seem to my longing soul (as in the days of Joshua) to 'stand still?' If the sun in the firmament be so slow, let the Sun of Righteousness make more haste, and come, and lighten my passage to the other, eternal world; that I might see him as he is, and be more like unto him than at this distance I can be! Return, return, O Shulamite ; return, return, that I may look upon thee. Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices;' (Canticles vi. 13; viii. 14;) that my looking for and after thee might be turned into looking upon thee. Didst thou say? A little while, and ye shall not see me and again, a little while, and ye shall see me.' (John xvi. 16.) Why, dearest Lord, shall I count that a little while,' in which I do not see thee? Hast thou left it upon record?— Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.' (Heb. x. 37.) Sweetest Saviour! to my thirsty, panting soul, it seems a great while, while thou dost tarry, and not come; time seems long till I do see thee: but when I shall see thee, in looking on thy lovely, glorious self, eternity shall not seem long. I will mind thee of thy promise, Surely I come quickly;' and make it matter of my prayer; and, in confidence of the performance of thy promise and audience of my prayer, will say, 'Amen. Even so,' so quickly, 'come, Lord Jesus.' (Rev. xxii. 20.) For according to my earnest expectation' and my hope, I groan and am travailing in pain,' (Rom. viii. 19, 22,) until I see thee, who to me art now unseen; that then I might live by sight,' and no longer walk by faith."" (2 Cor. v. 7.) 6. Look, though with earnest, yet with patient, expectation, at unseen, eternal things. He that walketh now by faith, that he shall hereafter live by sight, will not make undue, untimely haste: though what he seeth by faith in unseen, eternal joys and glory, doth fill his soul with longing desires after them, yet hope doth help with patience to wait for them. (Rom. viii. 25.) For the beatifical "vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end" of temporal life it will be given: "though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." (Hab. ii. 3.) Though it tarry beyond some months or years that you desire to be there, yet it shall not tarry one moment beyond the time that God hath appointed to take you to it. Therefore, in the mean time live by faith, and see in things unseen what can be seen by faith; till things unseen shall clearly, and with open face, be seen by you. 7. Look with a fixed, steadfast eye at unseen, eternal things.—If you give a glance or cast of the eye toward things seen and temporal, the eye and heart, too, are ready to fix upon them. If you would fix your eye upon eternity, upon God and Christ and the joys above, Satan, sin, the flesh and world will be diverting of it; [so] that now in time, comparatively, you can but glance upon eternity. If you look that way, many objects will interpose themselves, to hinder your sight, and to turn your eyes from things eternal to things temporal, from God to the creature, from things above to things below. But yet if we were "full of the Holy Ghost," as Stephen was, we might 66 6 see the "look up steadfastly into heaven," as Stephen did; and, though not with the same eye, yet to the same effect and purpose, glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." (Acts vii. 55.) Though the thoughts are immanent, yet in this respect they are too transient,-that they do no longer dwell upon eternity. But if the devil and the world find your thoughts tied to this subject, and go about to loosen them, say, Why do ye this?' For not my Lord, but I have need of them." (Mark xi. 3.) Or if you are at any season seasonably got up into the mount, viewing eternity, and they send messengers to you to come down, reply, (for they "think to do you mischief,") "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?" And though they send more than "four times after this "answer them still after the same manner." (Neh. sort," yet vi. 3, 4.) 8. Look unweariedly at unseen, eternal things.-The eye might be fixed for a while upon an object, and after a while be weary in looking at it. Can you look unweariedly at the vanities of this world? and will you be so soon tired in beholding the glorious things in the other world? Do you look on things temporal, where seeing is not satisfying, and yet are never satisfied with looking? and will you not look on things eternal, where seeing would be such a filling of your heart with satisfactory content, that looking would not be tedious to your eye? There is so much in God, in Christ, in all eternal things in heaven,—so much beauty, glory, fulness,-that methinks we might stand looking at them night and day, without any irksomeness at all. But, alas! when "the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak;" (Matt. xxvi. 41;) and whilst the soul must look out of flesh to see those glorious things, it is so clogged with corruption, that is like dust within its eyes, that makes it weep, because it can look no longer. But yet in time we should endeavour to be more like to them that are already in that eternity, where they look at God and Christ unweariedly; and though their looking is not measured by days or months or years, but by immensurable eternity, yet they shall never be weary of looking at them to all eternity. 