and may as soon tell how great either of them is, as whether of them is the greater.

It is in thee, that I was elected from all eternity, and ordained to a glorious inheritance before there was a world. We are wont, O God, to marvel at and bless thy provident beneficence to the first man, that before thou wouldst bring him forth into the world, thou wert pleased to furnish such a world for him, so goodly a house over his head, so pleasant a paradise under his feet, such variety of creatures round about him for his subjection and attendance. But how should I magnify thy mercy, who, before that man or that world had any being, hast so far loved me, as to pre-ordain me to a place of blessedness in that heaven which should be, and to make me a co-heir with my Christ of thy glory!

And O what a heaven is this, that thou hast laid out for me! how resplendent, how transcendently glorious! Even that lower paradise which thou providest for the harbour of innocence and holiness, was fuli of admirable beauty, pleasure, magnificence, but, if it be compared with this paradise above, which thou hast prepared for the everlasting entertainment of restored souls, how mean and beggarly it was! O match too unequal of the best piece of earth with the highest state of the heaven of heavens !

In the earthly paradise I find thine angels, the cherubim; but it was to keep a man off from that garden of delight, and from the tree of life, in the midst of it; but, in this heavenly one, I find millions of thy cherubim and seraphim rejoicing at man's blessedness, and welcoming the glorified souls to their heaven. There I find but the shadow of that, whereof the substance is here. There we were so possessed of life, that yet we might forfeit it; here is life, without all possibility of death. Temptation could find access thither; here is nothing but a free and complete fruition of blessedness. There were delights fit for earthly bodies; here is glory, more than can be enjoyed by blessed souls. That was watered with four streams, muddy and impetuous; in this is "the pure river of the water of life, clear as chrystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." There I find thee only walking in the cool of the day; here manifesting thy majesty con

tinually. There I see only a most pleasant orchard, set with all manner of varieties of flourishing and fruitful plants; here I find also the city of God, infinitely rich and magnificent; the building of the wall of it of jasper; and the city itself pure gold, like unto clear glass; and the foundations of the wall garnished with all manner of precious stones.

All that I can here attain to see, is the pavement of thy celestial habitation. And, Lord, how glorious it is! how bespangled with the glittering stars, for number, for magnitude equally admirable! What is the least of them but a world of light? And what are all of them, but a confluence of so many thousand worlds of beauty and brightness, met in one firmament? And if this floor of thy heavenly palace be thus richly set forth, O how infinite glory and magnificence must there needs be within! Thy chosen vessel, that had the privilege to be caught up thither, and to see that divine state whether with bodily or mental eyes, can express it no otherwise, than that it cannot possibly be expressed. No, Lord, it were not infinite, if it could be uttered. Thoughts go beyond words; yet even these come far short also, He that saw it, says, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

SECTION VII.

His Love in our Redemption from Death and Hell.

YET is thy love, O Saviour, so much more to be magnified of me in this purchased glory, when I cast down mine eyes, and look into that horrible gulf of torment and eternal death, whence thou hast rescued my poor soul.

Even out of the greatest contentment which this world is capable to afford unto mankind, to be preferred to the joys of heaven is an unconceivable advantage; but from the depth of misery to be raised up unto the highest pitch of felicity, adds so much more to the blessing, as the evil from whence we are delivered is more intolerable.

O blessed Jesus, what a hell is this, out of which thou hast freed me! What dreadful horror is here! what darkness! what confusion! what anguish of souls, that would and cannot die! what howling, and yelling, and shrieking, and gnashing! what everlasting burnings! what never slaking tortures! what merciless fury of unweariable tormentors! what utter despair of any possibility of release! what exquisiteness, what infiniteness of pains, that cannot, yet must be endured!

