by thee, that thy Body feels the torments it endures; but, in that Heaven, that glorious Heaven, no Enemy can reach thee, no Devil fright thee, no storm furprize thee, no Monarch frown on thee, no Sickness break thee, no diftemper crush thee, no Age waste thee, no Danger shake thee, no Tyrant threaten thee, no Lions meet thee, no Tyger tear thee, no Sword peirce thee, no publick Commotions ftartle thee,; the Sun fhall not light on thee, nor any heat, for thou art fecure under the fhadow of the Almighties Wings for ever. The Lamb, which is in the midit of th yThrone, fhall feed the by his everlafting Society. Here it is, A little while, and you Shall not fee me; and again a little while, and you fhall fee me; but there, with open face, and without a Glafs thou wilt look upon his Majesty for ever: Here Chrift comes and departs; there he will never remove out of thy fight, there his everlasting love will fupport thee, there his kindness will be fubject to Clouds and Eclipfes no more, there thou wilt not be able to turn thy Eyes away from him. This is that Lamb, that will give thee to drink of his everlasting Springs, Springs which can never be drawn dry; Springs, which can no more decay, than the Son of God decays; He is the everlasting Fountain of Delight, and in this Fountain, thou fhalt bathe and recreate thy felf for ever, his Attributes, his Kingdom, his Beauty, fhall charm and ravish thee for ever; there thou shalt be in an everlafting extafie of joy, there thou wilt not need to cry out with St. Bernard, Hold, Lord, for my Heart is not able te

contain

contain thofe Foys which thou doft fo liberally pour out upon me; that everlasting Fountain of joy and content, and fatisfaction, fhall both fill and enable thee to bear that fulness of joy and delight; which fhall then appear unto thee; the remembrance of Christ's Merits, and Benefits, and what Christ had done for thee, will then tranfport thee into everlasting Praifes and Celebrations of his Goodness, Songs as endless as thy duration will be. The Rivers that water that Garden of God fhall be a perpetuum mobile, running and flowing to all Eternity. In this Paradise are living, no ftanding Waters; when Millions of Ages are paft, thy Glory fhall be ftill green and lively, and after many thousands of years, thy happiness, like Aa

ron's Rod, fhall bud and bloffom, and bear Fruit. O my Soul, when that inexhaustible Fountain fades, and not till then, need'ft thou be afraid that thy delights will fade; there God will put an end to all thy Tears; What Rhetorick can reach the favour? The Tears thou didst fhed for fin? the Tears which a deep fenfe of thy Spiritual poverty did force from thee, the Tears which Tribulation and Anguish did command from thine Eyes, these will all then be washed away.

How amiable are thy Tabernacles, Lord God of Hofts! My Soul longeth, yea even fainteth, for the Courts of the Lord: My heart and my Flesh cryeth out for the Living God, When fhall I come to appear before thee? When fhall I shake off this Clog of the Flesh, and praise thee day and night in thy Temple; When fhall I be freed from this Earth and Dross, and do thy Will, O my God, without Let, or Interruption?

O my Soul! Doft thou believe fuch a Heaven; where no good fhall be abfent, and canft thou be hunting after the husks and empty fhells of fenfual pleasure? How little do the Inhabitants of that New Jerufalem mind the Pomp and Grandeur of this World? They have nobler objects to mind, and more delightful employments to take up their minds and thoughts: Didft thou live more in this Heaven, O my Soul how wouldft thou look down upon this Earth, as an inconfiderable trifle? How little wouldst thou regard what Man can do unto thee? How contentedly mighteft thou part with all that the World counts dear and precious, for Chrift his fake, as knowing that there is laid up for thee the Crown of Righteousness, which the Righteous Judge will give to thee one day, and not only to thee, but to all thofe that love his appearance? Look up on the Primitive Martyrs, O my Soul, they broiled in Flames, but looked upon that Heaven and smiled. St. Stephen hath a thousand Stones flying about his Ears, but looks upon that Heaven, and the Glory of God appears upon his face. Abraham fojourns in the Land of Promife, as in a strange Country, dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, but Looks for a City which hath Foundations and goes on triumphing. Mofes fuffers affliction with the People of God, but hath refpect unto the recompence of Reward, and esteems the Reproach of Chrift greater Riches than all the Treafures of Egypt. The Apostles are fcourged and beaten for the Teftimony of Jefus, but looked upon this Heaven,

Heaven, and depart from the Council rejoycing, because they were counted worthy to fuffer for the Name of the Lord Jefus. St. Paul five times of the Jews receives forty ftripes fave one, thrice is he beaten with Rods, once he is stoned, thrice he suffers Shipwrack, a Night and a Day he is in the Deep, in journeyings often, in cold and nakedness; but, What ails the Man? he fings, his heart dances for joy under all these Troubles. O my Soul, he faw, he faw, that his light Affliction, which was but for a moment, would work for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory.

O my God, give me but my portion in this Heaven, and I defire no more; Come what will come, Sword, Fire, Imprisonment, Hunger, Thirst, Nakedness, Difgrace, Reproach, Perils by Sea, and Perils by Lands, Enemies, Devils, Fiends, Poverty, Sickness, Exile, &c. Here is a Jewel, will counterballance all. O give me but a Room in that great House, made without hands, Eternal in the Heavens, and then cut, burn, torture, and afflict me, let Storms and Tempefts come, I'll fight against them with my Title to that Inheritance, which fades not away: This shall quench all the fiery Darts of the Devil, this fhall bear up my head above water, this fhall hufh all my dif contented thoughts; this fhall be my refuge in a ftorm, my hiding place in flames, my portion in poverty, my pillow in great anguish, my liberty in Prifon, my cordial in temptations, my Elixir in a fwoon, my prop when I ftumble, my Laurel when it thunders, my Rock in perfecu

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tion,

tion,my Safeguard in Deftruction, my Light in the midft of Darkness, my Goshen in this Egypt, my Ship under the fierceft Billows, my Shield when I am affaulted, my Helmet when I am in danger, my encouragement when I do refift, my Crown when I conquer, my Manna in the Wilderness, my Food in the Defart, my Rose to smell to in a Dungeon, my Guide in my Journey, my Pole-star in my Voyage, my Staff in my Pilgrimage, my Song in my Mifery, my All, when Death and Hell confpire into my Ruin.

VI. It makes a Man prudent and discreet in secular affairs and business. Confideration, as it is a very great improvement of Man's Reason, so it cannot but be very useful to him in governing his fecular Affairs with difcretion. Confideration makes a Man master of his Reason, and that Man must needs act more wifely, that hath his Reafon at Command, than he that makes it a flave to every flattering paffion; and fince it is confeffed, that the fear of God hath that influence upon all human Affairs, that it difpofes a Man to a wife and prudential management of them, Confideration muft of neceffity be of the fame Virtue and Efficacy, for this fear of God is the immediate product of Confideration. I deny not, but Men, wife in Spiritual, are not always fo in Temporal, concerns; for either their fcrupulous Confciences, or fear of having their Hearts carried out too much after the World, or their giving themselves wholly to Heavenly employments, may make them careless and unmindful of things belonging to this World;

but