The four last things viz. death, judgment, heaven, hell, practically considered and applied in…

The dearest Affections of Christ and the Saints in Heaven, are mutual and reflexive. In the Sacred Song, the expressions of Love, Desire, and Joy, borrowed from the espousals of Solomon and his beloved Wife, are, as it were, Characters in the Bark, to be understood in a spiritual Sense, of the Mystical Marriage of Christ and the Church. What endearing intercourse ⟨p. 317⟩is there between the most perfect Lover and his Spouse inspired with the same pure Flam? Here amiable Perfections attract his Eye and Heart: Thou art all fair, my Love, ¹there is no spot in thee. His propriety in the Church is his unvaluable Treasure: My Vineyard which is mine, is ever before me. He repeats the word Mine, in the sweetest and most tender manner. And the Church, with the same harmonious Affections, speaks of Christ. She contemplates in a soft ecstasy his ever-satisfying Beauty. My Beloved is the chiefest of ten thousand, ²he is altogether lovely. She breaks forth in triumph, My Beloved is mine, ³and I am his. By all their expressions of joyful Love and Union, we may ascend in our Thoughts, what are the Joys of Heaven, where the Communion of Christ and the Church is entire and uninterrupted for ever? If Faith and Love of our unseen Saviour produce a Joy unspeakable and glorious, as if Believers were wrapped up to Paradise, or Paradise descended into them, what will the sight and fruition of him? There is as great a difference in degrees between the Joy that flows from ⟨p. 318⟩the assurance and application of Faith, and the Joy from Vision and full Possession, as between the impression of Joy the Forerunner of Christ felt, when he sprang in the Womb at the coming of our Saviour; and his ravishing Joy, when he saw Christ, and pointed him out to his Disciples, Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the Sins of the World.

The dearest Affections of Christ and the Saints in Heaven, are mutual and reflexive. In the Sacred Song, the expressions of Love, Desire, and Joy, borrowed from the espousals of Solomon and his beloved Wife, are, as it were, Characters in the Bark, to be understood in a spiritual Sense, of the Mystical Marriage of Christ and the Church. What endearing entercourse