more seriously thou puttest this supposition to thyself, the more will the meditation elevate thy heart. I would not have thee, as the papists, draw them in pictures, or use similar ways to represent them. This, as it is a course forbidden by God, so it would but seduce and draw down thy heart: but get the liveliest picture of them in thy mind which thou possibly canst. Meditate on them, as if thou wert all the while beholding them, and as if thou wert even hearing the hallelujahs, while thou art thinking of them, till thou canst say, "Methinks I see a glimpse of the glory! Methinks I hear the shouts of joy and praise! Methinks I stand by Abraham and David, Peter and Paul, and more of these triumphing souls! Methinks I even see the Son of God appearing in the clouds, and the world standing at his bar to receive their doom! Methinks I hear him say, Come, ye blessed of my Father! and even see them go rejoicing into the joy of their Lord! My very dreams of these things have deeply affected me: and should not these just suppositions affect me much more? What if I had with Paul seen things unutterable? Would I not have been exalted (and that perhaps above measure) as well as he? What if I had stood in the room of Stephen, and seen heaven opened, and Christ sitting at the right hand of God? Surely that one sight was worth suffering a storm of stones. O that I might but see what he saw, though I should also suffer what he suffered! What if I had seen such a sight as Micaiah saw," the Lord sitting upon his throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left?" Why these men of God did see such things; and I shall shortly see far more than ever they saw, till they were loosed from this flesh, as I shall ere long be."

Thus you see how the conception of the state of blessedness, as the Holy Spirit has in condescending language represented it, and our raising of strong suppositions from our bodily senses, will further our affections in this heavenly work.

II. Compare the objects of sense with the objects

of faith. In this way we may compel sense to afford us that medium, from whence we may conclude the transcendent worth of glory, by arguing from sensitive delights as from the less to the greater. And here for your further assistance, I shall furnish you with some of these comparative arguments.

1. Compare the delights above with the corrupt delights of sensual men. Think with yourselves, when you would be sensible of the joys above, Is it such a delight to a sinner to do wickedly? and will it not be inexpressibly more delightful to live with God? Has the drunkard such delight in his cups and his companions, that he will part with his credit, and estate and salvation, rather than forsake them? Surely then there are high delights with God! If the way to hell can afford such pleasure, what must be the pleasure of the saints in heaven! If the covetous man has so much pleasure in his wealth, and the ambitious man in power and titles of honour, what pleasure must the saints have in the everlasting treasures, and in the heavenly honours, when they shall be set above principalities and powers, and be made the glorious spouse of Christ! What pleasure do the voluptuous find in their sensual courses! How closely will they follow their recreations from morning to night! How delightfully will they sit at their cards and dice, hours, and days, and nights together! O the delight that must needs then be, in beholding the face of the living God, and in singing forth praises to him and the Lamb, which will be our recreation when . we come to our everlasting rest!

2. Compare the delights above, with the lawful delights of the senses. Think with thyself, "How sweet is food to my taste when I am hungry, especially that which my soul loves! What delight has the taste in some pleasant fruits, and in some well relished meats! O what delight then shall my soul have in feeding upon Christ the living bread, and in eating with him at his table in his kingdom! How pleasant is drink in the extremity of thirst! The delight of it to a man in a fever or other drought, can

scarcely be expressed. O then how delightful will it be to my soul to drink of the fountain of living waters, of which whosoever drinks shall thirst no more! How delightful are pleasing odours to the smell! How delightful is perfect music to the ear! How delightful are beauteous sights to the eye,—such as curious pictures, sumptuous buildings, walks, prospects, gardens stored with variety of beauteous and odoriferous flowers, or pleasant meadows, which are natural gardens! O then think every time thou beholdest them, what a fragrant smell has the precious ointment which is poured on the head of our glorified Saviour, and which will be poured on the heads of all his saints, and which will fill all heaven with its odour and perfume! How delightful is the music of the heavenly host! How glorious the building not made with hands, and the house in which God himself dwells and the walks, and prospects, and the other delights of the celestial paradise!"

