176 THE PRIVILEGE OF THE [srnm.xL: banished from heaven, because it is a state of perfect joy and peace. IX. Patience and submission to the will ofGod under all manner of painful providences, give glory to God here on earth, such as the saints in heaven cannot give him. We are taught indeed to say, " Lord, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven :" But it is the precep- tive will of God, or the will of his commands, which is here signified, not his providential will, whereby he pu- nishes ; for there is no affliction in heaven, and therefore there is no such sort of submission, no exercise of pati- ence there : They obey the will of his commands in per- fection there, and God himself has no will that they should suffer, or endure sorrow. Shew then, O believers, your submission to the will of God here, as dear and obedient children, when your heavenly Father sees it needful to chasten you ; Heb. xii: 7, 'I9. " If ye endure chastening, God dealethwith you as with sons ; for what Son is he whom the Fa- ther chasteneth not ? Give him reverence therefore when he corrects you, and be ye in subjection to the Father of spirits and live." It is only children under age that their earthly fathers scourge and chastise; such are christians in this world, the sons of God in their infant state ; but when the children are grown up to manly age, they have no more chastisement; such are the saints in heaven, who are grown to the fulness of the measure of that stature which God designs for them in Christ. This life therefore is the only time when you can honour the sovereignty and the wisdom of God your Father, when he sees fit to take his rod in hand, and to instruct you in righteousness. X. A sacred compassion for perishing sinners, and longing desire and labour for the conversion of souls, is a business that belongs to this life only. When we are past the line of time, and entered into eternity, we cari add no new subjects to the kingdom of pur Lord: Thi§ is a service that can be performed no where but in the present state : It is the living, and they alone that have this work intrusted with them. When the lips are closed in the grave they cannot speak for God, nor exhort sin- ners to be-saved.
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