O God, if the impotent displeasure of weak men have devised such subtle engines of revenge upon their fellowmortals for but petty offences, how can we but think thine infinite justice and wisdom must have ordained such forms and ways of punishment for heinous sins done against thee, as may be answerable to the violation of thy divine majesty? O, therefore, the most fearful and deplored condition of damned spirits, never to be ended, never to be abated! O these unquenchable flames, O that burning Tophet, deep and large, and those streams of brimstone, wherewith it is kindled! O that worm, ever gnawing and tearing the heart, never dying, never sated! O ever-living death! O ever-renewing torments! O never pitied, never intermitted damnation !

From hence, O Saviour, from hence it is, that thou hast fetched my condemned soul. This is the place, this is the state, out of which thou hast snatched me up into thy heaven. O love and mercy, more deep than those depths from which thou hast saved me, more high than that heaven to which thou hast advanced me!

SECTION VIII.

Christ's Love in giving us the Guard of his Angels.

Now, whereas in my passage from this state of death towards the fruition of immortal glory, I am waylaid by a world of dangers, partly through my own sinful aptness to miscarriages, and partly through the assaults of my spiritual enemies; how hath thy tender love and compas

sion, O blessed Jesu, undertaken to secure my soul from all these deadly perils, both without and within; without, by the guardiance of thy blessed angels; within, by the powerful inoperation of thy good Spirit which thou hast given me !

O that mine eyes could be opened, with Elisha's servant, that I might see those troops of heavenly soldiers, those horses and chariots of fire, wherewith thou hast encompassed me! every one of which is able to chase away a whole host of the powers of darkness.

Who am I, Lord, who am I, that, upon thy gracious appointment, these glorious spirits should still watch over me, in mine uprising and down lying; in my going out and coming in? that they should bear me in their arms; that they should shield me with their protection? Behold, such is their majesty and glory, that some of thy holiest servants have hardly been restrained from worshipping them; yet so great is thy love to man, that thou hast ordained them to be "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." Surely they are in nature far more excellent than man, as being spiritual substances, pure intelligences, meet to stand before the throne of thee the King of glory; what a mercy then is this, that thou who wouldest humble thyself to be lower than they in the susception of our nature, art pleased to humble them in their offices to the guardianship of man, so far as to call them the angels of thy little ones upon earth! How hast thou blessed us! and how should we bless thee, in so mighty and glorious attendants!

SECTION IX.

His Love in giving us his Holy Spirit.

NEITHER hast thou, O God, merely turned us over to the protection of those tutelary spirits, but hast held us still in thine own hand; having not so strongly defenced us without, as thou hast done within; since that is wrought by, thine angels; this, by the Spirit.

O the sovereign and powerful influences of thy Holy Ghost; whereby we are furnished with all saving graces, strengthened against all temptations, heartened against all our doubts and fears, enabled both to resist and overcome, and, upon our victories, crowned!

O divine bounty, far beyond the reach of wonder! "So God," the Father, "loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." So God, the Son, loved the world of his elect, that he gave unto them "the Holy Spirit of promise, whereby they are sealed unto the day of redemption;" whereby, "according to the riches of his glory, they are strengthened with might in the inner man :" by the virtue whereof shed abroad in their hearts, they are enabled to cry, "Abba, Father." O gifts, either of which are more worth than many worlds; yet, through thy goodness, O Lord, both of them mine. How rich is my soul, through thy divine munificence, how over-laid with mercies! How safe in thine Almighty tuition! How happy in thy blessed possession!

Now therefore I dare, in the might of my God, bid defiance to all the gates of hell. Do your worst, O all ye principalities, and powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickednesses in high places; do your worst. God is mine, and I am his. I am above malice, in the right of him whose I am. It is true, I am weak; but he is omnipotent. I am sinful; but he is infinite holiness. That power, that holiness, in his gracious application, is mine.

your

It is my Saviour's love, that hath made this happy exchange of his righteousness for my sin, of his power for my infirmity. "Who then shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God, that justifieth. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him, that loved us." So that, "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Div.

-XXXVIII.

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