HEAVENLY LIFE UPON EARTH. o wi4feel the happy effect. Reader, art thou not think- ing, when thou seest a lively Christian, and hearest his lively fervent prayers, and edifying discourse, " O how happy a man is this ! O that my soul were in this bles- sed condition ! Why, I. here advise thee from God, set thy soul conscientiously to this work, wash thee fre- quently in this Jordan, and thy leprous dead soul will revive, and thou shalt know that there is a God in Israel, and that thou mayest live a vigorous and ,joyful life, if thou dost not wilfully neglect thy own mercies. 11. (6) The frequent believing views of glory are the most precious cordials in all afflictions. These cor- dials, by cheering our spirits, render our sufferings far more easy, enable us to bear them with patience and joy, and to strengthen our resolutions, that we forsake not Christ for fear of trouble. If the way be ever so rough, can it be tedious if it lead to heaven ? O sweet sickness, reproaches, imprisonments, or death, accom- panied with these tastes of our future rest ! This keeps the suffering from the soul, so that it can only touch the flesh. Had it not been fbr that little (alas, too lit- tle) taste which I had for rest, my sufferings would have been grievous, and death more terrible. I may say, " I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Unless this pro- mised rest had been my delight, I should then have perished in mine affliction: One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to be- hold the beatity of the Lord, and to inquire in his tem- ple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion ; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me ; he shall set me upon a rock. And now shall trine head he lifted up above mine enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices ofjoy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. "(e) All sufferings are nothing to us, so far as we have these sup- porting joys. When persecution and fear bath shut the doors, Christ can come in, and stand in the midst, and say to his disciples, Peace be unto you. Paul. and (e) Psalm xxvii. 13. cxix. 92. xxvii. 4. 6. 7 Dd
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