162 THE WORLD TO COME. to attain these ends, and to purify and refine the soul for heaven, I answer he sometimes does it by sharp strokes of affliction, making our interests in the creature bitter to us, that we may be weaned from the relish of them, and the power of divine grace, must accompany all his weaning providences, or the work will not be done. Sometimes again he weans the soul from the law- ful things of this world, by permitting our earthly enjoyments to plunge us into difficulties, to seize the heart with anxieties, or to surround its with sore temptations : Thee, when we feel ourselves falling into sin, and bruised or defiled thereby, we loose our former gust of pleasure in them ; and when we are recovered by divine grace, we are more effectually weaned from such kind of temptations for the future ; but it is impossible in the compass of à few lines to describe the various methods which the blessed God uses to wean the spirit from all its earthly attachments, and to work it up to a meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. Blessed souls, who are thus loosened and weaned from sensible things, though it be done by painful sufferings ! 4. The great God not only weans our hearts from those things that are not to be enjoyed in heaven, but he gives us a holy appetite and relish, suited to the provisions of the heavenly world, and raises our desires and tendencies of soul toward them. By nature our minds are estranged from God, and from all that is divine and holy ; we have no desires after his love, nor delight in the thoughts of dwelling with God : But when divine grace has effectually touched the heart, it ever tends upwards to that world of holiness and peace. So the needle, when it is touched by the ]oadstone, ever points to the beloved pole -star, and seems uneasy when it is diverted from it, nor will it rest till it return thither again. Do the sweet sensations of divine love make up a great part ofthe heavenly blessedness ? The soul is in some measure fitted for it, who can say with David in Ps. iv. 6. Lord, lift thou up upon me the light of thy countenance, and it shall rejoice my heart more than if corn, and wine, and oil abounded, and all earthly blessings were multiplied upon me; for in thy love is the life of my soul, and thy loving kindness is better than life ; Ps. lxiii. 3. Is the felicitating presence of God to be enjoyed in the fu- ture world, and shall we see his face there with unspeakable de- light ? Then those souls are prepared for heaven, who can say with the Psalmist, Ps. xlii. '2. When shall I cone and appear before God ? When shall I have finished my travels through this wilderness, that I may arrive at my Father's house ? This one thing have I desired, that I nzaydwell in the house of God fir ever, to behold the beauty of the Lord there; Ps. xxvii. 4. if is enough for use that I shall behold thy face in righteousness,
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