9. Look with a joyful, pleasant eye at unseen, eternal things.Look till you feel your heart to leap for joy; look till you find your spirit is revived within you; look till the sight of your eye affect your heart. Is Christ unseen? Yet not unknown. Do not you now see him with bodily eyes? Yet you do with an eye of faith and love; and therefore may "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." (1 Peter i. 8.) When you look up unto the heavens, and see, and say, "Yonder is the place of my everlasting abode: there I must dwell with God, there I must be with Christ, and joyfully join with angels and saints in praising of my Lord and Saviour;" the foresight of this will make you joyful for the present and pleasant in your looking at it. 10. Look fiducially at unseen, eternal things.-With a holy, humble confidence [that], by Jesus Christ, upon the performance of the conditions of the gospel, they shall be all your own; that, by turning from all your sin, by repentance and faith in Christ, you trust, you shall be possessed of them; that-when you see there are mansions now unseen, there are eternal joys, an immovable kingdom, an incorruptible crown, the eternal God, to be enjoyed; and for all this you have a promise, and you know this promise is made to you -by the performance of the conditions annexed to the promise, you trust in time to come unto it, or rather, when you go out of time into eternity, you shall be blessed in the immediate, full, eternal enjoyment of all the happiness that God hath prepared in heaven, to give you welcome, joyful entertainment in that unseen, eternal world; that you so eye that world, while you live in this, that when by death you are going out of this world into that, you might have this wellgrounded confidence to say, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.) If you get such a sight as this, as now hath been set forth before you, upon such eternal objects as before were propounded to you, you will be able from your own experience to answer the third question contained in the general case. But yet I will proceed unto that branch:: QUESTION III. What influence will such an eyeing of eternity have upon us in all we do? "In all we do? Will its influence be so universal? will the efficacy of such a sight be so extensive, to reach forth its virtue in all we do?" Yes; "in all we do." Whether we eat, or drink, or go to sleep; whether we trade, or work, or buy, or sell; whether we pray, or hear, or search our hearts, or meditate, or receive, or study, or preach, or sin, or suffer, or die; it will have a mighty influence upon us in any thing wherein we are active or passive, culpable or praiseworthy; in any condition,-be it poverty or riches, health or sickness; in any relation,—be it of husband and wife, of parents and children, of masters and servants; in any office and employment, sacred or civil. Out of such a heap, because I am limited, I will take a handful; and because I have not room to speak of all, I will not cast them into method, according to their nature, connexion, and dependence one upon another, but take them as they come, in some few particulars only. 1. Such an eyeing of eternity in all we do would make us careful to avoid sin in any thing we do.-Or, however we might fail in all we do, yet that we suffer it not to reign or have dominion over us. Look at eternity with a believing eye, and you will look at sin with an angry eye: you will cast a deadly look at sin, when you have a lively look at eternity of joy or misery. (1.) Sin would deprive me of eternal life.-Therefore I will be its death. It would keep me from eternal rest: therefore I will never rest, till I have conquered and subdued it. Nothing in the world would bring upon my eternal soul the eternal loss of the eternal God, his glorious Son, and Holy Spirit,-of the company of his holy angels and saints, of eternal treasures, of a blessed kingdom and incorruptible crown,-but cursed sin. Poverty, sickness, men, death, devils, cannot; nothing but sin: therefore I will be its bane; that shall not reign in me, that would not suffer me to live in everlasting happiness. (2.) Sin would plunge me into unseen, eternal torments, into endless flames and everlasting burnings.-If you could speak with a soul departed but a month ago, and ask him, "What do you now think of the delights of sin, of sporting on the sabbath-day, of your pleasant cups and delightful games, of pleasing of the flesh, and gratifying of its lusts?" what a sad reply would he return, and what a doleful answer would he make you !