II 178 IMPORTANCE OF A HEAVENLY [Chap. 11. lost : but God saw him dying, buried, rising, glorified, and all this at one view. Faith will, in this, imitate God, so far as it hath the glass of a promise to help it. We see God burying us under ground, but we foresee not the spring, when we shall all revive. Could we but clearly see heaven, as the end of all God's dealings with us, surely none of his dealings could be grievous. If God would once raise us to this life, we should find, that though hea- ven and sin are at a great distance, yet, heaven and a pri- son, or banishment, heaven and the belly of a whale, or a den of lions, heaven and consuming sickness, or invading death, are at no such distance. But as " Abraham saw Christ's day and rejoiced," sowe, in our most forlorn state, might see that day when Christ shall give us rest, and therein rejoice. I beseech thee, Christian, for the honor of the Gospel, and for thy soul's comfort, leavirolot this heavenly art to be learned when, in thy greates,. tremity, thou hast most need to use it. He that, with Stephen, " sees the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God," will comfortably bear the shower of stones. "The joy of the Lord is our strength," and that joy must be fetched from the place of our joy; and if we walk without our strength, how long are we like to endure ? 7. He whose conversation is in heaven, is the profitable Christian to all about him. When a man is in a strange country, how glad is he of the company of one of his own nation ! how delightful is it to talk of their own country, their acquaintance, and affairs at home ! With what plea- sure did Joseph talk with his brethren, and inquire after his father, and his brother Benjamin ! Is it not so to a Christian, to talk with his brethren that have been above, and inquire after his Father, and Christ his Lord ? When a worldly man will talk of nothing but the world, and a politician of state affairs, and a mere scholar of human learning, and a common professor of his duties; the hea- venly man will be speaking of heaven, and the strange glory his faith hath seen, and our speedy and blessed meeting there. O how refreshing and useful are his ex- pressions ! How his words pierce and melt the heart, and transform the hearers into other men ! How doth his " doc- trine drop as the rain, and his speech distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers
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