then will thofe offences do me no more harm, than if they had never been committed. But nothing befide this, do I know in the world, that can give me boldness in the day of judgment, and make me love the appearing of my Lord, and wait with comfort for his coming. Did I not believe my judge to be alfo my advocate, who will not fcrutinize, and fift my works and actions, without a merciful allowance, for my frailties and temptations; nor proceed without all thofe mitigations that my cafe will allow of. And will not lofe me, where, in the moft favourable conftruction of the gofpel-terms he can fave me.

Whoever then do put the Saviour from them, and reckon to do their own business without him, and fo are like to find judgment without mercy, and to receive only according to the works that themselves have done, without any regard to the faith in Chrift, of which they made fo light: O my foul, do thou kifs the Son, and make a friend of him who is to be thy Judge. Never venture upon the tribunal of God, in the ftrength and virtue of any thing that thou haft in thyself, to bear thee out. For fo, when weighed in the balance, thou wilt certainly be found wanting. But look unto the Lord thy righteousness, and go hide in the clefts of that spiritual rock, alledging his fatisfaction for thy falvation, and pleading only his merits; where none of my own thou canft find, to build thy trust

upon.

Nay, had I much more holiness, than, alas, I can pretend to had I led a more innocent, ufeful life, than (the Lord knows) I have done: and were I fo much better than I am, that I could vie even with the holiest man upon earth; yet would I difclaim all that ever I had, or did, for matter of any dependence on it, to bear me out in the dreadful day;

and

and I would fly for refuge, under the wings of that Saviour, who is to be my judge.

But yet the very name of judgment carries an awakening found with it; and where all that ever I have lies at ftake, I will go full of concern about my trial, at the great and laft affize; not only in care, but make my converfation look fair to the eye of the world; but to approve my very heart to the infpection of my judge, I will humble myself before him, for all the fins, that I have committed against him and endeavour still more and more to break them off, and indeed to live godly in Chrift Jefus. Yet after I have done all my very beft, ftill will I caft myself on the mercies of God, in my bleffed Redeemer; and not confide in my own, but in his righteoufnefs; and caft my burden upon him, and leave the matter in his hands; hoping for his worthinefs, to find the mercy and heaven, which I can never prefume to deferve myself; and to receive fuch a bleffed fentence in the great day of the Lord, as may transport me with gladness and joy unfpeakable, world without end,

'

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Be

Leffed JESUS! the Lord our righteousness; who wilt alfo be the Lord our judge! re"member I pray thee, in mercy, the purchase of "thy own precious blood. And fo take away my "fins from me; and impute thy righteoufnefs to

'

me, that I, who deferve only to be abhorred and "condemned, for what I am in myself, may yet "be fully abfolved, and eternally faved, through "the redemption and merits of my holy bleffed "Saviour. Even fo come Lord Jefus, to plead thy own caufe, affert thy truth, and advance thy interefts, and make thy enemies thy footftool, and

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*thy now abused religion, the renown and tri"umph of all that are faithful in it. And may I "fo remember thy judgment, and prepare for thy "coming, and keep myself in thy love, that even "the terrible day of the Lord, may be the most joyful day to my foul; and may put an end to "all my fins, and fears, and forrows, and let me "into that kingdom of my God, where I fhall "be moft highly pleased, and for ever bleffed. "Amen."

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MEDITATION XLV.

Of Eternity.

An

Thou bottomlefs abyfs! amazing eternity! my understanding is at a lofs to comprehend thee my heart fails me, but to think of thee. everlasting ftate, my foul, though it be the measure of thy own duration, yet canft thou not fee through it, nor deal with it. But after thou haft been looking never fo long at the things eternal, and prying never fo far into that unknown profundity; there is abundantly more ftill beyond, than yet thou hast feen. Yea, even at the very utmost length that ever thou canst reach, there is that which is infinite ftill before thee; and no manner of bounds to be difcovered. Thou mayft (though with much ado) fum up the biggest number of years, that is determinate and certain, and has fome end: but where the computation will never be up, though thou takeft millions for units, and puttest a thousand years for one day; where not only the common period

of

of threefcore and ten, but even threescore and ten thousand years are as nothing, to the vaft immenfurate eternity, that will never, never be done: O what canft thou fay to it, but acknowledge, that thou art utterly baffled with the reckoning; and haft no ability to caft up fuch an account? but the lefs thou can't deal with it, the more ftill art thou concerned to confider it; and to make the better provifion for it. Because thou art failing on apace to that boundless ocean and there thou wilt fhortly be taken up, and fixed in an unalterable condition. Here thou art a gueft, and a ftranger: that's my home, and biding place for ever. O then think, and think again, in the greatest seriousness, what fhall become of thee to all eternity. Let that which will ere long fwallow up all things, now swallow up all thy thoughts: and in the most folemn contemplation, feparate thyfelf aforehand from this world; whence thou wilt, after a while, be indeed feparated for ever. Thou art upon the very brink of that unchangeable ftate: and O how foon will it have thee in, as one of the fettled inhabitants there, never to be removed? and when all thy future being, depends upon thy prefent doing; and thereafter as thou carrieft here, thou wilt fare everlastingly elfewhere: O what haft thou to do in this world, but to make ready for the next! canft thou be fatisfied, to be eafy, and well provided for a few days, and not care how it fhall go with thee, world without end? can I be at all wife, to fhew more concern for a perishing body, than for the never-dying foul? O extremity of folly, fottishness, madnefs? For if here I am poor or fick, pained or diseased; though it be not to last always: yet how do I caft, and fhift all manner of ways, to get the matter amended? and what care am I in, for the fupplies of life, as long as I have a life to be maintained? to lay up for the future; that I may be fure to have enough? and O

how

how much bigger, how incomparably weightier, is the concern, to provide for another future, for the life everlasting? and what can ever quiet the cravings of my never-dying foul, but the provifions, that fhall be as durable as itfelf? that it may not furvive all its comforts; nor be fet to live upon air, or nothing: when it shall be out of all here for ever. How much lefs, my foul, canft thou be fecure and careless, if fo be thou haft more reason to fear a curfed, than to hope a blessed immortality? O fhall I send thee off, not only destitute and naked, but maimed and spoiled; to go and feek thy fortune in that wide world of fpirits, from whence thou shalt never return? when, alas, all thy time in this world at longeft, to the following eternity, is not fo much as an hour to a thousand years: nay, but like an hour's dreaming of happiness or mifery, to a thoufand years real happiness or misery: O who in his wits, would choose a merry dream of an hour long, followed with a thousand years of torment; rather than a melancholy dream of an hour, followed with a thousand years of pleasure? and, now, alas, how do we, vain creatures, imagine we are, what we be not; and fuppofe that we enjoy, what we do not? but when we die, all the dreams then, will be over: and we fhall roufe, to fee things in their realities: when the shades will flee away; and the truth and fubftance, will fucceed; even what will ftill remain, and what we muft abide by for ever. O my foul, be very indifferent then to all the things of this world: and let it be the smallest matter with thee, what thou enjoyeft, or what thou endureft here for a moment: fo that thou escape eternal fuffering, and attain to be bleffed, and pleafed, for evermore.

VOL. I.

D d

THE

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