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SEAM.

XXXVIII.a

THE

CHRISTIANS TREASURE.

141

frame

of

things,

the sun in

his

daily circuit,

and

the

moon and stars

in

their

nightly

courses, my

faith

assures

me they are all employed

in

rolling

the months and hours

away,

that

stand

between me

and immortal happiness

:

And

when

the morning

of

the

resurrection

dawns

upon the earth, the gospel

tells

me,

that

I

have

a

share

in all

the

rising glories of

that

day.

Should

the heavens and the

earth

be

shortly set

on

fire,

if

I

have

but

my

faith awake within

me,

I

shall

have no

fear

nor

surprise; I

myself,

and

all

my

best

interests are

out

of

the reach

of

these flames;

my

treasures are

of

an

unpe-

rishing

kind.

The

period.

of

all things here below shall

but

usher

in my

brightest

hours, and begin the years

of

my

eternal

pleasure

;

for

the book

of God

assures me,

that

things

present and

things

to come

are

mine.

"

Make haste

then, all

ye

remaining revolutions

of

nature;

and

days,

and

months,

and

ages

make haste

:

Time cannot

fly

too

fast for

me,

who

have such an

eternity

in

view.'

My

Lord hath told

me in his word, surely

I

corne

quickly,

and

my

heart

echoes to

that

voice

of

my

beloved,

"Amen,

even

so

come

Lord

Jesus."

Fourth Use.,

This doctrine requires

the believer

to

be found

in

the

constant

exercise

of

faith,

that

so

he

may

be

able

always

to

survey his

inheritance, and take

solid delight in

it.

Otherwise, when he sustains

loss

in

temporal

things,

and

sickness

and trouble'

attend

him

in

the

flesh,

he

will

be

ready

to

judge

by

the mere

princi-

ples

of

sense,

and

to

think

his

comforts

all gone,

and

that

he

has

nothing

left.

It

is

faith alone can teach a be-

liever to rejoice

in this

treasure

given

him by

the

cove-

nant of

grace, when the

world

has

taken almost

all

sen-

sible

comforts from

him.

The natural

man with

an

eye

of

sense

looks

on

things

just

as

the

eye

of

a brute animal

beholds

them,

and

sees

nothing more than according

to

the common impressions they make

on

flesh

and blood

:

But

the

eye

of

faith

is

aided

by

the

divine

glass

of

the co-

venant,

which

as

a

microscope, discovers

many beauties,

where

the

natural

eye,

unassisted, çan

see

nothing but

roughness and deformity.

It

is

nothing but

faith

fixing

its

eyes on

sanctified

losses

and

crosses,

sanctified pains, and sickness, and dis-

tresses,

that

can enable

us to

reckon

these

among

our

treasures.

It,

is

nothing

but

the

spirit

of

faith

that

can