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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
Son
of
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