LETTERS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. TO MY LADY MARV DENNY.

 Containing the Description of a Christian MADAM

IT is true, that worldly eyes can see no difference between a Christian and another man; the outside of both is made of one clay, and cast in one mould; both are inspired with one common breath. Outward events distinguish them not; these God never made for evidences of love or hatred. So the senses can perceive no difference between the reasonable soul, and that which informs the beast; yet the soul knows there is much more than between their bodies. The same holds in this; faith sees more inward difference than the eye sees outward resemblance. This point is not more high than material which, that it may appear, let me skew what it is to be a Christian. You that have felt it can second me with your experience, and supply the defects of my discourse. He is the living temple of the living GOD, where the Deity is both resident and worshipped. The highest thing in a man is his own spirit; but in a Christian, the Spirit of GOD, which is, the God of spirits. No grace is wanting in him; and those which there are want not stirring up. Both his heart and his hands are clean. All his outward purity flows from within; neither does he frame his soul to counterfeit good actions; but out of his holy disposition commands and produces then in the light of God.

Let us begin with Iris beginning, and fetch the Christian out of this nature as another Abraham from his Chaldea; whiles the worldling lives and dies in nature, out of God. The true convert therefore, after his wild and secure courses, puts himself (through the motions of God's Spirit,) to school unto the law; there he learns what he should have done, what he could net do; what he has done, what he has deserved. These lessons cost him many a tear, and not more grief than terror: for this sharp master makes him feel what sin- is, and what hell is; and in regard of both, what himself is. When he has well smarted under the whip of this severe usher, and is made vile in himself, then he is led up into the higher school of CHRIST, and there taught the. comfortable lessons of grace: there he learns what belongs to a Savior; what he is, what he has done, and for whom;. how he became ours, and we his. And now, finding himself in a true state of danger, of need, of desire, he brings home to himself all that he learns; and what he knows he applies. His former tutor he feared, this he loves: that showed him his wounds, yea, made them; this binds and heals them. That killed him; this skews him life, and leads him to it. Now at once he hates himself, defies SATAN, trusts in CHRIST, tastes both of pardon and glory. This is his most precious faith, whereby he appropriates, yea, engrosses CHRIST Jesus to himself: whence he is justified from his sins, purified from his corruptions, established in his resolutions, comforted in his doubts, defended against temptations, over comes all his enemies. He sees that this is sound, lively, growing: sound, not rotten, not hollow, not presumptuous: sound in the act; not a superficial conceit, but a true, deep, and sensible apprehension; an apprehension, not of the brain, but of the heart; and of the heart not approving, or assenting, but trusting and reposing. Sound in the object, none but CHRIST: he knows that no friendship iii heaven can do him good without this; the angels cannot; God will not. "Ye believe in the Fattier, believe also in me."

Lively; for it cannot give life, unless it have life; the faith that is not fruitful is dead. The fruits of faith are good works; whether inward, within the roof of the heart, as love, awe, sorrow, pity, zeal, joy, and the rest; or outward, towards God or our brethren: obedience and service to the one-to the other, relief and beneficence: these he bears in his time; sometimes all, but always some.

Growing: true faith cannot stand still; but as it is fruitful in works, so it increases in degrees. From a little seed it proves a large plant, reaching from earth to heaven, and from one heaven to another: every shower and every sun adds something to it. Neither is this grace ever solitary, but always attended royally; for he that believes what a Savior he has, canr_ot but love him; and he that loves him, cannot but hate whatsoever may displease him; cannot but rejoice in him, and hope to enjoy him, and desire to enjoy his hope, and contemn all those vanities which he once desired and enjoyed. His mind now scorneth to grovel upon earth, but soareth up to the things above, where CHRIST sits at the right hand of God; and after it has seen what is done in heaven, looks strangely upon all worldly things. He dares trust his faith above his reason and sense; and has learned to wean his appetite from craving much. He stands in awe of his own conscience, and dares no more offend it than please himself. He fears not his enemies, yet neglects them not; equally avoiding security and timorousness. He sees him that is invisible, and walks with him awfully, familiarly. He knows what he is born to, and therefore digests the troubles of life with patience. He finds more comfort in his afflictions, than any worldling in pleasures.

And as he has these graces to comfort him within, so has he the angels to attend him without; spirits better than his own; more powerful, more glorious. These bear him in their arms, wake by his bed, keep his soul while he has it, and receive it when it leaves him. These are some present differences: the greatest are future; no less than between heaven and hell, torment and glory; an incorruptible crown, and fire unquenchable. Whether infidels believe these things or not, we know them; so shall they, but too late.

What remains but that we applaud ourselves in this happiness, and walk on in this heavenly profession acknowledging that God could not do more for us, and that we cannot do enough for him. Let others boast, (as your ladyship might with others,) of ancient and noble houses, large patrimonies or dowries, honorable commands; others of famous names, high and envied honors, or the favors of the greatest; others of valor or beauty; or some perhaps of eminent learning and wit; it shall be our glorying that we are Christians. How our Days are, or should be spent.

EVERY day is a little life; and our whole life is but a day repeated; whence it is that old Jacob numbers his life by days; and Moses desires to be taught this point of holy arithmetic, To number not his years, but his days. Those therefore that dare lose a day, are dangerously prodigal; those that dare mis-spend it, desperate. We can best teach others by ourselves. Let me tell your lordship how I would pass my days, whether common or sacred; that you may either approve my thriftiness, or correct my errors. To whore is the account of my hours either more due, or more known All days are his, who gave time a beginning and continuance; yet some he has made ours, not to command, but to use. In none may we forget him; in some we must forget all besides him.

First, therefore, I desire to awake at those hours, not when I will, but when I must. Pleasure is not a fit rule, but health; neither do 1. consult so much with the sun, as mine own necessity, whether of body or in that of the mind. If this vassal could well serve me waking, it should never sleep; but now it must be pleased, that it may be serviceable. Now, when sleep is rather driven away, than leaves me, I would ever awake with God; my first Thoughts are for him, who has made the night for rest, and the day for travel; and as he gives, so he blesses both. If my heart be early set one with his presence, it will savour of him all day after.

