50 THE EXCELLENCIES OF [Chap. 3. blessed tranquillity of that region, where there is nothing but sweet, continued peace! O healthful place, where none are sick ! O fortunate land, where all are kings ! 0 holy assembly, where all are priests ! How free a state, where none are servants, but to their supreme Monarch ! The poor man shall no more be tired with his labors : no more hunger or thirst, cold or nakedness : no pinching frosts or scorching heats.. Our faces shall no more be pale or sad: no more breaches in friendship, nor parting of friends asunder : no more trouble accompanying our relations, nor voice of lamentation heard in our dwellings :. God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. O my soul, bear with the infirmities of thine earthly tabernacle; it will be thus, but a little while; the sound of thyRedeemer's feet is even. at the door. We shall also rest from all the toils of duties.. The conscientious magistrate, parent, and minister, cries out, " O the burden that lieth upon me 1" Every relation, . state, age, hath variety of duties; so that every conscien- tious Christian cries out, " O the burden ! Omy weakness,. that makes it burdensome !" But our remaining rest will ease us of the burdens. Once more we shall rest from all these troublesome afflictions which necessarilyaccompany our absence from God. The trouble that is mixed in our desires and hopes, our longings and waitings, shall then. cease. We shall no more look into our cabinet, and miss. our treasure; into our hearts, and miss our Christ; no more seekhim from ordinance to ordinance; but all becon- cluded in a most blessed and full enjoyment. 9. The last jewel of our crown is, that it will be an, everlasting rest. Without this all were comparatively no thing. The very thought of leaving it would embitter all our joys. It would be a hell in heaven, to think of once losing heaven ; as it would be a kind of heaven to the damned, had they but hopes of once escaping. Mortality is the disgrace of all sublunary delights. How it spoils our pleasure to see it dying in our hands ! But, O blessed eter- nity! where our lives are perplexedwithno such thoughts, nor our joys interrupted with any such fears! where " we shall bepillars in the temple of God, and gono, more out." While we were servants, we held by lease, and that but for the term of a transitory life; " but the son abideth in the house for ever." " O my soul, let go thy dreams of
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