BY CONSIDERATÌON. 259 Ivithin a few days our eves shall behold it, O what pas - sions would it raise within us ! What astonishing ap- prehensions of that life would it produce ! What love, what longing, would it excite within us! O how it would actuate every affection ! How it would transport us with joy upon the least assurance of our title! Never expect to have love and joy move, when faith stands still which must lead the way. Therefore daily ex- ercise faith, and set before it the freeness of the pro- mise, °God's urging all to accept it, Christ's gracious disposition, all the evidences of the Iove of Christ, his faithfulness to his engagement, and the evidences of his love in ourselves; lay all these together, and think whether they do not testify the good will of the Lord concerning our salvation, and may not properly be pleaded against our unbelief. Thus when the judg- ment hath determined, and faith hath apprehended the truth of our happiness, then may our meditation proceed to raise our affections, and particularly, love, desire,hope,courage or boldness, and joy. § 10. (1) Love is the first affection to be excited in heavenly contemplation. The object of it is goodness. Here, Christian, is the soul - reviving part of thy work. Go to thy memory, thy judgment, and thy faith, and from them produce the excellencies of thy rest; present these to thy affection of love, and thou wilt find thyself as it were in another world. Speak out, and love can hear. Do but reveal these things, and love can see. It is the brutish love of the world that is blind : divine love is exceeding quick- sighted. Let thy faith take hold of thy heart, and show it the sumptuous buildings of thy eternal habitation, and the glorious ornaments of thy Father's house, even the mansions Christ is pre- paring, and the honours of his kingdom ; let thy faith lead thy heart into the presence of God, and as near as thou possibly canst, and say to it, Behold the Ancient of Days, the Lord Jehovah, whose name is, I AM. This is he, who made all the worlds with his word, who upholds the earth, who rules the nations, who disposes of all events, who subdues his foes, who eon-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=