While my body is dressing, not with an effeminate curiosity, nor yet with rude neglect; my mind addresses itself to her ensuing task; bethinking what is to be done, and in what order; and marshalling my hours with my work.. That done, after some meditation, I walk to my books; and sitting down amongst them, I dare not reach forth my hand to salute any of them, till I have first looked up to heaven, and craved favor of him, to whom all my studies are referred; without whom, I can neither profit nor labor. After this, out of no great variety, I call forth those, which best fit my occasions; wherein I am riot too scrupulous of age. Sometimes I put myself to school to one of those ancients, whom the church has honored with the name of Fathers; whose volumes I confess not to open, without a secret reverence for their holiness and gravity: sometimes to those later doctors, who want nothing but age to make them classical: always to God's book. That day is lost, whereof some hours are not improved in those Divine monuments. Others I turn over out of choice; these out of duty.

Ere I can have sat unto weariness, my family, having now overcome all household distractions, invites me to our common devotions; not without some short preparation. These heartily performed, send me up, with a more strong and cheerful appetite, to my former work, which I find made easy to me by intercession and variety. Now, therefore, I can deceive the hours with change of pleasures, that is, of labors. One while mine eyes are busied, another while my hand, and sometimes my mind takes the burden from them both: wherein I would imitate the skillfulest cooks, who make the best dishes with manifold mixtures. One hour is spent in textual divinity, another in controversy: histories relieve then; both. And, when the mind is weary of other labors, it begins to undertake its own. Sometimes it meditates. for future use; sometimes I write for myself, or for others. The decay of a weak body makes me think these delights insensibly laborious.

Thus could I all day, (as ringers use,) make myself music with changes, and complain sooner of the day for shortness, than of the business for toil; were it not that this faint monitor interrupts me still in the midst of my busy pleasures, and urges me both to respite and repast. I must yield to both; while my body and mind are joined together in these unequal couples, the better must follow the weaker. Before my meals, therefore, and after, I let myself loose from all thoughts; and now would forget that I ever studied. A full mind takes away the body's appetite, no less than a full body makes a dull and unwieldy mind. Company and discourse are now seasonable and welcome. These prepare me for a diet, not gluttonous, but medicinal. The palate may not be pleased, but the stomach; nor that for its own sake. Neither would J think any of these comforts worth regarding in themselves, but in their use, in their end; so far as they may enable me to better things. If I see any dish to tempt my palate, I fear a serpent in that apple, and please myself in a willful denial. ’I rise capable of more, not desires: not now immediately from my trencher, to my book; but after some intermission. Moderate speed is a sure help to all proceedings; where those things, which are prosecuted with violence, either succeed not, or continue not.

After my later meal, my thoughts are slight; only my memory may be charged with her task, of recalling what was committed to her custody in the day; and my heart is busy in examining my hands and mouth, and all other senses, of that day's behavior. And now the evening is come, no tradesman does more carefully take in his wares, clear his shop-board, and shut his windows, than I would shut up’my thoughts and clear my mind. That student shall live miserably, who like a camel lies down under his burden. All this done, calling together my family, we end the day with God. Thus do we rather drive away the time before us, than following it.

I grant, neither is my practice worthy to be exemplary, neither are our callings proportionable. The lives of a nobleman, of a courtier, of a scholar, of a citizen, of a countryman, differ no less than their dispositions: yet must all conspire in honest labor. Sweat is the destiny of all trades, whether of the brow, or of the mind. God never allowed any man to do nothing. How miserable is the condition of those men, who spend the time as if it were given them, and not lent! As if hours were waste creatures, and such as should never be accounted for: as if God would take this for a good bill of reckoning; item, Spent upon my pleasures forty years. These men shall once find, that no blood can privilege idleness and that nothing is more precious to GOD, than that which they desire to cast away, time.

Such are my common days: but God's day calls for another respect. The same sun arises on this day, and enlightens it; yet because that Sun of Righteousness arose upon it, and gave a new life unto the world in it, and drew the strength of God's moral precept unto it, therefore justly do we sing with the Psalmist, " This is the day which the Lord has made." Now I forget the world, and in a sort, myself; and deal with my wonted thoughts, as great men use, who at some times of their privacy, forbid the access of all suitors. Prayer, meditation, reading, hearing, preaching, singing, good conference, are the business of this day; which I dare not bestow on any work, or pleasure, but heavenly. I hate superstition on the one side, and loosness on the other; but I find it hard to offend in too much devotion, easy in profaneness. The whole week is sanctified by this day; and according to my care of this is my blessing on the rest. I show your lordship what I would do, and what I ought: I commit my desires to the imitation of the weak; my actions to the censures of the wise and holy; my weaknesses to the pardon and redress of my merciful God.

 

TO

SIR FULK GREVILLE.

How we may use the World without Danger.

 

HOW to live out of the danger of the world, is both a great and good care, and that which troubles few. Some, that the world may not hurt them, run from it; and banish themselves to the tops of solitary mountains; changing the cities for deserts, houses for caves, and the society of men for beasts; and lest their enemy might insinuate himself into their secrecy, have abridged them-selves of diet, clothing, lodging, harbour, fit for reason-able creatures; seeming to have left off themselves, no less than companions: as if the world were not every where; as if we could hide ourselves from the devil; as if solitariness were privileged from temptations; as if we did not more violently affect restrained delights; as if these Jeromes did not find Rome in their heart, when they had nothing but rocks and trees in their eye. Hence, these places of retiredness, founded at first upon necessity mixed with devotion, have proved impiously unclean; cells of lust, not of piety. This course is preposterous.

If I were worthy to teach you a better way, I would say, Learn to be an hermit at home. Begin with your own heart, estrange and wean it from the love, not from the use of the world. Christianity has taught us nothing if we have not learned this distinction It is a great weakness not to see, but we must be enamoured. Elisha saw the secret state of the Syrian court, yet as an enemy. The blessed angels see our earthly affairs, but as strangers. Moses' body was in the court of Pharoah, amongst the delicate Egyptians, his heart was suffering with the afflicted Israelites. Lot took part of the fair meadows of Sodom, not of their sins. Our blessed Savior saw the glory of all kingdoms, and contemned them. And cannot the world look upon us Christians, but we are bewitched We see the sun daily, and warn us at his beams, yet make not an idol of it.

All our safety or danger is from within. In vain is the body an anchorite, if the heart be a ruffian. And if that be retired in affections, the body is but a cypher. Then the eyes will look carelessly and strangely on what they see, and the tongue will sometimes answer to what was not asked. We eat and recreate ourselves, because we must, not because we would. And when we are pleased, we are suspicious. Lawful delights we neither refuse nor doat upon, and all contentments go and come like strangers.

