their feelings of them the same as on the first day. Great God who can bear thy indignation, or support the weight of thy avenging hand O!1 dreadful evil of mortal sin, which can thus enkindle this eternal flame!

On Heaven,

Cof God be so terrible in regard to

Onsider, first, that if the justice

his enemies, how much more will hist mercy, goodness, and bounty, declare themselves in favour of his friends! Mercy and goodness are his favourite attributes, in which he most delights: His tender mercies, says the royal pro-. phet, Psalm cxliv. are above all his works. What then must this blessed kingdom be, which in his goodness he has prepared for his beloved children for the manifestation of his riches glory and magnificence for all eternity. A kingdom, which the Son of God himself has purchased for us at no less a price, than that of his own most precious blood. No wonder then that the apostle cries out, 1 Cor. ii. 9. That neither eye. bath seen, nor ear heard, F v

,

nor hath it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those that love him. No wonder that this beati tude is described by divines, as a perfeet and everlasting state, replenished with all that is good, without the least mixture of evil; a general and universal good, filling to the brim the vast capacity of our affections and desires and eternally securing us from all fear, danger, want or change. O! here it is that the servants of God, as the Psalmist declares, Psalm xxxv. shall be inebriated with the plenty of God's house, and shall be made to drink of the torrent of his pleasure; even of that fountain of life, which is with him and flows from him, into their happy souls for ever and ever.

Consider, secondly, that although this blessed kingdom abounds with all that can be imagined good and delightful, yet there is one sovereign good, in the sight, love, and enjoyment of which consist's the essential beatitude of the soul; and that is God himself, whom the blessed shall ever see face to face; and, by the contemplation of his infinite beauty, are set on fire

.

with seraphic flames of love, and by a most pure and amiable, union are transformed in a manner into God him. self as when brass or iron in the furnace is perfectly penetrated by the fire, it loseth its own nature, and becometh all flame and fire. Happy souls! what can be wanting to com. plete your joys who are in perfect possession of God, the overflowing source of all good; who have within and without you, the vast ocean of endless felicity! O the excessive bounty of our God, who giveth his servants, in reward of their loyalty, so great a good, which is nothing less than himself, the immense joy of angels. O shall that not suffice, my soul, to make thee happy, which makes God himself happy!

Consider, thirdly, the glory and beauty of the heavenly Jerusalem which the holy scripture, to accommodate itself to our weakness, represents to us under the notion of such things as we most admire here below; so St. John in his Apocalypse, describ. ing this blessed city, tells us, that its walls are of precious stones; and F vi

its

its streets of pure and transparent gold: that these streets are watered by the river of the waters of life, resplen-. dent as chrystal, which flows from the throne of God; and that on each side on the banks of this river grows the tree of life; that there shall be no night, nor any sun or moon, but that the Lord God shall be its light for ever. O blessed Jerusalem! O! how glorious are the things that are said of thee, O city of God! But what wonder? For if our God has given us such, and so noble a palace here below, in this place of banishment, beautified with the sun, moon and stars, furnished and adorned with such an infinite variety of plants, flowers, trees and li ving creatures of so many sorts, all subservient to man; if, I say, he has so richly provided for us in this vale of tears, and region of the shade of death, what must our eternal habita, tion be in the land of the living ! -1 here he is so bountiful, even to his enemies, in giving them so cominodious, so noble a dwelling, what may not his friends and servants expect in his eternal kingdom; in which, and

1

by

by which he designs to manifest to them his greatness and glory, for endless! ages, in an everlasting banquet, which he has there prepared for his elect?. Blessed by all creatures be his goodness. for ever.

Consider, fourthly, the blessed inhabitants of this heavenly kingdom, those millions of millions of angels, of whom the prophet Daniel, having seen God Almighty in a vision, tells us, Dan. viii. That thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thou-, sand of hundreds of thousands stood before him that infinite multitude of saints and martyrs, and other servants of God of both sexes gathered out i of all nations, tribes and tongues ; and above them all, the blessed Virgin Mother of God, Queen of saints and angels their number is innumerable: but, O! who can express the happiness of enjoying the society of this most noble, glorious, wise, holy and blessed company, They are all of blood royal, all kings and queens, all children and heirs of the most high God; ever beautiful and always young; crowned with wreaths of immortal

glory