We lay by our cares and sorrows on these days with our old clothes, to take them up again to morrow, and alas! they are our ordinary week-day habits and it were well if it were only so; but even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and in our sweetest joys we feel such imperfections as threateneth a relapse into our former troubles. But the face of God admitteth no such imperfections in the joy of the beholders; there we shall have joy without either feeling or fear of sorrow; and praises without any mixtures of complaint. Our sweetest love to the Lord of love will feel no bounds, and fear no end. 0 what unspeakable delights will fill that soul that now walks mournfully, and feedeth upon complaints and tears! How the glory of God will make that face to shine for ever, that now looks too dejectedly, and is darkened with griefs, and worn with fears, and daily wears a mourning visage! No trouble can enter into the heavenly Jerusalem : nor is there a mournful countenance in the presence of our King! Self-troubling was the fruit of sin and weakness, of ignorance, mistakes, and passion, and, therefore, is unknown in heaven, being pardoned and laid by with our flesh among the rest of our childish weaknesses and diseases. That poor, afflicted, wounded soul, that breathes in trouble as its daily air, and thinks it is made up of grief and fear, shall be turned into love and joy, and be unspeakably higher in those heavenly delights than ever it was low in sorrow. O blessed face of the most glorious God! O happy presence of our glorified head! O blessed beams of the eternal love, that will continually shine upon us! O blessed work! to behold, to love, to delight, and praise! O blessed company of holy angels, and perfect saints, so perfectly united, so exactly suited, to concord in those felicitating works! Where all these are what sorrow can there be? what relics of distress, or smallest scars of our ancient wounds! Had I but one such friend as the meanest angel in heaven to converse with, how easily could I spare the courts of princes, the popular concourse, the learned academies, and all that the world accounteth pleasure, to live in the sweet and secret converse of such a friend! How delightfully should I hear him discourse of the ravishing love of God, of the glory of his face, the person of our Redeemer, the continued union of the glorified human nature with the divine, and of the head, with all the glorified members, and his influences on his imperfect ones below! Of the dignity, quality, and work of saints and angels, and of the manner of their mutual con

verse. How gladly would I retire from the noise of laughter, the compliments of comic gallants, the clutter and vain-glory of a distracted world, or any of the more mainly inferior delights, to walk with one such heavenly companion! O how the beams of his illuminated intellect would promote my desired illumination! And the flames of his love to the most glorious God would reach my heart; what life and heavenly sweetness there would be in all his speeches! That little of heaven that I have perceived on some of the servants of the Lord, that are conversant above in the life of faith, doth make them more amiable, and their converse much more delectable to me, than all the feastings, music, or merriments in the world. O then what a world of joy and glory will that be, where we shall not only converse with them that have seen the Lord, and are perfected in the beatifical vision and fruition, but also shall ourselves everlastingly behold him, and enjoy him in perfection! That world all true believers see; they see it by faith in the holy glass which the Spirit in the apostles and prophets hath set up and they have the earnest and first-fruits of it themselves, even that Spirit by which they are sealed hereunto; that world we are ready to take possession of; we are almost there; we are but taking our leave of the inhabitants and affairs of earth, and better putting on our heavenly robes, and we are presently there. A few nights more to stay on earth, a few words more to speak to the sons of men, a few more duties to perform, and a few more troublesome steps to pass, will be a small inconsiderable delay. This room will hold you now but an hour longer, and this world but a few hours more, but heaven will be the dwelling-place of saints to all eternity. These faces of flesh that we see to day, we shall see but a few times more, if any; but the face of God we shall see for ever. That glory no dismal times shall darken, that joy no sorrow shall interrupt, no sin shall forfeit, no enemy shall endanger or take from us, no changes shall ever dispossess us of. And should not a believer then rejoice that his name is written in heaven? and that every providence wheels him on, and whether the way be fair or foul it is thither that he is travelling? O sirs! if heaven be better than vanity and vexation; if endless joy be better than the laughter of a child that ends in crying; and if God be better than a delusory world, you have then greater matters set before you to be the matter of your joy than prosperity and success, or any thing that flesh and blood delights in.

And this being so, I am next, in faithfulness to your souls, obliged to call you to inquire, whether the rejoicing of this day, and the rejoicing of your lives, do here begin? Is God the beginning and the end of all? O that the Lord would awaken you to perceive, in all your mirth, how nearly it concerneth you to know first whether your names are written in heaven; and whether your chiefest joy be fetched from thence.

