the majesty of his throne, on the equity of his sceptre, on the immutability of his laws, on the wisdom of his govern ment, on the riches of his treasures, on the sweetness of his favour, on the munificence of his love, on all his admirable perfections, and on the amiable person of the prince-royal, the heir of his crown, and beloved of his soul, I would not need a second invitation to these meditations. Now, when all these supposed excellencies in an earthly monarch are realized in the King Eternal, and in the King's Son; and I am not only permitted, but invited and commanded to meditate on him, assured that the day is on wing, when I shall be brought into the palace of the King, crowned with immortality, and serve him in his temple evermore; what a shame, what a sin, yea, what a loss is it, that my whole soul, in all her thoughts, meditations, desires, delights, longings, and outgoings, is not on God, and the things of God!

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ΧΙΧ.

APPROBATION OF TRYING PROVIDENCES.

Dec. 1770.

O GOVERNOR of men and angels! how well does it become me to be conformed to the Captain of my salvation, who was made perfect through sufferings! Who ever expected to find bright noon in the dark night, or serene summer in the middle of stormy winter, or grottos, arbours, and flowergardens, in a barren desart? why then am I surprised that I stumble while travelling in the night, or that it rains and is sometimes very tempestuous in the winter-season? cr that I find barrenness in the desart, and lose sight of my fellow-travellers in the dark? I will count my afflictions, then, but I dare not quarrel; I will plead for compassion, but I will not complain. Death has so often preyed around me, that I only am escaped alone to tell, that I have neither father nor mother, sister nor brother, nephew nor niece, nor any nearer relative. Yet when the Sun of righteousness shall arise on me, I shall share an eternal day above the reach of night, a serene summer where winter shall return no more; and a blooming paradise, and arbours of bliss, where there is no barren desart. Also, while I leave all my infirmities, and all my afflictions, in the vale of misery behind me, I shall find treasures of glory, rivers of pleasure, in thy presence, fulness of joy at thy right hand for ever: Moreover, I shall find my religious friends in the better country, whose death I now bewail; but

verily I believe, I shall lose and overlook them, and all the heavenly crowd, while entertained with better company, and admitted no more divine com. munion with Jehovah and the Lamb.

XX.

FAITH'S TRIUMPH OVER AFFLICTION.

Sept. 26. 1772.

IN a little I shall be where I never was before, and where I now am, I shall never be again. With every immortal, I shall be in eternity, and bid a final farewell to time. I shall just be in that heavenly place where my happy meditations now are. In thy presence, O Saviour! at thy throne, O King of kings! shall I find my heaven. Sure, then, it can never become an expectant of so much bliss, to be sad for any thing but sin, or to joy in any thing but in God. When I am no more numbered with the living, but lamented over as a broken vessel, I shall mingle with the hosts of the living. God, with the armies of light, and exult in my ce lestial privilege for ever.

Like the rest of Adam's discontented family, I am often grumbling at my griefs, complaining of my afflictions, and on the brink of quarrelling at the conduct of Providence itself. To be without afflictions is impossible below, where man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward; not to feel when afflicted, is a Stoical, is an impious stupidity; but to sink under troubles of any kind, is beneath the character of the Christian. Yet, when I reflect on that eternity of bliss which is before me, on that

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