That all this may be clone, take up your heart with better thoughts. Be sure it will not be empty. If heaven have forestalled all the rooms, the world is disappointed, and either dares not offer, or is repulsed. Fix yourself upon the glory of that eternity which awaits you after this short pilgrimage. You cannot but contemn what you find, in comparison of what we expect. Leave not till you attain to this, that you are willing to live, because you cannot as yet be dissolved. Be but one half upon earth. Let Tour better part converse above, whence it is, and enjoy that whereto it was ordained. Think how little the world can do for you: and whatit doth, how dedeitfully! what stings there are with this honey! what farewel succeeds this welcome! When this Jael brings you milk in one hand, know she has a nail in the other. Ask your heart what it is the better for all those pleasures wherewith it has befriended you. Let your own trial teach you contempt. Think how sincere, how glorious those joys are, which await you elsewhere; and a thousand times more certain, (though future,) than present.

And let not these thoughts be flying, but fixed. In vain do we meditate, if we resolve not. When your heart is once thus settled, it shall command all things to advantage. The world shall not betray, but serve it; and that shall be fulfilled, which God promises by his Solomon, " When the ways of a man please the Lord, he will make his enemies also to be at peace with him."

 

A

PASSION SERMON,

PREACHED.ON GOOD FRIDAY, 16O9, AT PAUL'S-CROSS. JOHN XIX. 3O.

 

When JESUS therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished; and bowing the head, he gave up the ghost. THE bitter and yet victorious passion of the Son of GOD, as it was the strangest thing that ever befell the earth; so it also is of most sovereign use, and looks for the most frequent and careful meditation. It is one of those things which was once done, that it might be thought of for ever. Every day, therefore, must be the Good Friday of a Christian: who, with that great doctor of the Gentiles, must desire to know nothing but JESUS

CHRIST, and him crucified.

There is no branch or circumstance in this wonderful business which yields not infinite matter of discourse. According to the solemnity of this time and place, I have chosen to recommend unto your Christian attention, our Savior's farewell to nature in his last word, in his last act. His last word, " It is finished;" his last act, " He gave up the ghost." That which he said, he did.

If there be any theme that may challenge and command our ears and hearts, this is it. For behold, the sweetest word that ever CHRIST spoke, and the most meritorious act that ever he did, are met together in this his last breath. In the one ye shall see him triumphing; yielding in the other, yet so as he overcomes. Imagine, therefore, that you see CHRIST JESUS in this day of his passion, (who is every day here crucified before your eyes,) advanced upon the chariot of his cross; and now, after a weary conflict, cheerfully overlooking the despite and shame of men, the wrath of his Father, sin, death, hell; which all he gasping at his foot: and then you shall conceive, with what spirit he says, " It is finished." What is finished All the prophecies that were of him; all legal observations, that prefigured him; his own sufferings; our salvation. The prophecies are accomplished, the ceremonies abolished, his sufferings ended, our salvation purchased. These four heads shall limit this first part of my speech; only let them find and leave you attentive.

It would take up a life to compare the prophets and evangelists, the predictions and the history, and largely to discourse how the one foretels, and the other answers: let it suffice to look at them running. Of all the evangelists, St. Matthew has been most studious in making these correspondences and references; with whom the burden of every event is still, " that it might he fulfilled." Thus has he noted, (if I have reckoned them aright,) two and thirty several prophecies concerning CHRIST, fulfilled in his birth, life, deatlr. St. John adds many more. Our discourse must be directed to his passion. Omitting the rest, let us insist on those.

He must be apprehended. It was prophesied, " The anointed of the Lord was taken in their nets." But how He must be sold. For what For thirty silver pieces. And what must those do Buy a field. All foretold; "And they took thirty silver pieces, the price of him that was valued, and gave them for the potter's-field," says Zechariah, (miswritten Jeremiah, by one letter mistaken in the abbreviation.) By whom "That child of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." Which was he It is foretold, "He that eats bread with me." And what shall his disciples do Run away. So says the prophecy, " I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." What shall be done to him He must be scourged and spit upon: not without a prophecy, "I hid not my face from shame and spitting." What shall be the issue He shall be led to death. It is the prophecy, "The Messiah shall be slain." What death He must be lifted up; " Like as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so shall the Son of Man be lifted up."

Chrysostom says well, that some actions are parables: so may I say, some actions are prophecies. Such are all types of CHRIST, and this with the foremost. Lifted up, whither To the cross. It is the prophecy, " Hanging upon a tree." How lifted up Nailed to it. So is the prophecy, "They have pierced my hands and my feet." With what company Two thieves. "With the wicked was he numbered." Where " without the gates," says the prophecy. What becomes of his garments They cannot so much as cast the dice for his coat, but it is foretold, " They divided my garments, and on my vesture cast lots." He must die then on the cross: but how Voluntarily. "Not a bone of him shall be broken." What hinders it Lo, there he hangs, as it were neglected and at mercy; yet all the raging Jews, nay, all the devils in hell, cannot stir one bone in his blessed body. It was prophesied in the Easter-lamb, and it must be fulfilled in him that is the true passover, in spite of fiends and men. How then He must be pierced in the side. Behold, not the very spear could touch his precious side being dead, but it must be guided by a prophecy, " They shall look on him whom they have pierced." What shall he say the while Not his very words but are fore-spoken. His complaint, " Eli, Eli, lama sfbacthani," Psa. 22: 2. His resignation, " Into thy hands I corn-mend my spirit," Psa. xxxi. 5. His request, " Father, forgive them." "He prays for the transgressors," says Isaiah. And now, when he saw all these prophecies were fulfilled, knowing that one remained, he said, " I thirst." A strange hearing! that a man, yea, that God and man dying, should complain of thirst. Could he endure the scorching flames of the wrath of his Father, the curse of our sins, those tortures of body, those horrors of soul, and does he shrink at his thirst No, no: he could have borne his drought, but he could not bear that the Scripture should not be fulfilled. It was not necessity of nature, but the necessity of his Father's decree, that drew

forth, " I thirst." They offered it before, he refused it: whether it were an ordinary potion for the condemned to hasten death, or whether it were that.Jewish potion whereof the rabbins speak; whose tradition was, that the malefactor to be executed, should, after some good counsel from two of their teachers, -re taught to say, " Let my death be to the remission of all my sins;" and then that he should have given him a bowl of mixed wine, with a grain of frankincense, to bereave him both of reason and pain.

