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of so great a felicity is no easy or common matter. "The righteous" himself " is scarcely saved." must "strive to enter in at the strait gate."m heavenly Jerusalem must be taken by a holy violence, nor can it be otherwise obtained. "The kingdom of "heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by "force." God "will render to every man according "to his deeds"; and he will adjudge eternal life to none but "them who by patient continuance in well"doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality." Now since a reward of such inestimable value is proposed, who can consider any labour undergone in the service of God, either excessive or fruitless?" Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; foras"much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in "the Lord."P

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xc. How can that labour be in vain, to which the Divine veracity has annexed a glorious reward, which the Divine goodness will bestow? Who that attends to these things would not exclaim with delight; " Oh! "how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up "for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought "for them that trust in thee before the sons of "men!" How great the consolation which the sure hope of this felicity is naturally calculated to administer to afflicted souls! If they are stripped of worldly wealth by the fraud and violence of unrighteous men ; thanks be to God that the happiness of the Christian by no means consists in possessions which moth or rust

11 Pet. iv. 18.
П Mat. xi. 12.

m Luke xiii. 24.

• Rom. ii. 6, 7.

P 1 Cor. xv. 58.

9 Ps. xxxi. 19.

doth corrupt, and which are exposed to the rapacity of thieves. What does he lose, from whom are taken away perhaps some small and naturally perishing things, to which he had given a place in his house, but not in his heart; whilst he retains the invaluable pearl of Divine grace unhurt by enemies, and is certain that the substantial treasures of glory are deposited, and kept safe for him with God, in the sacred treasury of the heavenly temple, nay, in the bosom of the Deity himself? If afflictions assail him, and particularly if he suffer for the sake of Christ and of righteousness, let it not seem hard to "suffer with Christ, that we may be glorified together. For I reckon, that the "sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be

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compared with the glory which shall be revealed in "us." If the body be chastened with grievous diseases or pains, if the soul be harassed with sorrowful thoughts, if even the terrors of death approach, let the noble mind of the Christian look earnestly forward to futurity. Let him by faith anticipate those times, or rather those everlasting ages, in which the body, freed from all the pains of sickness, raised from the dust of ́death, and conformed to the glorious body of Christ, shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of his heavenly Father; in which the soul, delivered from all the conflicts of temptation, shall rejoice in God and the Lamb. Let him anticipate those ages, when he shall see, possess, and enjoy, without measure, and without satiety, all those felicities, which here, amidst the numerous troubles of life, and in spite of the rage and malice of the Devil, he believed, expected, and very imperfectly tasted. Then resuming his courage, let him

VOL. II.

r Heb. x. 34.

s Rom. viii. 17, 18. 3 Q

37.

boldly say, Ye diseases and pains, thou death, or thou Satan, with all thy infernal forces, do you expect to cast me down from my happy state? It is long since I knew you, and by faith stripped you of your mask. Without the will of my heavenly Father you can do nothing, you cannot injure one hair of my head. Ye pains, ye diseases, you will slay the old man, you will destroy the body of sin. Death, thou wilt terminate my miseries, and open wide to me the gate of heaven. And thou, O Satan, how unwillingly soever, shalt become to me a teacher of humility, and after a contest of short continuance, I will conquer, seize, and bind thee, and will trample and bruise thee under my feet: Whilst thou shalt be tormented with eternal flames, I shall be honoured with a triumph that will never end. "For which cause we faint not; but though our out"ward man perish, our inward man is renewed day by

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day. For our light affliction which is but for a mo"ment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eter"nal weight of glory; while we look not at the things "which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; "for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

XCI. Since such treasures of glory are laid up and reserved for the Christian, with what magnanimity ought he to contemn the fading enjoyments of the world, and to consider as loss and dung, far beneath his regard, all those vanities which the unthinking multitude admire and adore! Shall a candidate for heaven, shall a son of the resurrection, occupy himself in laborious exertions to gather, preserve, and accumulate things of nought, things which render no man

2 Cor. iv. 16—18.

happier, since they render no man wiser, holier, or liker to God; and which generally become incitements to vice? Shall he be elated at the increase of such trifles, or discouraged at their loss? Shall he suffer himself to be ensnared by the allurements, or depressed by the calamities of the present life? Shall he contemplate with an envious eye the uncertain prosperity of them, "who "have their portion in this life, and whose belly," not whose soul," God fills with his hid treasure; whose "children are filled,90 and leave the rest of their sub"stance to their babes :" whilst he "shall behold God's "face in righteousness, and be satisfied, when he awakes, "with his likeness."u

What expressions of the liveliest gratitude, in fine, will he not acknowledge himself bound to render to Jesus Christ his Saviour, who by his own death has rescued him from so deep an abyss of complicated misery, and advanced him to so great a height of felicity! "I thank God," says the Apostle," through Jesus "Christ our Lord."v

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