and in a Valley of Tears, toft to and fro with every form and wind: But he is happy who can fay with Simeon, Lord,now lett eft thou thySer vant depart in Peace. And with Thomas oa fay my Lord: and my God. Then will our Saviour meer us, flying, Come ye blefed of my Father, Receive the Crown. Receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World. And no fooner art thou come into Paradife, this Heavenly Manfion, this place of everlifting joy and happiness, but inttead of forrow, we thall have joy, instead of trouble, and affliction, peace and reft for our Souls; and for our company, we fhall have Angels and Arch- Angels to entertain and embrace us, with Arms of Love. Our Sa-viour performing his promife in giving us a Kingdom, at which meeting the Angels fhall fing, the Blaffed Saints rejoice, all Harps warble, all Hands clap for joy; and our poor Souls ravifht with delight; and if this be the cafe and Rate of all penitent and true Believers, who fhill not fay, haften thy coming, O Lord, come Lord Jefus, come quickly..

O let us prefent to the view of our Soulsthe bleffed and happy condition of the Life to come: And this will fir us up to every good and Holy Duty; and comfort and cherish us in all conditions and eftates whatfoever, while we live in this finful World, and amongst this untoward Generation. What will a man care for croffes, loffes, and difgraces in the World, that thinks of an Heavenly Kingdom! What will a man care for ill ufage in his pilgrimage of this I s

earthly

earthly Tabernacle, when he knows he shall be a King at home? we are all (in this time of our abfence from God) but even strangers and pilgrims upon Earth: Here in this Lite we must uffer Indignities, Reproaches, Scoffs, nay, what not? yet all of thefe are for our good, if we can endure it with patience, and overcome thefe Temptations with joy and alacrity; for in the end there is comfort, we fhall have a better Eftate to come, yea, in the highest Heavens, and all this in the mean time is nothing but a fitting and preparing us to the Heavenly Kingdom, which holy David defired to be out a Doorkeeper of, rather than to dwell on the Tents of Kedar: (that is among ft ungodly people :) Let this be our home and comfort, howfoever we fare in this life, that we have here but a little time to fpend,and it must not be long cre we inherit the kirgdom of glory: Alas, The: ff&tions of this Life are not worthy to be compared to the Glory hereafter, Romans, Chap. 8. Verfe 18. And there fore good old Ignatius, in a burning Zeal durft fay, Come Fire Gallows, Breaking of my Body; Quartering f my Members Crushing of my Body; all the torments of the Devil, let them come upon me, fo I may enjoy this Treasure of Heaven. So St. Paul, be counted all things but drofs in comparison of Chrift; I defire to be diffolved, and to be with Chrift, faith he: And well might he Tay it, that knew what a change would be one day, for never was cold shade so pleasant in hot Summer, never was eafie Bed fo delightful after Labour, as fhall be the reft of Heaven to

an

an afflicted Soul, coming thither out of this Valley of Tears! Oh then! What fervice fhould we do; what pains fhould we fuffer and take to attain this Reft? were it to run through Fire and Water; were it as (s St. Auguftine faid) to fuffer every day new torments: yea, the very torments of Hell, yet fhould we be content to abide it. And how much more when we may buy it, and obtain it with tears and repentance, with a little forrow and contrition for fin, which we have brought upon our felves, by our difc bedience and neglect.

Obedience, faith a Holy Father, is one of the firft fteps to Heaven; ane to die in obedience, is to be willing and ready to go out of the world when God calls us: As in Rom. 14. 7, 8. It is thus faid, None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself: For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live or die, therefore we are the Lords. Which words teach us, that in the very hour and when the pangs of Death are upon us, we should refign our felves to the Will and Pleasure of Almighty God, who first made us and gave us life; And as David did freely, with confidence fay, Into thy band 1 commend my Spirit; thou haft redeemed it, a Lord God of Truth.

And he that will furrender his Soul into the hands of God the Creator of it, muft firmly believe that God can and will receive his Soul into Heaven, which none can do of himself, except the Spirit of God feal it to his Confcience

the

that he is Redeemed, Juftified and San&tified in Jefus Chrift, and fhall be likewife Glorified. We must not fear Death at all, and my reafors are these. Firft, in all our care we have occa fion to fhew our Obedience to God Almighty. Secondly, All future fin is prevented by Death, and Saint Paul faith, that the laft Enemy that fhall be deftroyed, is Death: That fhews us, that Death hath no more power over Bodies, and that our Bodies and Souls fhall be united Together again, and receive a reward according to the deeds we have done in the Fich. Third ly, our bodies are brought to a better and far more happy place and bluffed Eftate, where we are free from all future miferies, and ceafe to be any more either active or paffive in fin.Fourthly, it gives a Soul a free paffage to the Cœe ftial Glory, where we fhall have the vifion and fruition of God the Father, who was our Creator; the Society of God the Son, who hath been our Re deemer, and Advocate, the Company of God the Holy Ghost, who hath Sanctified us. Where forrow is never felt. nor complaint heard, matter. or fadress is never feen, evil fuccefs never feared, but instead thereof, there is all good with out evil, life that never endeth, beauty that never fadeth, love that never cooleth, health that never impaireth, joy that never ceafeth: Odid we but think of this glorious place aforehand, wherein are thofe Heavenly Manfions prepared for us: did we spend many thoughts upon it, until we come to the poffeffion of it; O how would these heavenly Meditations ravish our Souls,

Souls, as if Heaven entred into us, before we entred into Heaven! Thus i perfuaded my felf I have now won fome? and whom I have won, the Lord in mercy keep; and fo I discharge my felf.

For we are all by our own difpófitions, like unto tottering Walls, ftill ready to fall. And therefore I wish I could fay, as it was faid to him that fuffered with Chrift, This day fhail you be with me in Paradife. And if this day your Hearts be throughly converted, furely this day you 'are in Paradife. It was no comfort to Adam and Eve, to remember they were in Paradife, feeing themselves now caft out. And if we are once placed in Paradife, then let us look to our ftanding, that we fall not: For as we are mortal, fo we are mutable, and nothing fo familiar with us, as to change. Unconftant we are, God knows; the Lord make us ftedfalt. And the remembrance of thofe Heavenly Joys, which we have now heard, let that make us ftedtaft, unto the end; and fo let us pray, that the Lord in his infine Mercy, would correct our prefent fintulnefs, and build up our further knowledge in him, and direct our future frailty, shat we may earnestly defire, din ligent fearch, truly know, and pori &tly fulfil all things that may plate him, the ever-liv ing God: that we may walk uprightly in his ways, and live truly in his love, to our comfort and his Glory, that in the end we may obtain that long look for, and much defired beautiful diadem, wherewith he crowneth all

his