Chap. 14.j HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 217 First. Consideration is the great instrument by which this heavenly work is carried on. This must be voluntary, and not forced. Some men consider unwillingly ; so God will make the wicked consider their sins, when he shall " set them in order before their eyes ;" so shall the damned con- sider of the excellency of Christ, whom they once despised, andof the eternal joys which they have foolishly lost. Great is the power which consideration hath for moving the affec- tions, and impressing things on the heart ; as will appear by the following particulars : 1. Consideration, as it were, opens the door between the head and the heart. The understanding having received truths, lays them up in the memory, and consideration con- veys them from thence to the affections. What excellency would there be in much learning and knowledge, if the ob- structions between the head and the heart were but opened, and the affections did but correspond to the understanding ! Ile is usuallythe best scholar, whose apprehension is quick, clear, and tenacious ; but he is usually the best Christian, whose apprehension is the deepest and most affectionate, and who has the readiest passages, not so much from the ear to the brain,as from that to the heart. And though the Spirit be the principal cause; yet, on our part, this passage must be opened by consideration. 2. Consideration presents to the affections those things which are most important. The most delightful object does not entertain where it is not seen, nor the most joyful news affect him that does not hear it ; but consideration presents to our view those things which were as absent, and brings them to the eye and ear of the soul. Are not Christ and glory affecting objects? Would they not workwonders upon the soul, if they were but clearly discovered, and our appre- hensions of them were in some measure answerable to their worth ? It is consideration thatpresents them to us : this is the Christian's perspective, by which he can see from earth to heaven. 3. Consideration, also, presents the most important things in the most affecting way. Consideration reasons the case with a man's own heart. When a believer would reason his heart to heavenly contemplation, how many arguments offer themselves from God and Christ, from eachof the divineper- fections, from our former and present state, from promises,
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