III.

ENTERING THE GATE.

"And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.”—Ps. cví. 7. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."-Rev. xx. 14.

HIS present world through which we are passing

THIS

may justly be called a wilderness; it is a solitary, and a barren way. It is a lonely and a dreary way we are travelling in; the path is strait and narrow, and few there are that walk therein. This world is no more our friend, than it is our home; the true Christian, therefore, who is born from above, whose conversation. is in heaven, and who is daily travelling thitherward, is the object of its malice, or else the subject of its ridicule. The soil of this present evil world is barren and unfruitful; it presents before our eyes many objects which are an hinderance to us in our way; but it is entirely desert and barren with respect to any help it affords us in our progress. It produces little else but briers and thorns, which have a tendency only to entangle and wound the feet of those who pass through it. The many afflictions with which the people of God are exercised in the present life, are as a constant clog to the wheels of their souls, which makes them drag on heavily and were they not sometimes favoured with a view of the rest (193)

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which remains for them, they would be almost ready to despair of getting safe out of this vale of tears, which they have, therefore, too great occasion to call a waste howling wilderness-a solitary and a barren land.

This present world through which we are passing is also properly compared to a wilderness, as it is likewise a dangerous way. A wilderness is a place not only barren and unfrequented, but is generally full of pits and wild beasts, which render it exceeding dangerous. For this reason it is styled in Scripture "a terrible wilderness, wherein are fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there is no water," Deut. viii. 15. We are called to pass through an enemy's country; this world is under the influence of our greatest and most inveterate enemy. The Devil is styled the prince of the power of the air, and the generality of this world's inhabitants are his willing slaves and vassals. Whilst therefore we are passing through his territories, he will be sure to gain all the advantages he can against us. No sooner do we enlist ourselves under the banner of Christ Jesus, but Satan and the world immediately join in a league against us; as though they were resolved to rob the Redeemer of his spoil, and pluck those who are the purchase of his blood out of his hands. There is a rooted enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Satan has an inveteracy against every one that bears the image of Jesus; and "as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour," 1 Peter v. 8. And, like an old serpent, he conceals his wiles that he may get the better advan

tage over us. We are, in this life, never free from his temptations: he is always contriving some temptation against us, or presenting it to us. And that we do not oftener fall into the snares which he lays to entrap us, is only owing to the care and vigilance of our Great Leader, and the grace which he is pleased to communicate to us out of his fulness.

As for the world; the last of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," how prevalent have these been to draw aside the believer from the God and guide of his youth! these Philistines are often upon us before we are aware of them, and there is an unbelieving heart always within, which is as constant fuel to the fire of temptations from without. So that were not God pleased at particular times to open our eyes, and let us see that, they who are for us are more than they which are against us," we should be ready to give up all in despair.

On these accounts the present state is compared to a wilderness. We wander here in the wilderness, in a solitary way, "we can find no city to dwell in, hungry and thirsty, our souls faint within us." But herein God leads his people by the right way, to the city of habitation. They are dear to him every one as the apple of his eye-as near to him as his right hand. His love was fixed from everlasting upon them, and therefore his care and loving kindness are ever exercised towards them. He may bring his people into the wilderness, but he cannot, in consistency with the perfections of

his nature, or the promise of his grace, ever leave them there. They may, and often do seem to lose their hold of him; but he never does, he never can lose his hold of them. For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye," Deut. xxxii. 9, 10. There is no getting to Immanuel's land, but by the way of the wilderness; which though it is not our rest itself, yet it leads us to our rest; it fits and prepares us for it; and the afflictions which we meet with therein, serve also to make the heavenly blessedness the more desirable now, and delightful hereafter. God may therefore often lead us in a rough and unpleasant way, but he always leads us in a right way. Let us only take a view of these particular seasons, wherein we are most apt to question the loving kindness of our God, and we may determine the happy issue of all the rest.

Let us begin with the melancholy state and condition of those from whom God hides the light of his countenance. These are often ready to object against themselves, that they shall never see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Methinks I hear them complaining with the church of old, "My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed from my God." And condemning themselves for hypocrites, and mere professors, because of the uncertainty of their frames, and the unfruitfulness of their lives. They are

for the present bewildered, as those that have lost their way. They have no sensible communion with Christno present discovery of the love of God, to take comfort in but notwithstanding their fears, "this is the right way, wherein God leads us to the city of habitation." Were the reconciled countenance of a covenant God and Father always to be lift up on us, we should be apt to prize the comforts we receive immediately from him more than the glorious person who was the purchaser, and is the bestower of them. Were he never to hide his face, we should live upon the streams, rather than the fountains; we should be too ready to say with the three disciples, "Lord, it is good for us to be here;" we should be ready to make a stop at the banks of Jordan; or at least, we should pass that river with reluctance, indifferent in our desires after what remaineth to be received by us in the heavenly world. In a word, God is pleased to give us at some times, a glimpse of our future glory, that he may excite our desires after the farther enjoyments thereof; and at other times is pleased wisely to withhold his hand in this respect, that we may be willing when he calls us, " to depart, and be with Christ." This, then, though it be a way less pleasant for us to walk in, is nevertheless the right way to the place where our hearts and treasure are both lodged; by this means, we are made to long after, and then are led to the city of habitation.

The same may be said, concerning the various outward afflictions with which the believer is exercised. They