452 LIFE ,.OF F-1ITn. guage! Or if all the churches cOttd be, perfectly reconciled, how joyful would the author of so great a work be ! Should we not then rejoice, who foresee by faith a far more perfect union and consent than ever must be expectedhere on earth ? Alas ! the ordinary lowness of our comforts' Both tell us that our faith is very small !" I say not so much ' the sorrows of a doubting heart,' as the little joy which we have in the forethoughts of heaven, when our title seemeth not much doubtful to us ;' for those sorrows show that such esteem it a joyful place, and would rejoice, if their title were but cleared. But when we have neither the sorrow nor solicitousness of the afflicted soul, nor yet' the joy which is any whit suitable to the belief of such everlasting joys, we may know what to judge of such an ineffectual belief; at best, it is very low and feeble. It is a " joy unspeakable, and full of glory," which unseen things should cause in a believer; (1 Pet. i. 6-8.) because it is " an exceeding eternal weight of glory " which he believeth ; 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. . 8. Finally, learn to die also as believers. The life of faith must bring you to the very entrance into glory; where one doth end the other begins. As our dark life in the womb, by nutriment from the mother, continueth till our passage into the open world. You would die in the womb, if faith should cease before it bring you to full intuition and fruition. "By faith Joseph, when he. died, made mention of the departingof the childrenof Israel ;" Heb. xi. 22. Joseph's faith did not die before him: " These all died in faith, confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, and declaring that they sought a better country ; " Heb. xi. 3. They that live by faith must die in faith ; yea, anddie by faith too. Faith must fetch in their dying comforts. And O how full, and how near a treasure hath, it to go to! To die to this world, is to be born into another. Beggars are best when they are abroad. The travail of the ungodly is better to them than their home: but the believer's home is so much better than his travail, that he bath little cause to be afraid of coming to his jour- ney's end; but should rather every step cry out,' O when shall I be at home with Christ!' Is it earth or heaven that you have prayed for, and labored foe, and waited, and suffered for till now'? And doth he indeed pray, and labor, and suffer for heaven, who would not come thither ? It is faith which overcometh the world and .the flesh, which must also overcome the fears of death, and can look with boldness into the loathsome grave, and can triumph over both as victorious through Christ. It is faith which, can say, ` Go forth, O,my soul ; depart in peace: thy course is finished ; thy warfare is accom- plished: the day of triumph is now at hand: thy patience bath
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