Chap. 16.} E%EMPLIFIED. 261 my own life bath been adorned and sweetened ! How often bath my prayers been heard, my tears regarded, my troubled soul relieved ! How often hath my Lord bid me be of good cheer ! What a support are these experiences, these clear testimonies of my Father's love, to my fearful, unbe- lieving heart ! O then, what a blessed day will that be, when I shall have all mercy, perfection of mercy,' and fullyenjoy the Lord of mercy ; when I shall stand on the shore, and look back on the raging seas I have safely passed ; when I shall review my pains and sorrows, my fears and tears, and possess the glory which was the end of all ! If one drop of lively faith was mixed with these considerations, what a heaven-ravishing heart should I carry within me ! Fain would ' I believe ; Lord, help my unbelief.' " How sweet, O my soul, have ordinances been to thee ! What delight hast thou had inprayer and thanksgiving, under heavenly sermons, and in the society of saints, and to see the Lord adding to the church such as should be saved !' How, then, can my heart conceive the joy which I shalt have to see the perfected church in heaven, and to be rs'.- mitted into the celestial temple, and with the heavenly host praise the Lord for ever ? If the word of God was sweeter to Job than his necessary food, and to David than honey and the honeycomb, and was the joy and rejoicingof Jeremiah's heart ; how blessed a day will that be, when we shall fully enjoy the Lord of this word, and shall no more need these written precepts and promises, nor read any book but the face of the glorious God ! If they that heard Christ speak on earth ' were astonished at his wisdom and answers, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth ;' how shall I, then, be affected to behold him in his majesty ! " Can the prospect of his glory make others welcome the cross, and even refuse deliverance ; and cannot it make thee cheerful under lesser sufferings ? Can it sweeten the flames of martyrdom, and not sweeten thy life, or thy sickness, or thy natural death ? Is it not the same heaven which they and I must live in ? Is not their God, their Christ, their crown, and mine, the same ? And shall I look upon it with an eye so dim, a heart so dull, a countenance so dejected ? Some small foretastes of it have I myself had; and how much more delightful have they been,. than any earthly
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