3. Compare the delights above with the delights of natural knowledge. This is far beyond the delights of sense; and the delights of heaven are farther beyond it. What a pleasure is it to dive into the secrets of nature, and to find out the mysteries of the arts and sciences! If we make a new discovery in any of these, or see a little more than we saw before, what singular pleasure does it afford us! Think then what high delights there must be in the knowledge of God and Christ. When we light on some choice and learned book, how we are taken with it! We can read and study it day and night; we can leave meat, and drink, and sleep, to read it. What delights then are there at God's right hand, where we shall know even as we are known!' "

4. Compare the delights above with the delights of the natural affections. What sweetness is there in the exercise of natural affection to husbands or wives, to parents, children, or friends! The delight which a pair of special faithful friends find in loving and enjoying one another, is most sweet and pleasing: "I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan,"

says David, "very pleasant hast thou been unto me; thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." Think then, if the delights of close and cordial friendship be so great, what delight shall we have in the friendship of the Most High God, and in our mutual amity with Jesus Christ, and in the most affectionate love of the angels and saints! Surely this will be a closer and stricter friendship than ever was between any friends on earth; and these will be more lovely and desirable friends than any that ever the sun beheld; and our affections to our Father, and our Saviour, but especially his affection to us, will be such as here we never knew. We shall then love a thousand times more strongly and sweetly than now we can; and as all the attributes and works of God are incomprehensible, so is the attribute and work of love. What joy will there be then in this mutual love!

5. Compare the excellencies of heaven with those glorious works of creation which our eyes do now behold. How much of wisdom, and power, and goodness, appears in the fair fabric of this world! What skilful workmanship is there in the body of a man, yea in the body of every beast, and even of every insect and every worm! What excellency is there in every plant we see, in flowers, in herbs, in trees, in the roots, the leaves, the fruits! But especially if we contemplate the greater works of God; if we consider the whole body of this earth, and its creatures, and inhabitants; the ocean of waters, the variation of the seasons, and of the face of the earth; the interchange of spring and autumn, of summer and winter. When thou walkest forth in the evening, behold the stars, how they glisten, and in what numbers they bespangle the firmament. View the wide expanded heavens. What splendour is in the least of yonder stars! What a vast, what a bright resplendent body has yonder moon! What an inconceivable glory has yonder sun! Yet all this is nothing to the glory of heaven. Yonder sun must there be laid aside as useless, for it would not be seen for the

brightness of Deity. This whole earth is but my Father's footstool. So much wisdom and power as appear in all these various works, so much, and far more greatness, and goodness, and happiness, shall I enjoy in the fruition of God."

6. Compare the delights which thou shalt enjoy above, with the excellency of those admirable works of providence, which God exercises in the church and in the world. What glorious things has the Lord wrought! If we had seen the ten plagues of Egypt; or the sea stand as a wall on the right hand, and on the left, and the dry land appear in the midst, and the children of Israel pass safely through, and Pharaoh and his people swallowed up; or if we had seen the rock gush forth streams, or the manna and quails rained down from heaven; or the earth open and swallow up the wicked, or their armies slain with hailstones by an angel, or by one another;-would not these have appeared wondrous, glorious sights? But we shall see far greater things than these; and as our sights shall be more wonderful, so also they shall be more sweet. Surely if we observe but common providences, the motions of the sun, the tides of the ocean, the watering of the earth with rain as a garden, the keeping in order a confused wicked world, with many similar circumstances, they are all very admirable. But to think of the Zion of God, of the vision of the Divine Majesty, of the comely order of the heavenly host, how much more admirable sights will these be!

7. Compare the mercies which thou shalt have above, with those temporal mercies which thou hast thyself enjoyed through life. If thou be a Christian indeed, I know thou hast, at least in thy heart, many precious favours upon record. The very remembrance and rehearsal of them is sweet: how much more sweet was the actual enjoyment! But all these are nothing, to the mercies which are above. Look over the mercies of thy youth and education, the mercies of thy riper years, the mercies of thy prosperity, and of thy adversity, the mercies of thy several places and