ASSISTED BY SENSIB:LE OBJECTS. 283 what he saw ! How did the face of Moses shine, when he had been talking with God ! These were all ex- traordinary foretastes; but little to the full beatifical vision. How often have we read and heard of dying saints, who have been as full ofjoy as their hearts could hold, and when their bodies have felt the extremity of sickness and pain, have had so much of heaven in their spirits, that their joy hath far exceeded their sorrows ? If a spark of this fire be so glorious, even amidst the sea of adversity, what then is glory itself? O the joy that the martyrs have felt in the flames ! They were flesh and blood as well as we : it must therefore be some excellent thing that filled their spirits with joy, while their bodies were burning. Think, Reader, in thy meditations, " Sure it must be some wonderful foretaste of glory, that made the flames of fire easy, and the king of terrors welcome. What then is glory itself? What a blessed rest, vcrlien the thoughts of it made Paul desire to depart and be with Christ ; and makes the saints never think themselves well, till they are dead ! Shall Saunders embrace the stake, and cry, Welcome cross ? And shall not I more delightfully embrace my blessedness, and cry, Welcome crown ? Shall Bradford kiss the faggot ; and shall not I kiss the Savior ? Shall another poor martyr rejoice to have her foot in the same hole of the stocks in which Mr. Philpot's had been before her ? And shall not I rejoice that my soul shall live in the same place of glory, where Christ and his apostles are gone before me ? Shall fire and faggot, prisons and banishment, cruel mockings and scourgings, be more welcome to others than Christ and glory to me ? God forbid. § g. Compare the glory of the heavenly kingdom, with the glory 'of the church on earth, and of Christ in his state of humiliation. If Christ's suffering in the room of sinners had such excellency, what is Christ at his Father's right hand ? If the church under her sins and enemies have so much beauty, what will she have at the marriage of the Lamb? How wonderful was the Son of God in the form of a servant ! When he is born
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