MEDITATION LXIII.

COMFORT AND TERROR IN ONE CONSIDERATION.

Portland Roads, Dec. 19, 1758.

WHEN the affairs of war, and protection of our trade, call for a change of climates, and hurry us from the chilling North to the burning South, it may afford comfort to the pious soul to reflect, that the God on whom he built his hopes here, is also there to answer all the expectations of his faith. But it may strike terror into the profligate wretch, to think that the God against whom he sinned here, is also there to punish his iniquity. Then I see that the omnipresence of God may be a panacea, an universal cure, to the anxiety of my soul every where; for God may call his own people from their own home, their friends, their country, but he will never cast them from his protection, his presence, himself. Then, though I leave my friends and acquaintance, and go to the remotest Indies, or most distant parts of the world, still the same God that here manifests himself so gracious and so kind, is the same God that governs under the whole heaven, and there can manifest himself in his wonted tender mercy, and former loving-kindness. Whither can I go from him who is every where? this is my comfort. And whither wilt thou, O sinner! fly from him who is every where? let this be thy terror. For the God that dwells between the cherubims of a gospel-dispensation, sits also on the floods; and he that rules in Jacob, rules also unto the ends of the earth. Moreover, when I leave this world to go into the world unknown, then the same God (for he inhabits eternity, who measures the moments of my time) whom I served here, shall

receive me there. This is the excellency of the Christian religion, that we, as it were, begin eternity in time, and join in our adorations with the sons of day, with the hosts of heaven. Deluded nations of old trusted in gods, that could not go, but must needs be borne by their demented votaries; but the true God, who is an everlasting King, has been the God, of his chosen people in all places of the world, and in all ages, yea, before the world began; hence says Moses, "Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations, before thou hadst brought forth the mountains ;" and when time is gone, and ages finished, he will be their dwelling-place, who is from everlasting to everlasting God. Then happy I, if I have an abiding relation, and sure interest in him who is every where present, as to his essence and inhabits eternity, as to his duration. Time past and to come only respects us, for with God it ever was, is, and will be one eternal now.

Every way I look there is safety: Dwell I at home, he is there; go I abroad, he is there; live I in this world, he holds it in his hand, and sees under the whole heaven; die I, and go out of the world, he is there filling all, and in all. Now, O sinner! stand still, and see thy misery. Thou sinnest against God, and how shalt thou escape? thou mayest injure a fellow creature, and, by going into some distant part of the world, elude law, and laugh at justice; and if thou diest, thou art out of the reach of the pursuer here to all intents and purposes; but go where thou wilt, thou art still in his power, still in his presence, whom thou hast offended. Then mind, that he whom thou hast made thine enemy all thy life long, will at last be thy judge, and supreme tormentor, whose breath shall kindle the burning

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stream. Sinners and saints may have common comforts,and common crosses, but one thought on eternity spreads horror through the soul of the one, while it diffuses consolation in the breast of the other.

MEDITATION LXIV.

ON BEING IN HOT CLIMATES IN A FEW DAYS.

Under sail for Gibraltar, Feb 2. 1759.

HOW few days sailing from the temperate zone, can chill us in the freezing north, or scorch us in the burning south! Of the last we had experience, while inclement winter receded from the plowing keel, and smiling summer approached the expanded sail! This short and sudden change suggests an interesting thought to my mind; that at the hour of death, in a shorter time than this, the soul shall either be placed in that degree of distance from God where eternal winter blows terrible, with all the angry storms and tempests of vindictive wrath; or (may I use the expression?) under the very line of union and communion with the Most High, where the Sun of righteousness shall shine from his cloudless meridian, and pour down assimilating glory in every beam. This stupendous thought I cannot, I dare not pursue, but, falling off in silence, give way to deep meditation.

MEDITATION LXV.

AN HIGH WIND PREFERABLE TO A CALM.

Under sail, Feb. 15, 1759.,

AMONG the wonders of navigation, this is one, that through opposing waves which dash on every side, and amidst winds so strong that they seem rather a tempest than a moderate gale, the ship should pursue her voyage with more expedition, and reach her port sooner, than in a profound calm. Indeed he that never had his foot on salt water before, and adventures only on the glassy surface to take his pleasure, will bless the serenity, and congratulate the calm; but the spirited sailor who minds his business, and has other climes in view, will rather wish a brisk gale to waft him to the distant shore, than to roll about in a dead calm till his vessel be eaten with worms, or grow rotten in the water, and perish.

Even so, Christian, it fares with thee. Believe it, the best weather does not make the best voyage heavenward. It is better for thee to proceed on thy course through the rolling waves of affliction, attended by the ruffling winds of adversity, than to be becalmed by affluence, ease, and prosperity. The one, through seeming difficulty and threatened danger, shall at last let thee arrive at thy desired haven, while the other detains thee to thy eternal ruin. God, that sits as king on the swelling flood, rules also all the afflictions of his people. Though sometimes they complain, "All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me," yet not one can attack them, but by his permission, nor swell beyond the given bounds. Covenant-mercy has established the kind decree, "Hitherto shalt thou come,

but no further, and here shall thy perplexing waves be stayed." Why then should the Christian mariner on the flood of time, cry out so against the boisterous wind, afflictive wave, and foaming billow, which hasten the out-bound sail to the pacific shore? Have not some, by the thorny cross, been startled out of their delusive dreams, and awakened to the concerns of a world to come? by the loss of a child, found the Son of God? and by the death of an earthly father, been brought into subjection to the Father of spirits, and so made to live? And have not some, while unjustly deprived of a small part, and petty inheritance in this world, been made to look out for an inheritance in the better country, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens? To say no more, will not the experience of the saints agree in this, that he knows their souls in adversity; and that while their outward man seemeth to decay through the lashes of daily affliction, their inward man is renewed day by day, so that in the year of drought their soul is as a watered garden?

MEDITATION LXVI.

ON SAILING NEAR DIFFERENT NATIONS.

Feb. 20, 1759.

THERE is a great pleasure in sailing to different parts of the world, to see the divine wisdom, and profuse bounty every where displayed, of him that made the whole; but there is a great pain in this, that wherever we go, we see the terrible devastation of sin. If we look to one shore, there superstition reign; if to another, there cruelty rages. These pretend to be Christians, those avow themselves Musselmen, while