276 HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION deed to live with God ? Hath the drunkard such de- lights in his cups, that the fears of damnation will not make him forsake them ? Will the whoremaster rather part with his credit, estate and salvation, than with his brutish delights? If the way to hell can afford such pleasure, what then are the pleasures of the saints in heaven ! If the covetous man bath so much pleasure in his wealth, and the ambitious man in places of power and titles of honour; what then have the saints in ever- lasting treasures, and in heavenly honour, where we shall be set above principalities and powers, and be made the glorious spouse of Christ ! How delightfully will the voluptuous follow their recreations from morn- ing to night, or sit at their cards and dice, nights and days together ! O the delights we shall have when we come to our rest, in beholding the face of the living God, and singing forth praises unto him, and the Lamb !" Compare also the delights above, with the lawful and moderate delights of sense. Think with thyself, How sweet is food to my taste when I am hungry ? especially if it be, as Isaac said, such as I love, which my temperance and appetite incline to? What delight then must my soul have in feeding upon Christ, the living bread, and in eating with him at his table in his kingdom ! Was a mess of pottage so sweet to Ésau in his hunger, that he would buy it at so dear a rate as his birth -right ? How highly then should I value this never perishing food! How pleasant is drink in the extremity of thirst, scarcely to be expresssed ; enough to make the strength of Samson revive ! O how de- lightful it will be to my soul to drink of that fountain -of living water, which whoso drinketh it shall thirst no more ! How delightful are grateful odours to the smell ; or music to the ear; or beautiful sights to the eye ! What fragrance then bath the precious oint- ment, which is poured on the head of our glorified Sa- viour, and which must be poured on the head of all his saints, and will fill all heaven with its odour ! How delightful is the music of the heavenly host ! How pleasing will be those real beauties above ! How glo- rious the building not made with hands, the house
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=