Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

it with my lips, I study not to attain it in my life.Ah! what a stranger am I to that which I would fain have flattered myself that I am acquainted with! Alas! what knew I of walking with God-of that joy which is found in believing? What know I of the lasting and abiding impressions of his inexpressible love! What of that transforming vision, and assimilating sight which is enjoyed below, whereby the soul is changed into the same image, from glory to glory! What do I know of dwelling in his presence all the day long! What of pouring out my soul in prayer to him! and wrestling with him for the blessing! How seldom is my meditation of him sweet!

But union is the basis of communion; for how can those walk or talk together that are not agreed? O then to be joined to the Lord, and become one spirit! But, my soul, mistake not communion, for it lies not in a flaming profession, nor in the performance of Christian duties, as reading, hearing, praying, praising, though enjoyed in these; nor in the greatest parts, and brightest talents; nor in lofty expressions in prayer; nor in the knowledge of divine things: What is it then? It is just a dwelling in and with God, and God dwelling in and with the soul. It is God's love going out on the soul, and the soul in love going out on God. God dwells in the duty with supplies of grace, in the meditation as its subject, and in the heart as a portion and chief good. And the soul dwells in God as her ultimate end, dilates in his fulness, riots in his bliss. The soul that is blessed with such a communion, favoured with such a fellowship, knows no other object for her love; no other subject for her thoughts; no other employment for her faculties; no higher degree of happiness for her attainment, than consummate communion; no

other beloved for her affection; and no other end for her existence. Nor is this all. In communion with God, the soul shares of his fulness, communicates of his glory, drinks at his pleasures, satiates herself with his love, participates of his communicable perfections, enters into his joy, and partakes of the divine nature. O life of angels! O paradise of love! O transporting employ! O ecstacy of bliss! The soul is always with God; now in prayer, then in praise; now in meditation, then in ejaculation; she has not a complaint but she tells to God; not a grief but she makes known to him; not a sin but she mourns over to him; not a request, not a desire, but she reveals to him. O that holy intimacy that is contracted between the soul and God! that freedom of converse, that wrestling with God in prayer, disputing about the blessing! Let me go ;—I will not let thee go until thou bless me! This is the life of heaven on earth, God come down to man, or man taken up to God.

Now, my soul, what sayest, what thinkest thou of all this? Ah! the carnal mind is enmity against God, and against communion with God. Then I must either be crucified to the world, or cursed with the world. It is not a Sabbath-day's devotion, a rapture in time of praise or prayer, and returning greedily to the world. Communion is another thing than I have hitherto taken it to be. It is constant and continual. I should endeavour to keep my soul always in an heavenly frame, even in earthly affairs; thus the angels, even in messages to our world, carry heaven with them. Although I must mind the necessary affairs of this life, yet I should carry God to the field with me, and to the closet, to the street, and to my table. I should work, and walk, fall asleep, and awake in his presence; and talk with him on

my bed, when all around me keep silence; and when hurried away with vain rovings, my soul should still return to God, as her centre, as her resting-place,

O the pleasure that is in this life of communion with God! it is a young heaven, with which, in the highest degree of perfection, all the saints in glory are blessed. Then, Lord, begin this life of communion in my soul, to which I am too much a stranger; destroy every thing that would destroy it; and as I would desire to live with thee hereafter, so let me endeavour to live with thee here, and thus improve for eternity, and prepare for the world to

come.

MEDITATION XVI.

THE DISPOSAL OF PROVIDENCE ALWAYS BEST.

WHY would I still take the government of myself

out of thy hand, and choose according to my fond desires? Can my ignorance penetrate through the thick darkness of futurity? Who would choose a blind madman to guide him through some lonely ways, and intricate meanders, with which neither the traveller nor the guide are acquainted in the least; since he might lead him where he lists, and stab him as he strays? It is surely safer to walk by faith in God, than to be led by fancy. I choose what is most agreeable to me; but God chooses what is most advantageous for me; and proves, in his disposal of me, that his love to me is greater than my love to myself. I love blindly, but he loves with the wisdom of a God. I would have my prayers answered at my time, but God answers them at his time,

which is always the best time. I would have my blessings in sum, but he gives them in parcels, because I could not bear them all at once. So the prudent mother feeds her child, not according to the irregular appetite of her infant, to avoid surfeits, but according to its real necessity, to afford nourishment. In this unhappy life, it is not the least of my happiness, that I am not at my own direction, at mine own disposal; or a ship without pilot, and at the mercy of wind and waves, might as well find the desired port, as I attain to rest and tranquillity.

Through faith and patience it is that I must inherit the promises; therefore God, to make me inherit them in the way that all the saints have done before, tries my patience, and exercises my faith; and dare I quarrel his conduct, or be displeased at such bright displays of his peculiar care and loving kindness? Why, then, so many risings in my breast, so many doubtings in my soul? Hence I will conclude of every contingency in my lot, however contrary to my enterprizes and designs, however crushing to flesh and blood, that it is the very best for me, both with respect to this world and that which is to

come.

MEDITATION XVII.

LOVE IN ITS FOURFOLD EXTENSION, Eph. iii. 18.

SOME things may have height as the heavens,

depth as the sea, and breadth and length as the earth; but love divine has an height which cannot be seen, a depth which cannot be sounded, a length which

cannot be limited, and a breadth which cannot be measured! O Lord! may I know thy love in its depth, in bringing me out of the lowest hell; in its height, in setting me on the Redeemer's throne; in its breadth, in making me an heir of God; and in its length, in eternizing my bliss in the regions of glory. This love, in its depth, recovers and restores fallen man to endless felicity; in its height, crowns and confirms the church of the first born; the inhabitants of the better country walk at liberty in its breadth, and rejoice in its length, its eternal duration.

[ocr errors]

Thou, Lord, hast, in thy love, been my dwellingplace before the mountains were brought forth; and art my dwelling-rock while I wander in the howling desert, and wilt be my temple when sun and moon are no more. Well does thy love deserve a fourfold definition, that answers my fourfold situation.Thou hast loved me with an everlasting love, when in the loins of my parents, therefore with lovingkindness dost thou draw me. Thou lovest me now, when I appear in this world, a man composed of soul and body; therefore dost thou reveal thyself to me. Thou wilt love me when I exist in a separate state, when my body is laid in the silent grave, and my soul carried into the world of spirits; therefore, at my dissolution, shall I enter into the joy of my Lord. And thou wilt love me when my soul and body are united again; therefore thou wilt pass the gracious sentence on me, in the sight of men and angels; and, in the sight of the whole world, present me with a crown of life, a crown of glory, which fadeth not away. When I lay weltering in my blood, it pitied me; when running on in the mad career of sin, it converted me; and now that I am reconciled, it will never leave me, but at last will crown my graces with perfection.

« ElőzőTovább »