Recommended from Phil. 2. I 2, 13. 6q that lie heavy within your Breafts; and it is the greateft difqnietment of your Lives that you find your Heart~ [o heartlef-s and lifi:lefs to what is holy and fpiri - tua l. lr is with them a<; with fame great Bells, _that you_muft pull long at the Rope before you can make them fr"JUnd . Is not this the dally Complaint of God' s Child reo, that their Hearts are dull and he"avy and th~y cJnnot :aifc them? And this makes the ways of Obedience, yea, th is makes then· very Ltves become bnrthenfomc . \}/ell, have bnt lj:Hience fo.r a while, a11d conunuc ftill to flfll?,gle again£1: th is fad Indifpoli tion, and it w1\1 not he long before you fuall reil from tbis Labour alfo. Thou?,h now you are as Bids whofe Hodies are too heavy for thei r Wings\ •.vhcn yon ihetch them forth and would fain be foaring up to Hea - ven, you can only run np and down and flutter upon the Earth; yet fhortly thefe heavy and clogr:y Bodies flu\1 fall off and you fha\l be all Wing, free from all Deadnefs a'nd Straitnefs, DiftraCtion and Weariuefs in the Ways of God that now affiict yon : Then !hall your AfteD:ions be always intent and not languifi1, always burning :~nd yet never wafte nor confumc; every l\lotion of your Soul !hall then fhoot themfclves to GoP as quick as the Lightning, and yet conftant as the Sun-beams. And thofe who arc now out-ftript by weak and underling ChriftiJns , fhall then be able to keep pace in their Obedience1 even with the J-lv!y An,~ds themfelves. (2.) And then Secondly, In J-le<1ven there j1Ja ll be a refting from t!!l that Lab(mr that 111 Bea"Jen the P~ople of God noli' r,1ke in the ways of Holy Obedience, tfJrough the averfcmfi of rhtir rl:m: Jb.:U HeartJ fi"om them, and the oppofition of their HeartJ agai11jt them . There is that ~= • Rrft· contradi8:!on in the car113l part againit what is l~oly _a nd fpiritual, tl~<1:_t the Godly ;b~~;;fi. cannot brmg themfelves to the performance of It wlrhout much Stntc and Con- tionof our tention, rhe Flrj11 lufteth ag11in.fl the Spirit; and when the fpiritual part calleth for H~an a. holy Thoughts and heavenly AffeCtions, the corrupt and f\cfhly part fends forth noi- gamfi Du.- fome and ltinking Vapours~ .obftru8:ing the Good that we would do, and infecting .tJ. that little Good tha t we do pcrforni : So that as if working were not a fnfficicnt Imployment , a Chriftian muft Fight that he may Wor k ; aud th is is it th~t makes working for Salvation fo laborious, becaufc we muft F ight and \Vork at once. But it fhall not be long before that which hinders iha\l be removed, and then as you arc not unde r a fad neceffi ty of offendin~~ God, fo alfo you n1all be under a moft bleffcd neceffity of fervin ?; God, and fha\1 find no more trouble in that S<:rvice, th an in thole ACtions which you now (annat Lutdo. And thns Qlail you have a happy Rc(t from all that Labour and Pains tint your Corruptions heie rnade you ta ke. And therefore be incouraged to perfevcre in we\l·doing, per fed the Wo1 k you have, unclertJken in fp ight of all oppof1tion from your own corrupt Hearts, for aWare yonr felves t his troublcfome Inmate fhall not long difquit you. l might alfo add , · .- ( +) Fourthly, You/hall then reft from your Labour in n·orkir.g agairtjl Satan,J Tempt a- SaintJ in tiom ; who is now buflhing of you while you are here npon Earth, but in Heaven Heaven t he evi~ One fhall not appro:1ch near to touch you . There you fhall no more tron - an {re~ ble your ft:lves to know how to di[linguilh between the Iujeftions of Sat.1T1 and the fro':':;,.:- Eb~lfitiom of }our own Corruptions, for you !hall know neither there; you fhall ;~.:rion~· t hen ftand no more upon your own Guard and keep Centincl to your own Soul,nor confliCt: with any of Satan's Temptations , but !hall for ever triumph in Vi&odes and Conquefts over them. This is that blell~d Reil- that you fhall lhortly polfefs _jf you will but now Work. And what is it that comforts the paiilful Labourer but this, that though his Work be hard and difticnlt, -yet the Evening will foon fhut in, .and· he Jhall then betakc himfelf to qu iet R.eft and Repofe? What is it that comforts the wearifome 'Travell;r, but this? Every Step of his long VVay brings him nearer to his Home, where he fha\1 enjoy a longer Reft: And , !hall not tbe fame incourage and fupport you in your Way and Work? What thoue,h the Work be paintul and laborious·? Yet it will not be long before you fhall lie down in the Bed of the Grave, and fweetly llcep away a fhort Night of Oblivion that is between this and the Refurrtftion, and your tired weary Souls !hall then repofe and neftle themfelves in the warm Bofom of God himfelf. \Vhat thongh the \Vay be long and tedious to the Flefh? Yet you are Travelling ro you r Father's Houfe, where you are fure to be welcome, and where you fhall enjoy an Eternity of Rcft and Repofe, and fhall ftt down with Abraham, If~Rc, and 'Jacob , and the whole Ring. of l i i i i glonorn
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