Thus the prophecies are finished. Of the legal observations with more brevity: " CHRIST is the end of the law." What law Ceremonial, moral. Of the moral; it was kept perfectly by himself, satisfied fully for us. Of the ceremonial; it referred to him, was observed of him, fulfilled in him, abolished by him. Nothing is more easy, than to show you how all those Jewish ceremonies looked at CHRIST: how circumcision, the passover, the tabernacle, both outer and inner, the temple, the laver, both the altars, the tables of show-bread, the candle-sticks, the veil, the holy of holies, the propitiatory, the pot of manna, Aaron's rod, the high-priest, his order and line, his habits, his inaugurations, his washings, his anointings, his sprinklings, offerings, sacrifices, and all Jewish rites, had their virtue from CHRIST, relation to him, and their end in him. This was then their last gasp; for now straight they die with CHRIST; the veil of the temple was rent, when CHRIST's last breath passed. The veil rent, is the obligation of the ritual law can-celled; the way into the heavenly sanctuary opened; the shadow giving place to the substance. Even now the law of ceremonies died. It had a long and solemn burial, as Augustine says well; perhaps figured in Moses, who died not lingeringly, but was thirty days mourned for.

Thus the ceremonies are finished. Now hear the end of his sufferings, with like patience and devotion. His death is here included. It was so near, that he spoke of it as dope; and when it was done, all was done. How easy it is to lose ourselves in this discourse! How hard

not to be overwhelmed with matter of wonder; and to find either beginning or end! His sufferings found an end, our thoughts cannot.

All his life was but a perpetual passion. In that he became man, he suffered more than we can do, either while we are men, or when we cease to be men. He humbled, yea, he emptied himself. That man should be turned into a beast, into a worm, into dust, into nothing, is not so great a disparagement, as that God should become man. And yet it is not finished; it is but begun. But what man If, as the absolute monarch of the world, he had commanded the vassalage of all emperors and princes, and had trod on nothing but crowns and sceptres, this had carried some port with it, suitable to the majesty of God's Son. No such matter: here is neither form nor beauty; unless the form of a servant. Behold, he is a man to God; a servant to man. He is despised and rejected of men; yea, (as himself, of himself,) a worm, and no man, the shame of men, and contempt of the people. " Who is the King of glory The Lord of Hosts, he is the King of glory." Set these two together; the King of glory; the shame of men. The more honor, the more abasement.

Look back to his cradle: there you find him rejected of the Bethlehemites; born and laid, bow homely, how unworthily sought for by Herod, exiled to Egypt, obscurely brought up in the cottage of a poor foster-father, tempted by SATAN, derided of his kindred, traduced by the Jews, pinched with hunger, restless, harborless, sorrowful. Persecuted by the elders and Pharisees, sold by his own servant, apprehended, arraigned, scourged, condemned, and yet it is not finished.

Let us, with that disciple, follow him afar off; and passing over all his contemptuous usage in the way, see him brought to his cross. Still the further we look, the more wonder. Every thing adds to this ignominy of suffering, and triumph of overcoming. Where was it Not in a corner, as Paul says to Festus, but in Jerusalem, the heart of the world: In Jerusalem, which he had honored with his own presence, taught with his preaching, astonished with his miracles, bewailed with his tears crying over it, " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I,. and you wouldst not. O yet, if in this thy day!" Cruelty and unkindness, after good desert, afflict so much more, as our merit has been greater. Whereabouts without the gates: in Calvary, among the stinking bones of execrable malefactors. Before, the glory of the place bred, shame; now the vileness of it. When In the passover; a time of the greatest concourse of all Jews and proselytes: a holy time: when they should receive the figure, they reject the substance when they should kilt and eat the sacramental lamb, in faith, in thankfulness, they kill the Lamb of GOD, our true Passover, in cruelty and contempt. With whom (The quality of our company either increases or lessens shame,) in the midst of thieves, as the prince of thieves. There was no guile in his mouth,. much less in his hands; yet behold, he that u thought it no robbery to be equal with GOD," is made equal to robbers and murderers; yea, superior in evi1P What suffered he As all lives are not alike pleasant, so all deaths are not equally fearful. See the apostles' gradation: " He was made obedient to the death, even the death of the cross" The cross, a lingering, for menting, ignominious death. The Jews had four kinds of death for malefactors; the towel, the sword, fire, stones; each of these above other in extremity. Strangling with the towel they accounted easiest; the sword worse than, the towel; the fire worse than the sword; stoning worse than the fire but this Roman death was worst of all.. " Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Yet he is not therefore accursed, because he hangeth; but therefore he hangeth, because he is accursed. L! He was made a curse for us." The curse was more than the shame yet the shame was unspeakable; and yet not more than the pain. Yet all that die the same death are not equally miserable. The very thieves fared better in their death than he. I hear of no irrision, no inscription, no taunts, no insult on them. They had nothing but pain to encounter, he pain and scorn. The Jews, the soldiers, yea, the very thieves, triumph over his misery; his blood cannot satisfy them, without his reproach. Which of his senses now was not a window to let in sorrow His eyes saw the tears of his mother and friends, the unthankful demeanor of mankind, the cruel despite of his enemies. His ears heard the revilings and blasphemies of the multitude. His touch felt the nails; his taste the gall.

Look up, O all ye beholders, look upon this precious body, and see what part ye can find free. That sacred head which is adored by the angelical spirits, is all harrowed with thorns. That face, of whom it is said, u You art fairer than the children of men," is all besmeared with the spittle of the Jews, and furrowed with his tears. Those eyes, clearer than the sun, are darkened with the shadow of death. Those ears that hear the heavenly consorts of angels, now are filled with the cursed speakings and scoffs of wretched men. Those lips that spoke as never man spoke, that command the spirits both of light and darkness, are scornfully wet with vinegar and gall. Those feet that trample on all the powers of hell are now nailed to the cross. Those hands that sway the sceptre of the heavens, are nailed to the tree of reproach. That whole body, which was conceived by the Holy Ghost, was all scourged, wounded, mangled. This is the outside of his sufferings. Was his heart free Oh, no: the inner part, or soul of this pain, which was unseen, is as far beyond these outward and sensible parts, as the soul is beyond the body. u O all ye that pass by the way, behold and see, if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow!" Alas, Lord, what can we see of thy sorrows We cannot conceive so much as the heinousness and desert of one of those sins which you bearest. We can no more see thy pain, than we could undergo it: only this we see, that what the infinite sins, of almost infinite men, committed against an infinite majesty,. deserved in infinite continuance, all this You, in the short time of thy passion, has sustained. We may behold and see; but all the glorious spirits in heaven cannot look into the depth of this suffering.

