262 CONTEMPLATION PROMOTED and believing, and when he bath returned, hath found thee asleep, and yet he hath covered thy neglect with a mantle of love, and gently pleaded for thee, that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak ! Can thy heart be cold, when thou thinkest of this ? Can it contain, when thou rememberest those boundless compassions ? Thus, Reader, hold forth the goodness of Christ to thy heart ; plead thus with thy frozen soul, till with Da- vid thou canst say, my heart was hot within me ; while I was musing the fire burned. If this will not rouse up thy love, thou hast all Christ's personal excellencies to add, all his particular mercies to thyself, all his sweet and near relations to thee, and the happiness of thy everlasting abodes with him. Only follow them close to thy heart. Deal with it as Chist did with Peter, when he thrice asked him, Lovest thou me ? till he was grieved, and answers, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee : so grieve and shame thy heart out of its stupidity, till thou canst truly say, I know, and nay Lord knows, that I love him. 13. (2) The next affection to be exercised in hea- venly contemplation, is desire. The object of it is goodness considered as absent or not yet attained. If love be hot, desire will not be cold. Think with thyself " What have I seen ? O the incomprehensible glory ! O the transcendent beauty ! O blessed souls that now enjoy it! who see a thousand times more clearly, what I have seen at a distance, and through dark interposing clouds. What a différence between my state and theirs! I am sighing and they are singing ; I am offending, and they are pleasing God. I am a spectacle of pity, like a Job or a Lazarus, but they are perfect and without blemish. I am here entangled in the love of the world, while they are swallowed up in the love of God. They have none of my cares and fears ; they weep not in secret; they languish not in sorrows; these tears are wiped away from their eyes. O happy, a thousand times, happy souls ! Alas, that I must dwell in sinful flesh, when my brethren and companions dwell with God! How far out ofsight and reach of their high enjoy-
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