GONTEM1LAVON [Chap. 16.. duce my soul, as to make it prefer this weary life before the joys that are about thy throne ! And though death itself be unwelcome to nature, yet let thy grace make thy glory ap- pear to me so desirable, that the king of terrors may be the messenger of my joy, Let not my soul be ejected by violence, and dispossessed of its habitation against its will ; but draw it to thyself by the secret power of thy love, as the sunshine in the spring draws forth the creatures from their winter cells ; meet it half-way, and entice it to thee, as the loadstone doth the iron, andas the greater flame attracts the less ! Dispel, therefore, the clouds that hide thy love from me ; or remove the scales that hinder mine eyes from beholding thee ; for the beams that stream from thy face, and the foretastes of thy great salvation, and nothing else, can make a soul unfeignedly say, ' Now let thy servant de- part in peace !' But it is not thy ordinary discoveries that will here suffice ; as the work is greater, so must-thy help be. O turn these fears into strong desires, and this loathness to die into longings after thee ! While I must be absent from thee, let my soul as heartily groan, as my body doth under its want of health ! If I have any more time to spend on earth, let me live as without the world in thee, as I have sometimes lived as without thee in the world ! While I have a thought to think, let me not forget thee ; or a tongue to move, let me mention thee with delight ; or a breath to breathe, let it be after thee, and for thee; or a knee to bend, let it daily bow at thy footstool ; and when by sickness thou confinest me, do thou ' make my bed, number my pains, and put all my tears into thy bottle !' "As my flesh desired what my spirit abhorred, sonow let my spirit desire that day which my flesh abhorreth ; that my friends may not with so much sorrow wait for the de- parture of my soul, as my soul with joy shall wait for its own departure ! Then ' let me die the deathof the righteous, and let my last end be like his ;' even a removal to that glory which shall never end ! Then let thy convoyof angels bring my departing soul among the perfected spirits of the just, and let me follow my dear friends that have died in Christ before me ; and, while my sorrowing friends are . weeping over my grave, let my spirit be reposed with thee in rest; and, white my corpse shall lie rotting in the dark, let my soul be in ` the inheritance of the saints in light !' O
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=