tuous sinners, thou hast reserved "the cup of trembling, and the dregs of the cup of thy fury," which they shall drink up, and die for ever: in the mean time, they feast without fear, and let themselves loose to all jollity and pleasure; as having "made a league with death, and an agreement with hell." Whereas the failings of thy faithful, but weak servants are smartingly rewarded with the lashes of painful afflictions here, and passed over with silence in the reckonings of eternity; while their humble penitence admits them to a gracious pardon in this world, and everlasting blessedness in the other.

Even so, Lord, let not thy staff only, but thy rod also comfort me. Let " thy loving correction make me," however unworthy, "great" in thy favour; and let me bleed from that hand, which upholds me here and shall crown me hereafter.

SECTION VI.

It is easy enough to observe, that the main comfort of our sufferings must be expected from the issue; "for no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless; afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness, to them which are exercised thereby," Heb. xii. 11.

There is an end of all our sorrows, and that end is happy; such as makes more than abundant amends for all our sufferings. They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy," Ps. cxxvi. 5. "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted; behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires: and I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones," Isa. liv. 11, 12. Indeed, " many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all," Ps. xxxiv. 19; yea, delivereth him, not without triumph and infinite advantage; "Though they have lien among the pots, yet shall they be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold," Ps. lxviii. 13.

It is not seldom seen, that God is pleased to recom pense the sufferings of his servants with a sensible advancement in this present world. Job is double the richer for his losses; and Joseph changed the nasty rags of his prison for the fine linen of Egypt, and his gaol for a throne next to Pharaoh's.

But the full and unfailable perfection of their glorious amends abides for them in heaven; for "our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," 2 Cor. iv. 17. Lo, this, this is it, the assured expectation whereof is able to turn all the sorrows which the soul is capable of, into joy. It was a heavenly word which is said to have fallen from a mortified votary, whom Rome honours for a saint; "So great is the glory that I look for, that all pain is a pleasure to me." And, surely, could our narrow hearts apprehend it aright, so transcendent is the glory of this retribution, that we should not grudge at the condition, if we were allotted to pass through the torments of hell to so great a blessedness. How much more, therefore, should we, in intuition of this eternal happiness, lightly turn over those slight miseries which are incident unto us, in this our short pilgrimage upon earth.

Methinks I see with what courage and scorn, in this regard, that famous confessor, Marquis Arethusius, looked down upon his persecutors; when, being hanged up in a basket betwixt heaven and earth, his naked body all gashed with wounds and anointed with honey to invite the wasps and hornets to that cruel banquet, he cheerfully insulted over the malicious spectators below, as poor terrene wretches, creeping upon the base earth; whereas himself was now advanced aloft to that heave, whereto he was aspiring.

With what pity did the valiant martyrs behold their enraged tyrants and wearied tormentors, when they looked up to their heaven; and, with the eye of their faith, saw that, which the protomartyr saw with bodily eyes, the heavens opened, and their Jesus standing at the righthand of God ready to crown them with glory!

For us, we may not all be martyrs, but we must all be sufferers; for, through much tribulation must we enter

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into the kingdom of God," Acts xiv. 22; and, "if we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with him," 2 Tim. ii. 12.

O poor tribulations, in respect to that kingdom! How can we be sensible of these flea-bitings, when we have a blessed eternity in our eye?

O God, bless thou mine eye with this sight, I shall not forbear to sing in the night of death itself: much less, in the twilight of all these worldly afflictions.

SECTION VII.

COME then, all ye earthly crosses; and muster up all your forces against me. Here is that which is able to make me more than a conqueror over you all.

Have I lost my goods, and foregone a fair estate? Had all the earth been mine, what is it to heaven? Had I been the lord of all the world, what were this to a kingdom of glory?

Have I parted with a dear consort, the sweet companion of my youth, the tender nurse of my age, the partner of my sorrows for these forty-eight years? She is but stept a little before me to that happy rest which I am panting towards, and wherein I shall speedily overtake her. In the mean time, and ever, my soul is espoused to that glorious and immortal Husband, from whom I shall never be parted.

Am I bereaved of some of my dear children, the sweet pledges of our matrimonial love, whose parts and hopes promised me comfort in my declining age? Why am I not rather thkful it hath pleased my God, out of my loins to furnish heaven with some happy guests? Why do I not, instead of mourning for their loss, sing praises to God for preferring them to that eternal blessedness?

Am I afflicted with bodily pain and sickness, which banisheth all sleep from my eyes, and exercises me with a lingering torture? Ere long, this momentary distemper shall end in an everlasting rest.

Am I threatened by the sword of an enemy? Suppose

that man to be one of the guardians of paradise, and that sword as flaming as it is sharp, that one stroke shall let me into that place of unconceivable pleasure, and admit me to feed on the tree of life for ever.

Cheer up then, O my soul; and upon the fixed apprehension of the glory to be revealed, while thy weak partner, my body, droops had languishes under the sad load of years and infirmities, sing thou to thy God, even in the midnight of thy sorrows, and in the deepest darkness of death itself, songs of confidence, songs of spiritual joy, songs of praise and thanksgiving; saying, with all the glorified ones, "Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.” Amen.

THE SOUL'S FAREWELL TO EARTH,

AND

APPROACHES TO HEAVEN.

SECTION I.

Be thou ever, O my soul, holily ambitious; always aspiring towards thy heaven; not entertaining any thought that makes not towards blessedness. For this cause, therefore, put thyself upon thy wings, and leave the earth below thee; and, when thou art advanced above this inferior world, look down upon this globe of wretched mortality, and despise what thou wast and hadst; and think with thyself, "There was I, not a sojourner so much as prisoner, for some tedious years. There have I been thus long tugging with my miseries, with my sins. There have my treacherous senses betrayed me to infinite evils, both done and suffered. How have I been there tormented with the sense of others' wickedness, but more with the sense of my own! What insolence did I see in men of power! what rage in men of blood! what gross superstition in the ignorant! what abominable sacrilege in those that would be zealous! what drunken revellings, what filthiness, what hellish profanations, in atheistic ruffians! what perfidiousness in friendship, what cozenage in contracts! what cruelty in revenges; shortly, what a hell upon earth! Farewell then, sinful world, whose favours have been no other than snares, and whose frowns no less than torments. Farewell for ever; for if my flesh cannot yet clear itself of thee, yet my spirit shall ever know thee at a distance, and behold thee no otherwise than the escaped mariner looks back upon the rock,