Do but lock yet a little into the passions of this his passion: for, by the manner of his suffering, we shall best see what he suffered. Wise and resolute men do not complain of a little. Holy martyrs have been racked, and would not be loosed. What shall we say if the Author of their strength, God and man, bewray passions What would have overwhelmed men, would not have made him shrink; and what made him complain, could never have been sustained by men. What shall we then think, if he were affrighted with terrors, perplexed with sorrows, and distracted with both these And to! he was all these. For, first, here was an amazed fear. For millions of men to despair was not so much as for him to fear. And yet it was no slight fear.

He began to be astonished with terror, " Who in the days of his flesh, offered up prayers and supplications, with strong cries and tears,, to him that was able to help him, and was heard in that he feared." Never was man so afraid of the torments of hell, as, CHRIST, (standing in our room,) of his Father's wrath.. Fear is still. suitable to apprehension. Never man could so perfectly apprehend this cause of fear; he felt the chastisements of our peace, yea, the curse of our sins;, and therefore might well say with David, " I suffer thy terrors with a troubled mind;" yea, with Job, "The arrows of God are in me, and the terrors of God fight against me." With fear, there was a dejecting sorrow, (Am.sovia,) "My soul is heavy to the death." His strong cries, his many tears, are witnesses of this passion. He had formerly shed tears of pity, and tears of love, but now of anguish. He had before sent forth cries of mercy;. never of complaint till now. When the Son of God weeps and cries, what shall we say or think Yet further, between both these and his love what a conflict was there ce7,'wna, astruggling passion of mixed grief. Behold, this field was not without sweat and blood; yea, a sweat of blood.

Oh, what man or angel can conceive the state of that heart, which, without all outward violence, merely out of the extremity of his own passion, bled (through the flesh and skin,) not some faint dew, but solid drops of blood No thorns, no nails fetched blood from him, with so much pain as his own thoughts. He saw the fierce wrath of his Father, and therefore feared. He saw the heavy burden of our sins to be undertaken; and thereupon, besides fear, justly grieved. He saw the necessity of our eternal damnation, if he suffered not: if. he did suffer, of our redemption; and therefore his love encountered both grief and fear. In itself, he would not drink of that cup. In respect of our good, he would and did; and while he thus strives, he sweats and bleeds. There was never such a combat, never such a bloodshed, and yet it is not finished. To see the carelessness of mankind, the slender fruit of his sufferings, the sorrows of his mother, disciples, friends; to foresee, from the watch-tower of his cross, the future temptations of his children, desolations of his church; all these must needs strike.deep into a tender heart. These he still sees and pities, but. without passion,; then he suffered in seeing them.

Can we yet say any more Lo, all these sufferings are aggravated by hisfulness of knowledge, and want of comfort. For, he did not shut his eyes, as one says, when he drunk this cup: he saw, and knew how bitter it was. He foresaw every particular he should suffer. So long as he foresaw he suffered. The expectation of evil is not less than the sense. To look long for good is a punishment; but for evil is a torment. No passion is excited by an unknown object. As no love, so no fear is of what we know not. Hence men fear not hell, because they foresee it not. If we could see that pit open before we come at it, it would make us tremble at our sins, and our knees to knock together, and perhaps without faith,

to run mad at the horror of judgment. He saw the burden of all particular sins to be laid upon him. Every dram of his Father's wrath was measured out to him, ere he touched this potion. This cup was full, and he knew that it must be drunk, not a drop left It must be finished.

Oh, yet, if as he foresaw all his sorrows, so he could have seen some mixture of refreshing. But I found none to comfort me, no, none to pity me. And yet it is a poor comfort that arises from pity. Even so, O Lord, you treadest this wine-press alone; none to ac-company, none to assist thee. Even the greatest torments are easy, when they have answerable comforts; but a wounded and comfortless spirit who can bear If but the same messenger of God might have attended his cross, that appeared in his agony, it might have given some ease. And yet, what can angels help, where God will smite Against the violence of men, against the fury of SATAN, they have prevailed in the cause of God for men. They dare not, they cannot comfort, where God will afflict. When our Savior had been wrestling with SATAN before, then they appeared to him, and served; but now, while he is wrestling with the wrath of his Father for us, not an angel dare be seen to look out of the windows of heaven to relieve him. For men; much less could they if they would. But what did they Miserable comforters are ye all. The soldiers, they stripped him, scorned him with his purple crown, reed, spat on, smote him. The passengers, they reviled him, wagging their heads. The elders and scribes bought his blood, suborned witnesses, incensed Pilate, preferred Barabbas, undertook the guilt of his death, cried out, "Crucify, crucify." His disciples forsook him; one of them forswears him, another runs away naked, rather than he will stay and confess him. His mother and other friends look on indeed, and sorrow with him; but to his discomfort.

Where the grief is extreme, partnership does increase sorrow. The tears of those we love, do either relieve our hearts, or wound them. Who then shall comfort him. His Father Here, here was his hope. " If the Lord had not holden me, my soul had dwelt in silence. € and my Father are one." But now, (alas!) he, even he, delivers him into the hands of his enemies; and then, turns his back upon him as a stranger; yea, he wounds him as an enemy. "The Lord would bruise him," Isa. 53:1O. Any thing is light to the soul while the comforts of God sustain it. Who can dismay, where God will relieve But here, "My GOD, my GOD, why have you forsaken me" What a word was here, to come from the mouth of the Son of God My disciples are men, weak and fearful; no marvel if they forsake me. The Jews are themselves cruel and obstinate. Men are men, graceless and unthankful. Devils are, according to their nature, spiteful and malicious. All these do but their kind, and let them do it: but You, "O Father, you that have said, " This is my well-beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased:" you of whom I have said, " It is my Father that glorifies me;" what " forsaken me" Not only brought me this shame, smitten me; but, as it were, forgotten, yea, forsaken me What, even me, my Father How.many of thy constant servants have suffered heavy things; yet in the multitude of the sorrows of their hearts, thy comforts have refreshed their souls Have you relieved them, and dost you forsake me Me, thine only, dear, eternal Son O ye heavens and earth, how could you stand, while the Maker of you thus complained Ye stood: but partaking of his passion. The earth trembled and shook, her rocks were rent, her graves opened, the heavens withdrew their light, as not daring to behold this fearful spectacle.

Oh, Christians! How should these earthen and rocky hearts of ours shake, and rend in pieces at this meditation! How should our faces be covered with darkness, and our joy be turned into heaviness! All these voices, and tears, and sweats, and pangs, are for us; yea, from as. Shall the Son of God thus smart for our sins, yea, with our sins, and shall we not grieve for our own Shall. he weep to us, and shall not we mourn Nay, shall he sweat and bleed for us, and shall not we weep for ourselves! Shall he thus shriek out, under his Father's wrath, and shall not we tremble Shall the heavens and earth suffer with him, and we suffer nothing I call you not to a weak and idle pity of our glorious Savior. To what purpose His injury was our glory. No, no! " Ye daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves:" for our sins, that have done this; not for his sorrow that suffered it: not for his pangs that were; but for our own, that should have been, and (if we repent not;) shall be.

