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III.

WE GROPE IN THE DARK WHILE HERE BELOW.

YE heirs of endless rest! ye know no more the anxious thought, the troubled breast; your cares are past, and your concerns have come to an hap py end, while this day I wait the doubtful issue of some grand affairs which very much concern my passing life. Not a cloud is in your sky, not a doubt is in your mind, while I dwell in the stormy twilight, and fear a tempestuous night. O ye shining ones! is it possible that ever, like me, ye dwelt in the vale of Achor? were ye not born in the better country ye now inhabit? Were ever these composed countenances disfigured with sorrow? or did the briny tear ever trickle from these sparkling eyes?

"Yes, mistaken man! we all, and every one of us, came out of great tribulation; not an inhabitant of the Canaan above, but longer or shorter travelled through the wilderness below. We lost our sorrows with our mortal frame, and at once found immortality and joy; and now our happiness is vast as thought, unbounded as our wish, and stable as the hills of bliss!"

Well, well, ye sons of joy! I boast my happiness as well as you. If your felicity be secured in the possession, mine is secured in the promise. He that delivers out of Egypt, also brings safe over Jordan. Once, like me, ye wept, ye mourned, ye stood amazed, and knew not what to do; so, in a little, I, like you, shall shout and sing, and share eternal peace, and praise the conduct of my glo

rious guide. Comforted with these prospects, I will encounter all the changes of a transient state, and fix mine eye on the felicity to come. By faith I will drink at the river that flows from the throne of God; and thus, become immortal in my highest hopes, and most endearing prospects, I will bid defiance to all the darts of woe that can teem on me in time. What can changes do to me, since my last and most terrible change shall fix my felicity, and render my best state unchangeable ?

IV.

ALL THINGS WORK FOR GOOD TO THE SAINTS.

MAY I endure as seeing him who is invisible, and having mine eye much on the world to come! Time now passes, and passing time has perplexing scenes; but, O ye citizens of the New Jerusalem, your mountain stands fast, and shall never be moved, and your Beloved is in your arms; and an everlasting hallelujah dwells upon your tongue. Here I dwell in the dark, and am much in doubt, nor know what conclusion to draw from the conduct of Providence concerning my present state. I deprecate and pray, and often am at a loss to know my duty. Is there none in your great assembly that could be content that some of your crosses had not taken place in time? and that the divine conduct had been otherwise?

No, complaining mortal! no. Be it known to thee, and all the mourning throng, that we adore and acquiesce in all that ever befel us below. Yea,

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the very providences which crossed us most, and made us almost doubt the love, and disbelieve the promise of God, now, when unfolded in the light of glory, fill our hearts with joy, and our mouths with songs, while we adore the infinite love and amazing wisdom of our God, that made all things work together for our eternal good!"

What is there not one in all your numerous assembly that has had dark and unintelligible providences in his lot?

"What, then, presumptuous inquirer? It composes us, that God, our own God, sent them; and though we should never be able to find out the cause, or be indulged with the mystery unfolded, we are all well pleased to have the strongest impressions of Jehovah's absolute sovereignty, who gives not account of any of his matters to men or angels, thus preserved on our enlarged souls, to all eternity."

Shall I not, then, from this time, O Lord, claim thee as my Father, and the guide of my life? Thousands, and ten thousands, by thy divine conduct, are safely arrived at bliss, and not a complaint on their tongue, not a murmur in their mind, at one step in all the rugged way.

V.

A SOUL CONVERTED, JOY AMONG THE ANGELS,

Dec. 6. 1763.

WHAT meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of heaven? What! ye holy angels, there

cannot be war in your borders, or death in your immortal family? "No, but one of our blessed number is just now arrived from ministering to the saints on earth, and brings the joyful tidings, that a sinner is converted, an heir of glory born, and therefore joy sparkles in every angelic countenance, and triumphs in our rapturous hallelujahs. Let this day be marked in the records of heaven, in the annals of eternity; and may to-morrow be as this day, and much more abundant."

Hail, happy day, when the conversion of my friend, that shares my daily prayers, shall cause joy among the angels of God; yea, when God the Saviour shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied! Methinks I see the rosy dawn of divine power, when the soul that once resisted Jesus flies into his arms. Then the pleasing dreams fly away, and the unseen world presents itself to view. Then the peace of God, and peace of conscience, are prized above all the things of fame. Wherefore do I doubt, since thy name is salvation, thy word enlivening, thy merits infinite, thy call at every hour, and all thy bowels love?

Again the heavenly arches ring, "another captive won from hell, another sinner converted from the error of his way;" and who can tell but it is my absent friend! Let all the ransomed throng exalt the riches of free and sovereign grace, while all my powers are swallowed up of astonishment and love!

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VI.

EARTH NOT OUR HOME.”

Sept. 16, 1764.

WHY am I so fond of the land-wherein I am a stranger, of the place of my exile? The decease of all my ancestors proves this; not one of them is this day alive, and I fall the next by course. 0 to get this world under my feet, that it may not lie a dead weight on me in my last moments! This is the land of graven images, and every image dares compete with the things of the unseen world; for relations claim to have as much of my affection as Christ; time, to be as oft in my thoughts as eternity; and the earth to engross my concern as much as heaven.

Now the men of the world think I am at home; but the expectant of glory will not own his home beneath the sun; for it is but a coldrife home where sin and Satan dare appear, God is seldom seen, and the tenant is often weeping; but, O blessed inhabitants! who dwell where the Lord God and the Lamb are the temple, the Lord God and the Lamb are the light and the joy of the whole land. You not only dwell in heaven, but heaven dwells in you, while earth and hell struggle hard for room in my heart, and, alas! too, too oft prevail. Compassionate Redeemer! when shall thy stranger arrive at these realms of day, and join the sinless throng that worship at thy throne, and never, never sin ?

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