The saints everlasting rest

1. The first affection to be acted, is love; the object of it, is goodness: here then, is the reviving part of thy work: go to thy memory, thy judgment, and thy faith; and from them produce the excellencies of thy rest; take out a copy of the record of the Spirit in scripture, and another of the sentence registered in thy spirit, whereby the transcendent glory of the saints is declared: present these to thy affection of love; open to it the cabinet that contains the ⟨p. 343⟩pearl; show it the promise, and that which it assureth; thou needest not look on heaven through a multiplying glass: open but one casement, that love may look in; give it but a glimpse of the back parts of GOD, and thou wilt find thyself presently in another world: do but speak out, and love can hear: do but reveal these things, and love can see: it is the brutish love of the world that is blind; divine love is exceeding quick-sighted. Let thy faith, as it were, take thy heart by the hand, and show it the sumptuous buildings of thy eternal habitation, and the glorious ornaments of thy Father's house; show it those mansions which Christ is preparing, and display before it the honours of the kingdom: let faith lead thy heart into the presence of GOD, and draw as near as possibly thou canst, and say to it, Behold, the Ancient of Days; the Lord Jehovah, whose name is I AM: this is he who made the worlds with his word; this is the cause of all causes, the spring of action, the fountain of life, the ••rst principle of the creatures' motions▪ who upholds the earth, who ruleth the nations, who disposeth of events, and subdueth his foes; who governeth the depths of the great waters, and boundeth the rage of her swelling waves; who ruleth the winds, and moveth the orbs, and causeth the sun to run its race, and the several planets to know their courses: this is he that loved thee from everlasting, that formed thee in the womb, and gave thee this soul; who brought thee forth, and showed thee the light, and ranked thee with the chief of his earthly creatures; who endued thee with thy understanding, and beautified thee with his gifts; who maintaineth thee with life, and health, and comforts; who gave thee thy preferments, and dignified thee with thy honours, and differenced thee from the most miserable and vilest of men. Here. O here is an object worthy thy love;

1. The first affection to be acted, is love; the object of it, is goodness: here then, is the reviving part of thy work: go to thy memory, thy judgment, and thy faith; and from them produce the excellencies of thy rest; take out a copy of the record of the Spirit in scripture, and another of the sentence registered in thy spirit, whereby the transcendent glory of the saints is declared: present these to thy affection of love; open to it the cabinet that contains the