body of this death ?” Death is heavy in any part of it, how much more burdenfome must a body of it be? It bears down the man continually; it is a burden to the back, that makes him ftoop, and fo makes a weary land.

(2.) The univerfality of the difeafe. It affects and indifpofes the whole man, fo that we may fay, Ifa. i. 5. 6. that " the whole head is fick, and the whole heart faint; from the fole of the foot to the crown of the, head, there is no foundnefs in it, but wounds, and bruifes, and putrifying fores." It fpreads itself like a leprofy, through all the faculties of the foul, and leaves no part of the man unaffected. It has fmitten the understanding with blindness, and the heart with hardnefs, and filled the mind with enmity against God. Job's life was a heavy life when he was full of boils all over; and fo is the life of those who are univerfally affected with the difeafe of fin.-There is,

(3.) The frequent relapses that take place in this difcafe. How often do they fall back again when they seem to be in a fair way of recovery! This makes a weary world to a heaven-born foul, that would fain be like God in holiness; ever wreftling, and ever falling into the mire again, makes weary work. This makes that longing to be away for which the faint is diftinguifhed.-There is,

(4.) The malignant influence these things have on the faint's journey through the weary land. By these means they are very much unfitted for it, they walk very flowly. It is a weary journey to them; and oftentimes they are so laid by, that they are not able to move forward at all, and they are driven back, instead of going forward.

(5.) It is not their cafe alone, but of all that are there, the being affected by this disease. The

world

world is an hofpital of fouls fick with fin. Some of them are sensible of their difeafe, others are not. The godly have not only their own plaguefores running on, but they alfo fee thofe of others running on; and that makes a weary land: Jer. ix. 2. "O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of a way-faring man, that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an affembly of treacherous men." But under Chrift's fhadow, there is medicine for the fore. There is balm in Gilead, and a Phyfi cian there. His blood takes away the guilt, his Spirit takes away the power of fin; and in his holy promifes they fee their freedom and complete cure. -1 obferve,

8. That the fcorching heats in the world make. it a weary land. And there are these four kinds

of fcorching heats.

(1.) There is the fiery heat of desertion, from heaven. This the Captain of our fal vation met with in the weary land, Pfal. xxii. 1.-14.; and this has often been the let of the people of God in the weary land; they have loft fight of their guide, and have been left in darkness, and gone mourning many days, without the fun, with many a weary groan, Pfal. vi. 6. Nay, there have been many pofitive outgoings of wrath against their fouls, fparks of hell flying in on heaven-born fouls, while they have been preffed under a fenfe of the Lord's anger, living, as it were, in the smoke of a furnace: Pfal. cii. 3. " For my. days are confumed like fmoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth."-There is,

(2.) The fiery heats of temptation from hell: Eph. vi. 12. For we wreftle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,.

against

against fpiritual wickedneffes in high places." When the Ifraclites were in the wilderness, they met with fiery ferpents that bit them, Num. xxi. 6.; and while we are in the wilderness of this world, we cannot miss the inflaming bites of the old serpent the devil. Satan is within bow-fhot of us while here; and the toffes of temptation from him make it a weary land. Ordinary temptations are never wanting, but are coming through the weary land like midges in a hot fummer-day. Sometimes there are extraordinary temptations, fiery darts, where the poor foul will be as much put to it, to defend itself, as one to defend a thatch-house against one cafting fire-balls, as it were, without intermiffion.-There is,

(3.) The fiery trial from the men of the world, perfecution. This is fuch an ordinary inheritance of the people of God in the weary land, that an apostle fays, 1 Pet. iv. 12. " Beloved, think it not ftrange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you." There is much drofs, together with the good metal, which gathers together in Zion, and therefore God will have a furnace there, and the wicked of the world to fet it on, and blow it up, and profeffors must be cast into it to try them, some to be confumed, fome to be refined in it: Zech. xiii. 9. "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and refine them as filver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they fhall call on my name, and I will hear them; I will fay, It is my people, and they fhall fay, The Lord is my God."-There is,

(4.) The fiery heats of contention and divifion. from the altar, mentioned Rev. viii. 5. These have a fort of malignant influence on the church; they scorch and blacken her exceedingly: Song, i. 6. "Look not upon me, because I am black, be

caufe

cause the fun hath looked upon me; my mother's children were angry with me." Hence you may fee the dreadful mischief which it does, Rev. viii. 7. 8. "There followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and they were caft upon the earth, and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grafs was burnt up." Though the way be long and fore, the travellers may be hearty, and they may go pleasantly on, while they are comfortable to one another; but when they grow a burden to one another, when their unity and love among themfelves are gone, that makes a weary way to travellers. But never was the fhadow of a great rock more fuitable to the fcorched traveller, than Chrift is to his people in all these cases.-For,

[1.] He is their great plight-anchor in desertion, their hope, and the fupport of their fouls. His blood is the great fence, under which they fhelter themselves from the fire of the law, and brings them into hope, when they are next door to defponding. An abfolute God is a terrible, but God in Chrift is a refreshing fight.

[2.] He is their protector in temptation. Faith in Chrift is a fhield which quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked, Eph. vi. 16. He is ftronger than the ftrong man, and a present help in time of temptation, either to repel the tempter, or else to bear up the tempted. He fays to them, "My grace is fufficient for you, and my strength is made perfect in your weakness," 2 Cor. xii. 9.

[3] He is their ftrong tower in perfecution, where they abide, and stand out against all the ftorms of an enraged world. He gives them peace, when their enemies are carrying on the war. "Peace (fays he) I leave with you; my peace I give unto you.' He makes their bow to abide in its ftrength when the archers fhoot at them,

Gen.

Gen. xlix. 24.; and makes them more than conquerors, Rom. viii. 37.; and fo lines the thorny crown with his love, that it fits very soft on their heads.

[4.] He is their peace in time of contention and divifion With whomfoever they have war and ftrife, through him they have peace, peace with God, peace with confcience, and a hopeful profpect of getting thither,-where light shall be perfect, and where therefore there can be no difference of judgement ;-where love is perfect, and therefore no alienation of affections among the inhabitants fhall prevail.

9. Scarcity of provifions makes this world a weary land. What else can be expected in the wafte howling wilderness of this world, where, though there is enough to raise the appetite of lufts, and a fufficiency of hufks for fwine to feed on; yet provifion fuitable for the foul is very scarce; and this is what makes the world to the faints a weary land. For oftentimes their table is overturned; the table of public ordinances is removed, which brings a famine of the word by which their fouls should live, Amos, viii. 11. 12. Then they may be fent to feek bread for their fouls with the peril of their lives; and this makes a weary land to these that know the fpiritual sweetness of gofpel-ordinances.

-Again, many times, when they come to the table of ordinances, they get nothing at all, not a mefs from the King's hand, lefs or more. How often are prayers, fermons, communions, like the empty chair of ftate, the King not filling it; like the empty grave, where the grave-cloaths lie, but the Lord himself is gone; fo that there is nothing substantial, with which to fatisfy the hungry foul. -Finally, at their best entertainment in the weary land, they ordinarily rife hungry, and with an apVOL. I. I i

petite