/013 APPEARANCE sEFORE GOD. one shall worship with strength of joy, liveliest delight, and warmest zeal and affections : and be assured his graces are all true, for he shall see them all in the light of glory. This suspicion or jealousy of ourselves, flattens our devo- tion many a timehere, and takes away the pleasurable sensations of religion,becausewe ourselves know not whether God accepts us or no : There a full assurance' of our beingbeloved of God, and being for ever accepted of him, shall make every exerciseof devotion a most agreeable and perfect pleasure. O my soul, how should it quicken thy race, and exalt thy joy, to think how fast thouartremoving from this world of sinners, and from all thy own doubts and fears, to a glorious assembly of holy souls, where not one doubt, or fear shall remain in their, consciences,nor in thine ! 2. In this world the saint appears among a few to worship his God, but then among millions. Now many times we have worshipped in a secret corner, for fearof men ; but then it is all in public glory: for there all the worship that is paid, is the estab- lished worship of the whole country ; and honours, and king- doms, and wealth, are all on that side: All the inhabitants are made rich for ever, with the riches of heaven ; and all the child- ren of God are the sons and daughters of a king, and all heirs and possessors of glory, and reign together with the Lord Jesus Rom. viii. 17. 2 Tim. ii. 12. Here many times the children of God are forcedtobe separatists from their neighboursand fellow- citizens, they are dividedfrom the multitudesand crouds of man- kind, they are but a little flock ; but there they shall shine in the midst of the general assembly of the first-born, and a great mul- titude which no man can number; Rev. vii. 9. that with victories and songs are for ever addressing the throne of God and the Lamb. O when shall I hear thevoice from heaven say, Comeup hither? 3. Now we worship in a way of preparation; there for enjoy- mentand full delight. Ordinances here are but slight shadows, and very faint and imperfect resemblances of what the worship in heaven shall be. Now the word of God is spoken by a man, and it loses much of the divinity andpower, by themeans of convey- ance ; there it will be spoken by God himself toour spirits, or by our Lord Jesus Christ, to the ears of our bodies, raised, sancti- fied, and immortal; and our souls shall receive as much of the express ideas, as God designs to convey by all his conversation with that sanctified number : nor shall they miss of any of the beauty, or spirit, or perfection, of those thoughts which Godhim- self would impress upon us. Now in the letters of the bible we read the good-will and mercy of God to sinners ; but there, in a far brighter manner of
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