Sion. Sirs, I esteemed and loved you above all then, as the only excellent ones of the earth, in whom was all my delight, Psa. xvi. 5. But now, love is in its bloom and full perfection. What a golden life would I have esteemed it on earth, to live in the company of the most wise and excellent in all ages ! Oh now, all the excellent of the world are my companions; every one of whom transcends, by millions of stages, in wisdom and excellence, the most excellent mere man on earth. O ye beloved ones, is not our fellowship far changed? "Old things are passed away, all things are become new!" 2 Cor. v. 17. All earthly ties are broken asunder, which did much hinder the fellowship of saints on earth : we are every way free! our spiritual relation has swallowed up all other. No obligation is betwixt us, but that of love: we hold not any thing mediately; Jesus, the First-born of the Almighty King, is our immediate Superior in all things. Oh glorious magnific kingdom! O let the crown for ever flourish on the head of the Conqueror! What though all this assembly of men and angels should be abased, if he be exalted? what though all should decrease, if he increase? What is the flower and chief excellence of all created glory? He is the beauty and triumph of all creatures, the Head and First-born of every creature, infinitely more than all creatures; he is JEHOVAH. 57. The saints are eternally acquitted; All things are eternal: the saints and all their facul- are eternally acquitted and justified; and all the wicked are ever impan ties are filled up with his words. nelled and condemned. In how blessed a manner doth our Wellbeloved smile upon us! for ever doth he stretch forth the arms of his love to embrace us! Oh the sweetness of his lips! the loveliness of his voice! His eyes are ever fixed upon us: every look, every beckoning of the hand, manifests a love, ever to be admired, and never to be comprehended. Oh his voice, his voice is he not saying, "Behold, and for ever behold your Lord, your Head, your Husband, your King, your Maker, your only Wellbeloved, who loved you with an eternal love; washed you, when polluted, in his own blood; and made you kings and priests to my Father, and your Father! Did I love you, when vile and abominable? and shall I ever hate you, when made fair and lovely, through my perfect comeliness? Come, my fairest spouse, behold these arms, that were stretched out upon the cross, for your sakes, are ever ready to embrace you. I loved thee, because I loved thee: and because I loved thee, therefore hast thou become exceeding lovely. Are you not dear unto me? are you not my delights and rejoicings? you are the fruit of my labours, sufferings, sad hearts, tears, sighs, groans, fear, pain, shame, reproach: in seeing you, I behold my seed, the travail of my soul, and am 66 satisfied," Isa. liii. 11: enjoy me now, as much as your soul desires. All mountains are removed, all shadows are fled away; the occasions of your doubtings, jealousies, despondencies, are no more: we shall enjoy one another to the full. Love shall be no more pained and sick of delays. Have I not hasted to this eternal day of enjoyment? how have I dispatched much in a small P time? I have come skipping over the mountains, leaping over the hills, Sol. Song ii. 8. I swimmed through seas of blood, oceans of tears, worlds of woes and griefs; trod the wine-press of the wrath of God Almighty; crushed the people in mine anger, and trampled them in my fury; made my name to sound throughout the whole world; filled the earth with the knowledge of my name; erected a glorious church on earth, of Jew and Gentile; put away time and days, cried down for ever all earthly pleasures, pomps, glory, that we might enjoy this eternal day: and behold, I am become all in all unto you for evermore. Hast thou laboured with me? here is an eternal repose. Hast thou mourned? partake of my boundless joys. Hast thou suffered for my name's sake? thou shalt eternally ride with me in my majestic, triumphant chariot of glory: thou shalt no more be sick of love, through absence and want of the light of my countenance, whence ill thoughts, and doubtings of mine unchangeable love. His banner of love shall ever overspread us! It is nothing what thou hast been; since I have elected thee, and washed thee, and made thee surpassingly beautiful and excellent; and thou hast become mine: my life, my blood, my soul, did I give for thee: I have become like thee, and made thee like unto me, that our fellowship might be most intimate and sweet. And what, my fair one, could I have done more, to make thee superabundantly blessed? have I not fitted thee for my fellowship? have I not adorned thee with superexcellent beauty, glory, and majesty? Nothing can show forth thy pleasantness, thy surpassing excellences: all trees, all flowers, all roses, and lilies, all the beauties that adorn the spangled heavens, would blush, to contend with thy surpassing beauty; all their perfections are but emblems of that substantial excellence, wherewith I have beautified thee. Can there be greater blessedness? can there be more intimate fellowship? All who have cursed thee, have been cursed; and all who have blessed thee, have been blessed. 'The eternal God is thy refuge; and underneath are the everlasting arms,' Deut. xxxiii. 27: and He hath cast out the enemy from before thee; and hath said, Destroy them.’ Thou dwellest in safety, alone; the fountain of Jacob' is open unto thee. O people saved of the Lord, the shield of thine help, and who is the strength of thine excellency and thine enemies have been found liars unto thee; and thou hast trodden them upon their high places. O, are you not blessed, eternally blessed, who have been appointed to so great things? Glory, excellency, strength, beauty, honour, and all are yours! behold, behold, ye children of my everlasting love and delight, these precious crowns, these garlands of glory, wherewith I adorn you! Behold, behold, all creatures, devils, and wicked men, thus is it done eternally unto the men whom the King delighteth to honour. This is the majesty I clothe them with, who have loved, feared, and obeyed me, unto death, in their generation. This is the kingdom, these are the glorious mansions, I have set them down into. I spake not to you of earthly kingdoms and possessions: these celestial : habitations were you ordained unto, as your everlasting country. I told you of worlds, and kingdoms, and crowns, and sceptres, and cities, and glorious mansions; and, behold, inconceivably more than I promised: yea, did you not inherit time also? Did you ever want journey-bread, as long as on the way to this country? though, for your good, I did not lade you with the thick clay of the earth; I ever cut out that lot which was best for you, which was not a life of earthly abundance: if it had been otherwise, I should have made you the only sharers of earth, the only potentates of time; but base earth was far below your divine minds. How degrading had it been, to see my fellow-heirs vexed, turmoiled, and distracted with inferior concerns? No; your generous spirits were exercised with high and excellent things, and were not brought down by the empty concerns the sons of the earth were only occupied with. My way to this unspeakable glory was through contempt, reproach, afflictions, poverty, shame; I could not dignify you, more than by making you partakers of my lot, my excellent ones: if I had plunged you in the midst of earthly prosperity and abundance, you would have missed the greatest glory, which is suffering for my name's sake; your crown would not have been so massy and glorious: and where would have been the exercise and trial of all your graces? your patience in tribulations, your meek, quiet, and contented spirit, when the vilest of men were exalted, Psa. xii. 8, and abounded in temporal enjoyments, sharing the earth among them, as if they alone had only |