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kingdom of our Father. So wonderfully will this fickly, diseased, afflicted body of mine be changed, that it will neither need food, phyfic, nor fleep; but be as the angels of God, which are in heaven. Then fhall I be feated on a throne, along with those bleffed ones who, as our divine Redeemer tells us, fhall judge the twelve tribes of Ifrael.

O happy, triumphant day! Day of refreshment from the prefence of the Lord, after the labours and toils of this pilgrimage-ftate! The favour of the great Judge of all will then appear to be of infinite value. It is of little confequence who are my friends, or who my enemies in the prefent flate; if Jefus Chrift be my Friend, it is enough. He is now my Advocate with the Father, and will then be my Judge, to acquit me from every charge, through his own all-perfect righteoufnefs. He will then own and honour the meaneft of his followers, and look on them with a fmile of approbation and favour, which will fill their fouls with unfpeakable joy. The meaning of our text will then be perfectly unfolded, and sweetly realized, In his favour is life.

Think, O pious reader, on that happy period when the once fuffering, but now exalted Saviour will receive all his followers, with a hearty welcome, to the promised kingdom, prepared for them from

from the foundation of the world. When he will fay, with his own gracious lips, in the prefence and hearing of affembled worlds, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, approach to me, come to my arms, come to my bofom. Come, and receive the kingdom of which you have fo often heard, and for which you have so long hoped and waited with earneft expectation. Come, and enter into the full and everlasting poffeffion of it. Come, and fit with me on my throne, even as I, your Leader, and the Captain of your falvation, have overcome all enemies, and am fat down with my Father on his throne. Welcome, my dear disciples, to your heavenly rest. Enter ye into the joy of your Lord. Lord. Ye have been faithful unto death, and I now give you, according to my promise, the crown of life. You have owned me on earth, and I now will own you in heaven.. Ye fhall be mine for ever. You chofe and preferred my favour before the world, and now you fhall poffefs it to your full fatisfaction.. You fhall be placed on my right hand, while others, as you fee, ftand on my left. I manifefted my favour to you, in fome degree, while you fojourned in the wilderness below, but now I will do it more fully and completely. Come to my everlafling embrace, from which nothing can henceforth exclude you. To bring you to this enjoyment, I gave my life a

ransom for you. It was the great end for which I died. This was the joy which was set before me, when I endured the cross, and despised the shame, that I might bring many fons unto glory. This is the felicity which I promised to bestow upon you; and you fee, I have not deceived These are you. the manfions I came before you to prepare. is the kingdom which it is your Father's good pleafure to give you. It is not the reward of any meritorious actions which you have performed, but a fruit of that free favour of God which is your life, and by which you live for ever."

This

What can we suppose the ransomed of the Lord to fay, in answer to this gracious proclamation from the eternal throne? Will they not, in the deepest felf-abasement, and with raptures of astonishment and divine delight, afcribe all their falvation to God, and to the Lamb? Will they not cry with a loud voice, tuned to celeftial harmony, "Bleffing and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever!"

Let the reader who is born from above, and called, by divine grace, to glory and virtue, realize to himself, by the elevations of devout contemplation, the enjoyments, the honours, and the transports of that day, which will more than crown all

his wifhes, and far exceed his most enlarged expectations. Let him bear with patience and fortitude the trials and troubles of his wafting and tranfitory life, and reckon that the afflictions of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Let him look on death as a vanquished foe, and even bid him welcome when he approaches; for the favour of God is life to the dying believer. Let him fay, as fortified by a well-grounded hope of interest in this, "I can now bid adieu to this vain world, and to all it contains; I can venture down into the peaceful grave, where my body fhall fleep, as in a bed of fpices, till the great rising day, while my foul afcends to Abraham's bofom. My heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh alfo fhall reft in hope; for I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he fhall ftand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my fkin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh fhall I fee God: Whom I fhall fee for myself, and mine eyes fhall behold, and not another, though my reins be confumed within me."

"When death appears before my fight

In all his dire array,

Unequal to the dreadful fight,

My courage dies away.

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How fhall I meet this potent foe,
Whose frown my foul alarms?
Dark horror fits upon his brow,
And vict'ry waits his arms.

But fee my glorious Leader nigh!
My Lord, my Saviour lives;
Before him all death's terrors fly;
My fainting heart revives.

Lord, let thy love be my defence,
My fhield for ever near;
Then faith fhall triumph over sense,

And never yield to fear.

Then fhall I meet the dreadful hour,
With fortitude divine;
Suftain'd by thy almighty pow'r,
The conqueft must be mine.

What though fubdu'd this body lies,
Slain in the mortal ftrife;

My fpirit fhall unconquer'd rife

To a diviner life.

Till that illuftrious morning come,

When all thy faints fhall rife,

And, cloth'd in full, immortal bloom,

Attend thee in the skies.

When