Oh! how grievous, how deadly are our sins, that cost the Son of GOD, (besides blood,) so, much torment How far are our souls gone, that could not be ransomed with an easier price! That which took so much of this infinite Redeemer of men, God and man, how can it do less than swallow up and confound thy soul, which is but finite and sinful If thy soul had been in his soul's stead, what had become of it This weight that lies thus heavy on the' Son of GOD, and wrung from him these tears, sweat, blood, and these inconceivable groans of his afflicted spirit, how should it but press down thy soul to the bottom of hell And so it would: if he had not suffered it for thee, you must and should have suffered it for thyself. Go now, you lewd man, and make thyself merry with thy sins; laugh at the uncleanness of thy youth. You little knows the price of a sin; thy impenitent soul shall do; thy Savior did, when he cried out, to the amazement of angels, and horror of men, " My God! my God! why has you forsaken me"

But now no more of this, " It is finished." The greater conflict, the more happy victory. Well does he find and feel of his Father, what his type said before, "He will not chide always, nor keep his anger for ever." It is fearful; but in him short: eternal to sinners; short to his Son, in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily. Behold, this storm, wherewith all the powers of the world were shaken, is now over. The elders, Pharisees, Judas, the soldiers, priests, witnesses, judges, thieves, executioners, devils, have all tired themselves in vain, with their own malice; and he triumphs over them all, upon the throne of his cross. His enemies are vanquished, his Father satisfied, his soul with this word at rest and glory; " It is finished." Now there is no more betraying, agonies, arraignments, scourgings, scoffing, crucifying, conflicts, terrors; all is finished. Alas! beloved, and will ye not let the Son of God be at rest Do ye now again go about to fetch him out of his glory, to scorn and crucify him I fear to say it: God's Spirit dares, and does say, "They crucify again to themselves the Son of GOD, and put him to an open shame." See and consider: the -sinful conversations of those, that should be Christians, offer violence unto our glorified Savior; they stretch their hand to heaven, and pull him down from his throne, to his cross. They tear him with thorns, pierce hind with nails, load him with reproaches. You hates the Jews, spittest at the name of Judas, railest on Pilate, condemnest the cruel butchers of CHRIST; yet, you can blaspheme, and swear, curse, lie, oppress, boil with lust, riot, and live like an human beast; yea, like an unclean devil. Cry hosanna as long as you wilt; you art a Pilate, a Jew, a Judas, an executioner of the Lord of life; and so much greater shall thy judgment be, by how much thy light and his glory is more.

Oh! beloved, is it not enough that he died once for us Were those pains so light, that we should every day redouble them Is this the entertainment that so gracious a Savior has deserved of us by dying Is this the recompence of that infinite love of his, that you should thus cruelly vex and wound him with thy sins Every one of our sins is a thorn, and nail, and spear to him. While you pourest down thy drunken carouses, you givest thy Savior a potion of gall. While you despiset his poor servants, you spittest on his face.

While you puttest on thy proud dresses, and liftest up thy vain heart, you settest a crown of thorns on his-head. While you oppressest his poor children, you whippest him, and drawest blood of his hands and feet. You hypocrite, how darest you offer to receive the sacrament of God with that hand which is thus embrued in the blood of him whom you receivest You makest no scruple of thine own sins, and scornest those that do. Not to be wicked, is crime enough.

Hear him that says, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest you me" Saul strikes at Damascus, CHRIST suffers in heaven. You strikest, CHRIST JESUS smarteth, and will revenge. These are his [UcFgmo-a7u,] after-sufferings. In himself it is finished; in his members it is not, till the world be finished. We must toil, and groan, and bleed, that we may reign. If he had not done so, it had not been finished. This is our warfare. Now we are set upon the pavement of our theatre, and are matched with all sorts of evils evil men, evil spirits, evil accidents; and (which is worst) our own evil hearts; temptations, crosses, persecutions) sicknesses, wants, infamies, death; all these must, rin their courses, be encountered by the law of our profession. What should we do but strive and suffer, as our General has done, that we may reign as he doth God and his angels sit upon the scaffolds of heaven, and behold us. Our crown is ready. Our day of deliverance shall come; yea, our redemption: is near, when all tears shall be wiped from our eyes; and we, that have sown in tears, shall reap in joy. In the mean time, let us possess our souls, not in patience only, but in comfort: let us adore And magnify our Savior in his sufferings, and imitate him in our own. Our sorrows shall have an end, our joys shall not. Our pains shall soon be finished; our glory shall be finished, but never ended.

Thus his sufferings are finished; now, together with them, the purchase of man's salvation. Who knows not that man had made himself a deep debtor, a bankrupt, an outlaw to God Our sins are our debts; and by sins, death. Now, in this word and act, our sins are discharged, death endured, and therefore we cleared. The debt is paid; the score is crossed; the creditor satisfied; the debtors acquitted. We are all sick, and that mortally. Sin is the disease of the soul. So many sins, so many fevers, and those pestilent. What wonder is' it that we have so much plague, while we have so much sin Our Savior is the physician. " The, whole need not the physician, but the sick." Wherein " He healeth all our infirmities." He healeth them after a miraculous manner; not by giving us receipts, but by taking our receipts for us. A wonderful physician; a wonderful course of cure. One while he would cure us by abstinence; our superfluity, by his forty days emptiness; according to that old rule, Hunger cures the diseases of gluttony. Another while, by exercise: "He vent up and down from city to city; and in the day was preaching in the temple; in the night praying in the mount." Then by diet: "Take, eat, this is my body:" and " Let this cup pass." After that yet, by sweat; such a sweat as never was—a bloody one! Yet more, by incision; they pierced his hands, feet, and side. And yet again by potion; a bitter potion of vinegar and gall. And lastly, which is both the strangest and strongest receipt of all, by dying: "Who died for us; that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him." We need no more, we can go no further; there can be no more physic of this kind. There are cordials after these of his resurrection and ascension; no more penal receipts. By his blood we have redemption, Ephes. 1: 17; justification, Rom. 3: 24; reconciliation, Colds. 1: 2O; sanctification, 1 Pet. 1: 2; entrance into glory, Heb. 10: 19. Is it not now finished Wo were us if he had left but one mite of satisfaction upon our score, to be discharged by our souls. And wo be to them that derogate from CHRIST, that they may charge themselves; that botch up these all-sufficiently meritorious sufferings of CHRIST as-imperfect, with the superfluities of flesh and blood.

