476 A SOUL PREPARED FOR HEAVEN. [DIED. V214. 7. God yet further prepares andworks up his people for heaven by " teaching them some of the employments of the heavenly world, and initiating and inuring them to the practice thereof." Is the contemplation of the blessed God, in his nature, and his various perfections, the busi- ness of glorified souls? God teaches his children whom he is training up for glory, to practise this holy contem- plation : He fixes their thoughts upon the wonders of his nature and his grace, his works of creation and provi- dence, the blessings of his redeeming love by his Son Jesus, and the terrors of his justice which shall be exe- cuted by the same hand, while the soul at the same time can appeal to God with holy delight, " My Meditation of thee shall be. sweet indeed ;" .Ps. civ. 34. 0 may I dwell for ever in the midst of thy light, and .see all thy wondrous glory diffused around me, and make my joys everlasting ? Are we told that heaven consists also in " beholding the glory of Christ ;" John xvii. 24. And how happily does God prepare his saints for this part of heaven, by filling their thoughts with the various graces and honours of Jesus the Saviour? And when they are in their lonely retirements, they trace the footsteps of their beloved through all his labours and sorrows in this mortal state, even from his cradle tohis cross ; they follow him in their holy meditations to his agonies in the garden,, to his an- guish of soul there ; through all his sufferings in death, through the grave his bed of darkness, and trace him on still to his glorious resurrection, and to his ascent to his Father's house, when a bright cloud like a chariot bore himup to heaven with attending angels : "This is my be- loved, says 'the soul, and this is my friend," whom I shall see with joy in the upper world : He is altogether lovely, and he demands my highest love. It is part of the happiness of heaven to converse with the blessed God by holy addresses of acknowledgments and praise, as it is described in Rev. iv. and v. and vii. " They are before the throne of God day and night, and . serve him in his temple : Rev. vii. 15. and join with holy joy to pronounce that divine song, " Blessing and honour and glory and power, be to him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever :" chapter v. 13. " Worthy art thou, OLord, to receive gloryand hcxiour 3
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=