tain to this Saviour; his word, by which thou mightest attain to this faith; what is there in this, not his? And yet not his so simply, as that it is without thee; without thy merit indeed, not without thine act. Thou livest here, through his blessing, but by bread: thou shalt live above through his mercy; but by thy faith below, apprehending the author of thy life. And, yet as he will not save thee without thy faith, so thou canst never have faith without his gift. Look to him therefore, O my soul, as the beginner and finisher of thy salvation; and while thou magnifiest the Author, be ravished with the glory of the work, which far passeth both the tongue of angels and the heart of man. It can be no good thing that is not there. How can they want water, that have the spring? Where God is enjoyed, in whom only all things are good, what good can be wanting? And what perfection of bliss is there, where all goodness is met and united! "In thy presence is fulness of joy; and at thy right-hand are pleasures for evermore. Ŏ blessed reflection of glory! We see there, as we are seen. In that we are seen, it is our glory in that we see, it is God's glory: therefore doth he glorify us, that our glory should be his. How worthy art thou, O Lord, that, through us, thou shouldest look at thyself!"

CHAPTER XXI.

4. The Consideration of the Fruits and Effects.

THE next place shall be the fruits and effects following upon their several causes; which also afford very feeling and copious matter to our meditation; wherein it shall be ever best, not so much to seek for all, as to choose out the chief.

"No marvel then, if from this glory proceed unspeakable joy; and from this joy, the sweet songs of praise and thanksgiving. The Spirit bids us, when we are merry, sing; how much more then, whe we are merry without all mixture of sorrow, beyond all measure of our earthly affections, shall we sing joyful hallelujahs and hosannahs

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to him that dwelleth in the highest heavens! Our hearts shall be so full, that we cannot choose but sing, and we cannot but sing melodiously. There is no jar in this music, no end of this song. O blessed change of the saints! They do nothing but weep below, and now nothing but sing above. We sowed in tears, we reap in joy. There was some comfort in those tears, when they were at the worst: but there is no danger of complaint in this heavenly mirth. If we cannot sing here with angels, "On earth peace;" yet there we shall sing with them, "Glory to God on high;" and, joining our voices to theirs, shall make up that celestial concert, which none can either hear or bear part in, and not be happy."

CHAPTER XXII.

5. Consideration of the Subject wherein or whereabout it is.

AFTER which comes to be considered the subject, either wherein that is, or whereabout that is employed, which we meditate of; as

“And, indeed, what less happiness doth the very place promise, wherein this glory is exhibited, which is no other than the paradise of God? Here below we dwell, or rather we wander, in a continued wilderness; there we shall rest us in the true Eden; "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse." Kings use not to dwell in cottages of clay, but in royal courts fit for their estate; how much more shall the king of heaven, who hath prepared for men so fair mansions on earth, make himself a habitation suitable to his majesty! Even earthly princes have dwelt in cedar and ivory; but the great city, holy Jerusalem, the palace of the Highest, hath her walls of jasper, her building of gold, her foundation of precious stones, her gates of pearl. How glorious things are spoken of thee, O thou city of God!" We see but the pavement, and yet how goodly it is! The believing Centurion thought himself unworthy that Christ should come under his roof; yet wert thou, O Saviour, in thine humbled estate, in the

form of a servant; how then shall I think myself worthy to come under this roof of thine, so shining and glorious? O if this clay of mine may come to this honour above, let it be trampled upon and despised on earth."

CHAPTER XXIII.

6. Consideration of the Appendances and Qualities of it.

SIXTHLY shall follow the appendances and qualities, which cleave unto the subject, whereof we meditate; as