—"Sin! O that was it that was my ruin; that was it which hath brought me (miserable wretch!) to everlasting torment; that was it which shut me out of heaven, that sank me down to hell! O ye foolish sons of men, that are yet in time, be not mad, as I was mad; and do not do as I did. Let not the seen pleasures and profits of the world, which I have found were but for a time, deceive you and bewitch you. The devil showed me the seen delights of sin, but concealed from me the extremity and eternity of the pain that it hath brought me to: the pleasure is past, and the pain continues, and I am lost for ever; and all this sin hath brought me to." Let your eyeing of eternity, whilst you are standing in time, be instead of one's speaking to you in time, that hath been in eternity for the eternal God doth tell you as much as any danıned soul can tell you; and would you believe one from hell, and not the Son of God that came from heaven? O, look and view eternity in the glass of the scripture, and firmly believe it; and it will make slaughtering work amongst your sins, and destroy that which would damn you. 2. Such eyeing of eternity would be a mighty help to quiet your hearts under the dispensations of Providence here to men on earth.— When you look at the seen afflictions, distresses, disgraces, stripes, imprisonments, persecutions, and poverty of the people and children of God; and the riches, ease, honours, pleasures, and the seen flourishing prosperity of the worst of men, that by their swearing, drinking, whoring, hating of godliness, being patterns of wickedness, proclaim themselves the children of the devil; and you are offended, and your mind disquieted; except in this you have a better heart than Job, (chap. xxi. 6—16,) or David, a man after God's own heart, (Psalm lxxiii. 2-16,) or Jeremiah, (chap. xii. 1, 2,) or Habakkuk. (Chap. i. 13, 14.) Now, amongst the many helps to allay this temptation, the eyeing of the last, yea, everlasting, things is not the least. Look upon these two sorts of men, (which comprehend all in the world,) as going to eternity, and lodged there; and then you will rather pity them [the wicked], because of their future misery, than envy them for their present prosperity. What, if they have their hearts' desire for a moment, and must be tormented for ever? What, if they have plea sures and carnal delights for a season? they must be under the heavy wrath of God for ever. You might stand and see all their mirth at an end; but their sorrow never will have end: all their joy is but for a moment, "as the crackling of thorns under a pot;" (Eccles. vii. 6 ;) but their misery will be endless misery. Let them laugh a while; they shall weep for ever let them rejoice for a season; their mirth shall be turned into heaviness, their temporal rejoicing into everlasting howling. And the eternity of joy will be more than a recompence to the afflicted saints, whatsoever their sufferings for Christ and conscience be in this world. A supposed case might be a help in this temptation. Suppose, then, that you were poor, and full of pain for so long time, (or, rather, for so short,) that you should fall asleep, and, after you awake, should be poor no more, nor afflicted any more, but have a life of manly delights afterwards. Suppose, again, another man were compassed about with all manner of accommodations ;-costly dishes to please his palate, beautiful objects to delight his eyes, all manner of music grateful to his ears; many servants to attend him ; all standing bare before him, and bowing the knee in honour to him ;-and all this, and much more, he were to enjoy as long as he could abstain from sleeping: but, as soon as he doth fall asleep, he should be taken off his bed, and cast into a furnace of boiling lead or scalding pitch. I demand, which of these two men's conditions you would choose. I know it would be the condition of the former, and not the latter. This, and infinitely beyond this, is the case in hand. You are afflicted till you fall asleep; and then you shall be afflicted no more, but live a life of joy for ever. The wicked prosper till they fall asleep; and they cannot long keep open their eyes, but death will come and close them then the justice of God will arrest them, and then devils will seize upon them; and they shall be cast into a lake of burning brimstone, where they shall have no rest, night or day; but "the smoke of their torment shall ascend up for ever and ever." (Rev. xiv. 11.) Exercise your thoughts in this manner, and have an eye unto eternity; and you will more easily and successfully overcome such temptations to murmuring and discontent, from the different dispensations of the providence of God here in time to good and bad. 3. Such eyeing of eternity would have great influence for the wellimprovement of our time.-Time is to be valued in order to eternity; because we go out of time into eternity, and (that which should make every man in time most concerned,) out of time into eternity of misery or glory. O, what a precious thing is time! It is beyond the worth of gold or silver; because we might do more in time in reference to eternity, than we can do by all our gold and silver jewels are but toys in comparison of precious time. Many are saving of their money, but are prodigal of time, and have more of time than they know what to do with; when others find so much to do, that they know not what to do for time to do it in. O fools and blind! what were a hundred years, to make preparation for eternity? 0 sluggish, careless sots! do you ask, "How shall we pass away the |