Alas! sirs, it is a most pitiful sight to see men frisk about in jollity, with the marks of death and wrath upon them; and to see men so franticly merry in their sin, as to forget the misery that will so quickly mar their mirth; and to see men live as quietly and pleasantly as if all were well with them, when they have taken no successful care for their precious souls, nor made any considerable sure provision for their endless life! Poor sinner! the Lord who sent me on this message to thee, knows that I envy thee not thy mirth or pleasure, but only would have it better for thee, or have thee set thy mind on better. But let me so far interrupt thee in thy mirth, as to ask thee whether thou art sure of heaven? Or, at least, whether thou hast given diligence to make it sure? (2 Peter i, 10.) If this night thy soul be called away, canst thou truly say that thou art an heir of life, and hast laid up thy treasure there beforehand? If thou say that thou hopest well, and no man can do more, and thus dost desperately cast thy everlasting life upon a careless venture, I must tell thee first that assurance may be bad, Would God bid us rejoice that our names are written in heaven, if it were a thing that could not by any means be known? Would he bid us give diligence to make our calling and election sure, if it were a thing that could not by any diligence be tatained? And I must add, that presumption is no sign of a safe condition. It shall not go well with you because you imagine it shall go well. A man in a dropsy or consumption will not live by saying that he hopes he shall not die. Yea, more, I must add, that a careless venturousness is a mark of misery. For a man that valueth God and his salvation, cannot put off a matter of such eternal consequence so slightly and disregardfully. And a fear and care about your salvation would be a far better sign. For the most part they are safest that fear their danger, and they are in the saddest case that are never sad at the consideration of their case. It is not your bold and confident conceits that will open heaven to you, and therefore, I beseech you, presently look out for surer grounds of peace than these.

If you say, How can it be known to me whether my name be written in heaven or not? I shall briefly, but satisfactorily, answer it.

In general, if thou know that thou art one that God hath promised heaven to, thou mayest know thy title, which is meant by the writing of thy name in heaven, and thou mayest know that this promise shall be made good.

More particularly, 1. If thou hast had such an effectual sight of the vanity of earth, and of the heavenly felicity, that heaven hath the pre-eminence in thy practical estimation and choice, and thou hast resolved that heaven or nothing shall be thy happiness, and art so far at a point with all things under the sun, as that thou art resolved to stick closer to Christ than unto them, and whatever it cost thee to take the fruition of God for ever as thy portion; if, upon consideration of the difference between heaven and earth, God and the creatures, eternity and time, thou hast heartily devoted thyself to God, aud art willing to be his servant upon the terms that he inviteth thee on, thou mayest be assured that thy name is written in heaven. (Matt. vi. 19, 21, and xvi. 24-26, and xiii. 45, 46; Luke xviii. 33.)

But if earth be the place of thy highest estimation and choice, where thou placest thy chief affections, and which thou adherest to more resolutely than to God, and which thou wilt not leave whatever thou lose by it, then, as earth hath thy heart, so earth is thy treasure, and thy name is not written in heaven, but in the dust.

2. If the obtaining of heaven be the principal part of thy care and business, the principal work which thou mindest in the work, it is certain that thy name is written in heaven: (Col. iii. 1-4:) otherwise not.

3. If, finding thyself lost and filthy in thy sin, thou see the necessity and sufficiency of Christ, and, being desirous of his graco and righteousness, dost unfeignedly take him for thy Saviour and Lord, and give up thyself to be healed, and justified, and saved by him, as the only physician of souls, thou art then his member, and thy name is written in heaven. (Job. i. 12, and iii. 16, 18.)

4. If the heavenly nature be most amiable in thine eyes, and the heavenly life be it that thou most desirest; if thou hadst rather be holy than be unholy, and hadst rather perfectly obey the Lord, than live in sin, and longest to be better, and

studiest to live in obedience to the Lord, thy name is in heaven, and thither thou art passing, and it will be thy reward. But if thou love not holiness, but hadst rather be excused from it, and live in thy sins, thou art as yet no heir of heaven. (Job iii. 19; and xii. 26; Psalm i. and exix.)

5. If thy name be written in heaven, thou hast a special love to the heirs of heaven. And the more of heaven thou findest in their hearts and lives, the more amiable they are unto thee, and the sweeter is their converse. (Job iii. 14; Psalm xv. 4.)

I shall name no more. These evidences are sure. By these you may know, while you sit here in these seats, yea, if you lay in the darkest dungeon, that you are the heirs of heaven, and your names are there.

But where there is no such work, no high estimation of heaven, and resolution for it, no mortification or conquest of the world, no prevalent care and diligence for heaven, no resignation of the soul to Christ, that by faith and holiness we might follow him to that glory, no love to holiness, and no delight in the heirs of heaven, such persons are yet aliens to the heavenly nature and inheritance, and cannot rejoice that their names are written in heaven.

And now I have set the glass before you, I earnestly entreat you that you will here seriously view the complexion of your souls. It more nearly concerneth you to know whether your names are written in heaven, and where it is that you must dwell for ever, than to know how to manage your trades and business, or to know whether you shall stir from this place alive, or ever see another day. O sirs, take heed of living in self-deceit till your trying and recovering time is past! This is it that your enemy aims at; he will do all that malice and subtlety can do to keep such matters from your sober thoughts, or to make you groundlessly presume that you are safe, or securely to cast your souls upon a desperate venture, under pretence of trusting in Christ, till he hath you where he would have you, and then he will himself take off the veil, and let you know that you had time and light to have acquainted you with your disease and misery, while you might have had a free, and sure, and full remedy. Then you shall know that it was along of your self-deceit if you would not understand and believe in time, that if you lived after the flesh, you should die, (Rom. viii. 13,) and that it is the pure in heart that shall see God. (Matt. v. S.) Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not