236 DEATH A BLESSING TO THE SAINTS. [SENN. %LIII. dost thou labour and fight for ? Dost thou not run to obtain, the prize ? Dost thou not wrestle and fight to gain the crown ? And hast thou not courage enough to go across the dark valley, to take possession.of this crown and this prize " Think, O my spirit, think of thy painful ignorance whilst thou dwellest in this region of shadows : Is not knowledge thy natural and delicious food ? Hast thóu not lived long enough, in darkness, and been involved too long in mistakes and errors ? And art thou willing to dwell in a land of darkness still, a land of dreams and disguises, where truth is hardly found? Art thou afraid of the borders of that world, where light and knowledge grow, and where truth, and realities appear all unveiled, and without disguise ? Where thou shalt he cheated no more, with the sound of words, hut shalt see all things just as they are, in a clear light, without error, and with- out confusion ? O happy period of thy mistakes and wanderings, of all thy learned mazes in quest of truth ! And art thou still afraid to come near it. Has it not been the matter of thy. sacred mourning, that thy God is so much concealed from thee, that greatest and .best of beings ? That the Sonof God, " the brightness of the Father's glory ;" Heb. i. 3. is so much estranger, and thy Saviour is so little known ?, That thy faith has been labouring and wearied in many enquiries about the glories. of his person as .God -man, about the wonders of his united natures, and the mysteries of his gospel ; about the power, of his death, the virtue of his righteousness, and the sovereignty of his grace ? And art thou afraid of the sunshine, and that perfect day that shall scatter all these clouds of doubt and. mistake, and let thee see thy Saviour and thy God face to face, as they are seen by angels ? O that surprising hour, of unknown delight, that shall place.thee, O my soul, in the midst of the world of spirits, surrounded with the light of heaven, and in the open presence of God, ev,en`thy. God ! When thou shalt gain swift.and transporting acquaintance with the Almighty Being that made thee, and the. Son of God, who dwelt once in mortal flesh, and died to save thee I. When the divine irradiations. of the eternal Spirit shall unfold those mysteries to thy view, which had so much darkness about them in these lower regions ! What an
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