Hear this, you languishing, afflicted soul. There is not one of thy sins but it is atoned for; not one farthing of all thine infinite ransom is unpaid. Alas! thy sins (you sayest,) are ever before thee, and God's indignation goes still over thee, and you goest mourning all the day long; and with that pattern of distress, criest out in the bitterness of thy soul, "I have sinned, what shall I do to thee, O you Preserver of men" What should you do Turn and believe. Now you art stung in thy conscience with this fiery serpent, look up with the eyes of faith to this brazen serpent, CHRIST. JESUS, and be healed. Be-hold, his head is humbly bowed down to thee; his arms are stretched out lovingly to embrace thee; yea, his precious side is open to receive thee; and his tongue interprets all these to thee for thine endless comfort. " It is finished." There is no more accusation, judgment, death, hell for thee: all these are no more to thee than if they were not. " Who shall condemn It is CHRIST who died."

But still, after all, here is the doubt: You sayest, Well, CHRIST " is the good shepherd." Wherein " He gives life:" but for whom " For his sheep." What is this to thee While you art secure, profane, impenitent, you art a wolf, or a goat. "My sheep hear my voice." What is his voice, but his precepts Where is thine obedience to his commandments If you wilt riot hear his law, never hearken to his gospel. Here is no more mercy for thee, than if there were no Savior. If you have no beginnings of grace as yet, hope not for ever finishing of salvation. " Come to me, all ye that are heavy laden," says CHRIST. You shall get nothing, if you come when he calls thee not. You art not called, and eanst not be refreshed, unless you be laden, notwith sin, (that alone keeps thee from GOD,) but with con-science of sin. "A broken and contrite heart, O GOD, you wilt not despise." Is thy heart wounded with thy sin Do grief and hatred strive within thee, whether shall be more! Are the desires of thy soul with God Dost you long for holiness, complain of thy imperfections, struggle against thy corruptions You art the man; fear not; " It is finished." That law which you wouldst have kept, and couldst not, thy Savior could, and did keep for thee. That salvation which you couldst never procure for thyself, (alas t poor impotent creatures, what can we do towards heaven without him, which cannot move on earth but in him) he alone has purchased for thee. He would be spit on,. that he might wash thee. He would be covered with scornful robes, that thy sins might be covered. He would be whipped, that thy soul might not be scourged eternally. He would thirst, that thy soul might be satisfied. He would bear all his Father's wrath, that you might bear none. He would yield to death, that you might never taste of it. He would be for a time as forsaken of his Father, that you mighest be received for ever.

Thus our speech of CHRIST's last word is finished. His last act accompanied his words; our speech must follow it. Let it not want your devout and careful attention: " He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." The cross was a slow death, and had more pain, than speed. Whence a second violence must despatch the crucified: their bones must be broken that their hearts might break. Our Savior waits not death's leisure, but willingly and courageously meets him in the way; and like a champion that scorns to be overcome, yea, knows he cannot, yieldeth in the midst of his strength; that he might, by dying, vanquish death. " He bowed and gave up:" not bowing because he had given up, but because he would. " He cried with a loud voice," says Matthew. Nature was strong; he might have lived, but " he gave up the ghost;" and would die to show himself Lord of

life and death. Oh wondrous example! He that gave life to his enemies, gave up his own. He gives them to live that persecute and hate him; and himself will die for those that hate him. " He bowed and gave up." Not they; they might crown his head, they could not bow it. They might vex his spirit, not take it away. They could not do that without leave; this they could not do, because they had. DO leave. He alone would bow his head, and give up his ghost. "I have power to lay down my life." Man gave him not his life; man could not deprive him of it. " No man takes it from me." Alas, who could The high-priest's forces, when they came against him armed; he said but, " I am he;" they flee and fall back-ward. How easy a breath dispersed his enemies! whom he might as easily have bidden the earth, yea, hell to swallow up, or fire from heaven to devour. Who commanded the devils, and they obeyed, could not have been attached by men. He must give, not only leave, but power to apprehend himself, else they had not lived to take him. He is laid hold on: Peter fights; " Put up," (says CHRIST;) " thinkest you that I cannot pray to my Father, and he would give me more than twelve legions of angels" What an army were here More than threescore and twelve thousand angels, and every angel able to subdue a world of men. He could, but would not be rescued. He is led by his own power, not by his enemies; and stands now before Pilate like the scorn of men, crowned, robbed, scourged: "yet you couldst have no power against me, unless it were given thee from above."

Behold, he himself must give Pilate power against him-self, or else he could not be condemned. He will be condemned, lifted up, nailed; yet no death without him-self. " He shall give his soul an offering for sin," Isai. liii, 1O. No action that savours of constraint can be meritorious. He would deserve, therefore he would suffer and die. " He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." O gracious and bountiful Savior! He might have kepthis soul, in spite of all the world. "The weakness of God is stronger than men." And if he had but spoken the word, the heavens and earth should have vanished away before him; but he would not. Behold; when he saw that impotent man could not take away his soul, he gave it up, and would die, that we might live. See here a Savior, that can contemn his own life for ours; and shuns not to be dissolved in himself, that we might be united to his Father. " Skin for skin," says the devil, "and all that a man has will he give for his life." Lo here! to prove SATAN a liar, skin, and life, and all has CHRIST JESUS given for us. We are besotted with the earth, and make base shifts to live; one with a maimed body, another with a perjured soul, and a third with a rotten name. And how many had rather neglect their soul than their life, and will rather renounce and curse GOD, than die! It is a shame to tell. Many of us Christians dote upon life, and tremble at death; and spew our-selves fools in our excess of love, cowards in our fear.. Oh! let me live, says the fearful soul. You weak and timorous creature, what wouldst you do with thyself. Have you thus learned CHRIST He died voluntarily for thee; you wilt not be forced to die for him. He gave up the ghost for thee; you wilt not let others take it from thee for him; you wilt not let him take it for himself.