"But were the place less noble and majestical, yet the company which it affordeth, hath enough to make the soul blessed; for not the place giveth ornament to the guest, so much as the guest to the place. How loth are

we to leave this earth, only for the society of some few friends in whom we delight, which yet are subject every day to mutual dislikes! What pleasure shall we then take in the enjoying of the saints, when there is nothing in them not amiable, nothing in us that may cool the fervour of our love! There shalt thou, my soul, thyself glorified, meet with thy dear parents and friends alike glorious, never to be severed. There thou shalt see and converse with those ancient worthies of the former world, the blessed patriarchs and prophets, with the crowned martyrs and confessors, with the holy apostles, and the fathers of that primitive and this present church, shining each one according to the measure of his blessed labours. There shalt thou live familiarly in the sight of those angels, whom now thou receivest good from, but seest not. There, which is the head of all thy felicity, thine eyes shall see him whom now thy heart longeth for, that Saviour of thine, in the only hope of whom now thou livest. Alas, how dimly and afar off dost thou now behold him! How imperfectly dost thou enjoy him, while every temptation bereaves thee, for the time, of his presence! "I sought him whom my soul loveth; I sought him, but found him not." His back is now towards thee many times through thy sins, and therefore thou hardly

discernest him. Otherwhile and often thy back is turned unto him through negligence, that, when thou mightest obscurely see him, thou dost not. Now thou shalt see

him, and thine eyes, thus fixed, shall not be removed. Yet neither could this glory make us happy, if, being thus absolute, it were not perpetual. To be happy is not so sweet a state, as it is miserable to have been happy. Lest aught therefore should be wanting, behold, this felicity knoweth no end, feareth no intermission, and is as eternal for the continuance, as he that had no beginning. O blessedness truly infinite! Our earthly joys do scarcely ever begin, but, when they begin, their end bordereth upon their beginning; one hour seeth us oftimes joyful and miserable: here alone is nothing but eternity. If then the divine prophet thought one day here in God's earthly house better than a thousand otherwhere, what shall I compare to thousands of millions of years in God's heavenly temple? Yea, millions of years are not so much as a minute to eternity; and that other house not a cottage to this."

CHAPTER XXIV.

7. Of that which is diverse from it or contrary to it.

SEVENTHLY, our thoughts, leaving a while the consideration of the thing as it is in itself, shall descend unto it as respectively with others; and therefore shall first meditate of that which is diverse from it, or contrary unto it.

"What dost thou here then, O my soul? What dost thou here, grovelling upon earth, where the best things are vanity, the rest no better than vexation? Look round about thee, and see whether thine eyes can meet with any thing, but either sins or miseries. Those few and short pleasures thou seest, end ever sorrowfully, and, in the mean time, are intermingled with many grievances. Here thou hearest one cry out of a sick body, whereof there is no part which affords not choice of diseases: this man layeth his hand upon his consuming lungs and complain

eth of short wind; that other, upon his rising spleen; a third shaketh his painful head; another roars out for the torment of his reins or bladder; another, for the racking of his gouty joints: one is distempered with a watery dropsy; another, with a windy colic; a third, with a fiery ague; a fourth, with an earthen melancholy: one grovels and foameth with the falling sickness; another lieth bedrid, half senseless with a dead palsy: there are but few bodies, that complain not of some disease; and, that thou mayest not look far, it is a wonder if thyself feel not always one of these evils within thee. There thou hearest another lament his loss: either his estate is impaired by suretyship, or stealth, or shipwreck, or oppression; or his child his unruly, or miscarried; or his wife dead, or disloyal: another tormented with passions: each one is some way miserable. But that which is yet more irksome, thy one ear is beaten with cursings and blasphemies; thy other, with scornful, or wanton, or murdering speeches: thine eyes see nothing but pride, filthiness, profaneness, blood, excess, and whatsoever else might vex a righteous soul; and, if all the world besides were innocent, thou findest enough within thyself to make thyself weary, and thy life loathsome. Thou needest not fetch cause of complaint from others; thy corruptions yield thee too much at home; ever sinning, ever presuming; sinning, even when thou hast repented; yea, even while thou repentest, sinning. Go to now, my soul, and solace thyself here below; and suffer thyself to be besotted with these goodly contentments, worthy of no better, while thou fixest thyself on these. See if thou canst find any of these above; and, if thou canst meet with any distemper, any loss, any sin, any complaint, from thyself or any other above, despise thy heaven, as much as now thou lovest the earth. Or if all this cannot enough commend unto thee the state of heavenly glory, cast down thine eyes yet lower into that deep and bottomless pit, full of horror, full of torment; where there is nothing but flames, and tears, and shrieks, and gnashing of teeth; nothing but fiends, and tortures; where there is palpable darkness, and yet perpetual fire; where the damned are ever boiling, never consumed; ever dying, never dead; ever complaining,