izZo HEAVENLY MEDITATION. 301 with Christ take their fill ? O then, my soul, begin it here !- Be sick with love now, that thou mayest be well with love there. Keep thyself now in the love of God, and let neither life, nor death, nor any thing, separate thee from it; and thou shall be kept in the fulness of love for ever, and nothing shall imbitter or abate thy pleasure : for the Lord bath prepared a city of love, a place for communicating love to his chosen, and they that love his name shall dwell therein. § 14. " Awake then, O my drowsy soul !, To sleep un- der the light of grace is unreasonable, much more in the approach of the light of glory. Come forth, my dull con- gealed spirit ; thy I,iord bids thee rejoice, and again re- joice. Thou bast lain long enough in thy prison of flesh, where Satan hath been thy jailor; cares have been thy irons, fears thy scourges, and thy food the bread and wa- ter of affliction ; where sorrows have been thy lodging, and thy sins and foes have made thy bed, and an un- believing heart hath been the gates and bars that have kept thee in : the angel of the covenant now calls thee, and bids thee arise and follow him. Up, O my soul ! and cheerfully obey, and thy bolts and bars shall all flv open ; follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Shouldst thou fear to follow such a guide? Can the sun lead thee tò a state of darkness? Will he lead thee to death, who died to save thee from it? Follow him, and he will show thee the paradise of God; he will give thee a sight of the New Jerusalem, and a taste of the tree of' life. Come forth, my drooping soul, and lay aside thy winter dress ; let it be seen, by thy gar- ments of joy and praise, that the spring is come : as thou now seest thy comforts green, thou shalt shortly see them white and ripe for harvest, and then thou shalt be called to reap, and gather, and take posses- sion. Should I suspend and delay my joys till then ? Should not the joys of the spring go before the joys of harvest ? Is title nothing before possession ? Is the heir in no better a state than a slave ? My Lord hath taught me to rejoice in hope of his glory ; and how to see it through the bars of a prison : for when persecuted for righteousness sake, he commands me to rejoice, and
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