When I look back to the first Christians, and compare their zealous contempt of death with our backwardness, I am at once amazed and ashamed. I see there even women running, with their little ones in their arms, for the preferment of martyrdom, and ambitiously striving for the next blow. I see holy and tender virgins choosing rather a sore and shameful death, than honorable espousals. I hear the blessed martyrs entreating their tyrants and tormentors for the honor of dying. Ignatius, among the rest, fearing lest the beasts will not devour him. And what less courage was there in our glorious forefathers of the last age And do we, their cold and feeble offspring, look pale at the face of a natural death; abhor the violent, though for CHRIST Alas, how have we gathered rust with our long peace! Our unwillingness is from inconsideration, from distrust.

Look but up to CHRIST JESUS upon his cross, and see him bowing his head, and breathing out his soul, and these fears shall vanish. He died, and wouldst you live He gave up the ghost, and wouldst you keep it Whom wouldst you follow, if not thy Redeemer If you die riot, if not willingly, you goest contrary to him, and shall never meet him. Though you should every day die a death for him, you couldst never requite his one death; and dost you stick at one Every word has its force, both to him and thee. He died, who is Lord of life, and commander of death. You art but a tenant of life, a subject of death. And yet it was not a dying, but a giving up, not of a vanishing breath, but of a soul, which, after separation, has an entire life in itself. "He gave up the ghost:" he died, that has both overcome, and sanctified, and sweetened death. What fearest thou He has pulled out the sting and malignity of death: if you be a Christian, carry it in thy bosom, it hurts thee not.

Darest you not trust thy Redeemer If he had not died, death had been a tyrant; now he is a slave. " O death, where is thy sting O grave, where is thy victory" Yet the Spirit of God says not, He died, but " gave up the ghost." How gave he it up, and whither So as, after a sort, he retained it. His soul parted from his body; his Godhead never, either from soul or body. This union is not in nature, but in person. If the natures of CHRIST could be divided, each would have its subsistence; so there should be more persons. One of the natures thereof may have a separation in itself; the soul from the body: one nature from another, or either nature from the person. If you cannot conceive, wonder. The Son of God has wedded unto himself our humanity, without all possibility of divorce. The body hangs onthe cross, the soul is yielded, the Godhead is eternally united to them both; acknowledges, sustains them both. Whither gave he it up Himself expresses: "Father, into thy hands." He knew where it should be both safe and happy. True: he might be bold, (you sayest,) as the Son with the Father. The servants have done so; David before him, Stephen after him. It is not presumption, but faith, to charge God with thy spirit; neither can there ever be any believing soul so mean that he should refuse it. All the fear is in thyself. How can you trust thy jewel with a stranger What sudden familiarity is this God has been with thee, and gone by thee; you have not saluted him: and now in all haste you bequeathest thy soul to him. On what acquaintance How desperate is this carelessness!

O the fearful and miserable state of that man that must part with his soul he knows not whither! Which if you wouldst avoid, (as this very warning shall judge thee if you do not,) be acquainted with God in thy life, that you mayest make him the guardian of thy soul in thy death. Given up it must needs be, but to him that has governed it. If you have given it up to SATAN in thy life, how can you hope God will in thy death entertain it " Did you not hate me, and expel me out of my Father's house How then come ye to me now in this time of your tribulation" said Jephtha to the men of Gilead. No, no, either give up thy soul to GOD, while he calls for it in his word, in his love, in his afflictions, in the holy motions of his Spirit to thine: or else, when you wouldst give it, he will not have it, but as a Judge to deliver it to the tormentor. What should God do with an unclean, drunken, profane, proud, covetous soul without holiness, there is no seeing of God. " Depart from me, ye wicked, I know you not:" go to the gods you have served. See how God is even with men. They had, in the time of the gospel, said to the Holy One of Israel, " Depart from’ us;" now, in the time of judgment, he says to there, " Depart from me."

They would not know God when they might; now God will not know them when they would. Therefore, if you wouldst not have God scorn the offer of thy death-bed, fit thy soul for him now in thy health; furnish it with grace; inure it to a sweet conversation with the God of heaven. Then may you boldly give it up; and he shall as graciously receive it, yea, fetch it by his angels to his glory.

" He gave up the ghost." We must do as he did: not all with the same success. Giving up supposes a receiving, a returning. This inmate that we have in our bosom is sent to lodge here for a time, but may not dwell here always. The right of this tenure is the Lord's, not ours. It is ours to keep, his to dispose of and require.

If you hadst no soul, if a mortal one, if thine own, if never to be required, how couldst you live but sensually Oh! remember but who you art, what you hast, and whither you must go; and you shall live like thyself while you art, and give up thy ghost confidently when you shall cease to be. Neither is there here more certainty of our departure than comfort. Carry this with thee to thy death-bed, and see if it cannot refresh thee when all the world cannot give thee one dram of comfort. Our spirit is our dearest riches; if we should lose it, here were just cause of grief. Howl and lament, if you thinkest thy soul perisheth; it is not forfeited, but surrendered. How safely does our soul pass through the gates of death, without any impeachment, while it is in the hand of the Almighty Wo were us, if he did not keep it while we have it; much more when we restore it. We give it up to the same hands that created, in-fused, redeemed, renewed it; that cdoes protect, preserve, establish, and will crown it. "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day." O secure and happy state of the godly! O blessed ex-change of our condition! While our soul dwells in our breast, how is it subject to infinite miseries, distempered

with passions, charged with sin, vexed with temptations! Above, none of these. How should it be otherwise This is our pilgrimage, that our home. This is our wilderness, that our land of promise. This our bondage, that our kingdom. Our impotence causes this our sorrow.

When our soul is once given up, what evil shall reach unto heaven, and wrestle with the Almighty Our loathness to give up comes from our ignorance and infidelity. No man goes unwillingly to a certain preferment. " I desire to be dissolved," says Paul. " I have served thee, I have believed thee, and now I come to thee," says Luther. The voice of saints this, not of carnal men. If thine heart can say thus, you shall not need to entreat, with old Hilarion, "Go forth, my soul, go forth, what fearest thou" but it shall fly cheerfully from thee, and give up itself into the arms of God as a faithful Creator and Redeemer. This earth is not the element of thy soul, it is not where it should be. It shall be no less thine when it is more the owners. Think now seriously of this point; God's angel is abroad, and strikes on all sides. We know not which of our turns shall be the next. We are sure we carry death within us. If we be ready, our day cannot come too soon. Stir up thy soul to an heavenly cheerfulness, like thy Savior. Know but whither you art going, and you can not but, with divine Paul, say, from our Savior's mouth, even in this sense, " It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive." God cannot abide an unwilling guest. Give up that spirit to him, which he has given thee, and he will both receive what you givest, and give it thee again with that glory and happiness which can never be conceived, and shall never be ended. Even so, Lord JESUS, come quickly!