way, than by repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, a and sincere obedience to his gospel.b I am willing to go out of my flesh, and do look unto Jesus for righteousness and strength, and trust my salvation wholly on this bottom. I am content to deal upon trust; and venture all in hopes of what is to come; and to tarry till the next world for my preferment; I am willing to wait till the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and have laid up my happiness on the other side the grave.c And though my sins be many, yet I should belie my own knowledge if I should say they were not my constant trouble and burthen, and the enemies against which I daily watch, and with whom my soul hath no peace. Mine own heart knoweth that I hate them, and desire and endeavour their utter destruction; and do resolve against them all, and am willing to use all God's means (that I know) to mortify them. It is too true, that I often fall, and fail; yet my conscience beareth me witness, that I confess and bewail it, and do not ordinarily and deliberately allow myself in any sin whatsoever against my knowledge. And though my obedience be miserably lame; yet O Lord, a Acts xx, 21. bRom. ii, 7. Phil. iii, 3 to 10. 2 Cor. v, 7. 2 Cor. iv, 18. 1 Thes. 1, 9, 10. Tit. ii, 13. Heb. x, 34, and xi, 35. thou knowest, that I have respect unto all thy commandments, and do strive to come up to what thou requirest. The Holy Ghost is witness, and my conscience also, that I first seek the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof; and that is my chief care to please God, and keep from sin. Speak, O my soul, is not holiness thy design? Dost thou not thirst for it, and follow after it? Dost thou not, in thy settled choice, prefer the holy ways of God before all the pleasures and delights of sin? Thou knowest it is thus, and therefore no disputing! Thou hast sincerely taken hold of God's covenant; and without controversy, it must be thine.b O my God, I see thou hast been at work with my soul; I find the prints, I see the footsteps. Surely this is the finger of God. I am thy servant, O Lord; truly, I am thy servant: cand my soul has said unto thee Lord, "Thou art my Lord.d" It must be so. Wouldst thou ever set thy mark upon another's goods? Or shall God disown his own workmanship? My name is written in heaven. Thou hast written thy name upon my heart; and therefore I cannot question but thou hast my name on thine heart. I have chosen thee, O Lord, as my happiness and heritage; and therefore I am sure thou hast chosen me; for I could not have loved thee, except thou hadst loved me first. O my Lord, discern, I pray thee, whose are these-the signet, the bracelets, and the staff? I know thou wilt acknowledge them. a Mat. vi, 33. bRom. vii, 24. Gal. v, 17. Psalm xxxix, 1. xvii, 3. Psalm cxix, 5, 6, 14, 15, 16, 30, 101, 104, 111, 112, 133, 173. Rom. vii, 15, 16. &c. 1 Cor, ix, 26, 27. 1 John i, 9. Rom. vi, 16. 2 Cor. v, 9. Psalm xviii, 23. xix, 13. Mat. v, 6. c Psalm cxvi, 16. dPsalm xvi, 2. And now blessed be God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, of his abundant mercy, hath begotten me again to a lively hope.. SECTION VI. Faith makes its claim to all the benefits of the covenent, and stirs up the soul to joy and thankfulness, in the following. And thou, my soul, believe and wait, look through the window, and cry through the lattice, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The vision is for an appointed time, wait for it. It will come in the end, and will not tarry.b Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth; be thou also patient. He hath long patience, and wilt not thou have a little patience? He for the fruits of the earth, but thou for the joys of heaven: he upon mere probabilities, but thou upon infallible certainties: He for a crop of corn, but thou 21 John iv, 19. Hab. ii, 3. James v, 7.1. for a crown of glory." Were he but sure that every corn would bear a crown, how plentifully would he sow, how joyfully would he wait! Why, such is thy harvest: As sure as the summer's delights do follow the winter's severities; as sure as the wished-for harvest doth follow the toilsome and costly seeds time, so sure shall thy Lord return, and bring thy reward with him. a Therefore, my soul, love and long for the approaching jubilee; and wait all the days of my appointed time, until my change shall come. O blessed state that my Lord hath translaed me into! O happy change that he hath made! I was a stranger, and he took me in, and made me an heir; and preferred me from the dunghill to the throne; and from a hewer of wood, and drawer of water, to attend his court, and know his councils, and do his pleasure. Happy am I that ever I was born to partake of this endless dignity. O my Lord, it is no little thing thou hast given me in hand. I am already come to mount Zion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, and to God the Judge of all, and unto the spirits of just men made perfect, and unto Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and *Rev. xxii, 12. a unto the blood of sprinkling. My heart reviveth, as Jacob's, when I behold the tokens which thou hast sent me; the Spirit of adoption, the pardon of my sins; my patent for heaven, the chain of thy graces, the Son of thy bosom, and the new testament in his blood, and the letters of his love. My Lord hath said, that he will love me, and manifest himself unto me; and that the father will love me, and both will come unto me, and make their abode in me. But is it true indeed? Will the Lord dwell on earth? Or, if he will, shall so foul a stable, so unclean a stye as my heart hath been,shall this be the place that the Lord of life will take up his lodging, and keep his court in? Will he indeed come with all his train of graces, and live and walk in me? How can these things be? But he hath said it; and I do, and I will believe it.d Yet all this is but the earnest of what is to come. O how great is thy goodness, laid up for them that fear thee! Yet a little while and my warfare shall be accomplished, and the heavens must receive me, till the time of the restitution of all things. It is but for a short term that I shall dwell in this dirty flesh, in an earthen tabernacle.f My Lord hath shewed me, that where he is, there Gal. iv, 6. Luke v, 20. aHeb. xii, 22, 23, 24. d 1 Cor. xi, 25. Luke, xii, 32. Cant. i, 10. John iii, 16. John xiv, 21, 23. ePsalm xxxi, 19. f2 Pet. 1, 14. 10 |