Page images
PDF
EPUB

VII.

WE SHOULD LIVE ABOVE THE WORLD.

O DIVINE Lover! O divine love! how wonderful are thy works! Six or eight thousand years ago, there was not one adorer to be found before thy throne; but now how are the courts of the great King thronged! and thousands and ten thousands daily worship at the throne! and by and by not only the angels of light, but the heirs of love, shall all sit down in the kingdom of their Father. Then shall I get full views of thee, O thou darling of thy Father, thou desire of all nations, and light of the world above! Men and angels were created to be happy in thee, and got their beings that thou mightst be glorified, and they might be blessed; but men and angels fell, of the human race all, that some might be redeemed; of the angelic some, that none should be recovered. O wisdom infinite! O sovereign love! Then, not only being and bliss have I from thee in creation, but in the wonderful work of redemption. And yet I am a stranger to my divine Redeemer! O when shall I come and stand before thy throne? As fast as the chariot of time can drive, I am posting to the unseen world; but how shall I be ashamed that I had not one meditation before me; and chiefly, O thou glory of thy Father's house, that I had not more acquaint ance with thee! To sit at thy feet, will bliss my eternity; and to talk of thy love, will heighten my joy; then, let me just dwell before thee in time,

and with my spirit within me seek thee early. Should not love be my daily theme, which shall be the table-talk at the marriage-supper of the Lamb through eternity? Do I believe that this world and I must part, and that at odds? how then will the expectant of glory like to get the lie from lying vanity! It is best here to be first in the quarrel, to fall out with the world, so as not to leave it one affection, but have them set on things above.

VIII.

JOY AWAITS THE SAINTS.

1765.

CAN I take it ill, Fountain of joy! that I sorrow now a little, since in a little, like those who walk in white robes, with crowns on their heads, and palms in their hands, I shall be in an ecstacy of joy for ever? When I am brought from the house of mourning, to make my solemn entrance into the King's palace, it will be with gladness and rejoicing. All my powers of mind will be entranced at my admission into thy beatific presence! All the heavenly graces will sing in concert at receiving the crown of perfection! All the angels of light will welcome me with joy to their great Master's house! and the whole church of the first-born will shout my happy accession to the purchased throne!

Yet for all this my welcome would be but dry, and their song but dull, didst not thou, O Jehovah! rejoice over me! didst thou not rest in thy love, and joy over me with SINGING. How can

hosts or angels look sad, if their Maker joy? How can the heavens be silent, if Jehovah sing? All thine attributes, all thy perfections, shall harmonize in my salvation. Mercy and truth, righ teousness and peace, shall meet and kiss, and shout and sing. O what astonishing transports and entrancing melody shall fill the highest heavens! where, O amazing! where the subject of our songs, and object of our love, shall himself be the sweetest singer, because he does every thing according to the grandeur of a God.

IX.

THE JOY OF SAINTS UNSEEN.

How do the men of the world mistake religion, and think the Christian dull and melancholy, dumpish, and morose! But, O Fountain of my joy! thou knowest what divine delight I find in my retired moments. I only lament that I am not more alone, or, when alone, that I am not more with thee. The request of the spouse shall be mine,-Come, my Beloved, let me get up early from an enchanting world, let me go forth from the vanities of time, let me lodge in the humble village of solitude, let me walk in the flowing field of the promise, and there will I give thee my loves. In these sweet moments heaven smiles in my face, and my soul exults in God. I grasp at my expected bliss, and taste the joys on high.

X.

HEAVEN THE BEST INHERITANCE.

A DIVIDED sea, and a flaming Sinai, falling manna, and a friendly cloud, were wonders of old; but, O what a wonder this, that the God of glory should come down to give wings to worms of the earth to bear them to the skies! Amazing! to see insects soar above the stars, and arrive at the realms of day! When, O when, shall I also join the shining multitude that sits on Zion's hill?—But there is not one crawling insect in all the heavenly country. So, though I be a worm below, while I rise to the throne. I shall rise into an angel in the assimilating beam.

Truly, O King eternal! my faith sees that the land of promise is a pleasant land, and that thy presence makes heaven a desirable habitation. Let the men of the earth contend about thy footstool; I will not be satisfied with any thing beneath thy throne. What is a province, what is a kingdom, what is an empire, what a continent, what the whole world, to an inheritance in the highest heaven! To thy honour, O thou King of kings! all thy glorified subjects are both altogether and always kings. In thy favour they are exalted, and none shall ever drive them from their state. A portion, or division, of the Arabian desarts, would have been no compliment to the tribes who were tra velling toward the land of promise; nor shall I much esteem a plot of this enchanting world, who desire to be only charmed with my heavenly pos

session,

O pleasant country! O land of delight! where the winter is past, and eternal summer dwells! Sin dares not pass the frontiers of Immanuel's land ; sorrow and sickness dare not invade the seats of bliss. Shall I hereafter inhabit the land where sin shall no more infest it? I who have been in hot wars with it all my life! Shall, then, a land that is within the sea-mark of wrath, engage my attention, or gain my esteem, when my native country is so very near? I have but a little way to go I pass over Jordan, and enter into mine eternal possession, not of Canaan, not of paradise, not of heaven, but of Jehovah and the Lamb, where I shall enjoy all thy communicable fulness ages without end.

till

XI.

ENEMIES OVERTHROWN.

THOUGH Israel was, without doubt, safe under the conduct of the man of God, while recoiling seas left their bed a passage for the ransomed tribes, and the angel and the cloud interposed between the heirs of promise and the hardened pursuers; yet when their enemies are no more, but their lifeless bodies, which caused their terror in the land of the living, are lying on the shore, how do they sing and boast in their divine Deliverer! Even so, though under thy conduct, O Captain of salvation! I am safe in spite of earth and hell at my heels, in spite of sin and corruption rising in my heart; yet how desirable is it to enter into the land of rest! how pleasant to join the triumphant throng, who

« PreviousContinue »