Chap. 15.] BY SENSIBLE OBJECTS. 241 filled their spirits with joy,while their bodies were burning. Think, reader, in thy meditations, " Sure it must be some wonderful foretaste ofglorythat made the flames of fire easy, and the king of terrors welcome. What then is glory itself ! What a blessed rest, when the thoughts of it made Paul desire to depart, and be with Christ ; and make the saints never think themselves well, till they are dead ! Shall Saunders embrace the stake, and cry, Welcome, cross ! And shall I not more delightfully embrace my blessedness, and cry, Welcome, crown ? Shall Bradford kiss the fagot, 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 fagot, prisons and banishment, cruel mockings and scourgings, be more welcome to others than Christ and glory to me ? God forbid !" Compare the gloryof the heavenly kingdomwith the glory of the church on earth,and of Christ in his state of humilia- tion. 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, a new star must appear, and conduct the- strangers to worship him in a manger, heavenly hosts with their songs must celebrate his nativity ; while a child, be must dispute with doctors ; when he enters upon his office, he turns water into wine, feeds thousands with a few loaves and fishes, cleanses the lepers, heals the sick, restores the lame, gives sight to the blind, and raises the dead. How wonderful, then, is his celestial glory ! Ifthere be such cut- ting down of boughs, and spreading ofgarments, and crying Hosanna, for one that comes into Jerusalem riding on an ass; what will there be when he comes with his angels in his glory ! If they that heard him " preach the Gospel of the kingdom," confess, " Never man spake like this man ;" they, then, that behold his majesty in his kingdom, will say, " There was never glory like this glory." lf, when his ene- mies came to apprehend him, they fell to the ground ; if, when he is dying, the earth quakes, the veil of the temple
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