HEAVENLY MEDITATION. 293 § 5. " Now blessed saints, that have believed and obeyed ! This is the end of faith and patience. This is it for which you prayed and waited. Do you now repent your sufferings and sorrows, your self-denying and holy walking? Are your tears of repentance now bitter or sweet ? See how the Judge smiles upon you there is love in his looks; the titles of Redeemer, Hus- band, Head, are written in his amiable shining face. Hark, he calls you he bids you stand here on his right hand; fear not, for there he sets his sheep. ,O joyful sentence, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world ! He takes you by the hand, the door is open, the kingdom is his, and therefore yours : there is your place before his throne; the Father receives you as the spouse of his Son, and bids you welcome to the crown of glory. Ever so unworthy, you must be crowned. This was the project of free redeeming grace, the pur- pose of eternal love. O blessed grace ! O blessed love, O how love and joy will raise ! But I cannot express it, T cannot conceive it. § 6. "This is that joy which was procured by sorrow, that crown which was procured by the cross. My Lord wept, that now my tears might be wiped away he bled, that I might now rejoice ; he was forsaken that I might not now be forsook ; he then died that I might now live. O free mercy, that can exalt so vile a wretch ! Free to me, though dear to Christ; free grace that hath chosen me, when thousands were forsaken ! When my companions in sin must burn in hell, I must here re- rejoice in rest ! Here must I live with all these saints ! O comfortable meeting of my old acquaintance, with whom I prayed, and wept, and suffered, and spoke often of this day and place! I see the grave could not detain you ; the same love bath redeemed and saved you also. § 7. " This is not like our cottages of clay, our pri- sons, our earthly dwellings. This voice of joy is not like our old complaints, our impatient groans and sighs; nor this melodious praise like the scoffs and re- vilings, or the oaths and curses, which we heard on
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