The saints everlasting rest

7. Compare also the mercies which thou shalt have above, with those particular providences which thou ⟨p. 363⟩hast enjoyed thyself. If thou be a christian indeed, thou hast, if not in thy book, yet certainly in thy heart, many favours upon record; the very remembrance and rehearsal of them is sweet; how much more sweet was the actual enjoyment? But all these are nothing to the mercies which are above. Look over the excellent mercies of thy youth, the mercies of thy riper years, the mercies of thy prosperity and of thy adversity, the mercies of thy several places and relations: are they not excellent and innumerable? Canst not thou think on the several places thou hast lived in, and remember that they have each had their several mercies? The mercies of such a place, and such a place; and all of them very rich and engaging mercies? O how sweet was it to thee, when GOD resolved thy last doubts! when he overcame and silenced thy fears and unbelief! when he prevented the inconveniences of thy life, which thy own counsel would have cast thee into! when he eased thy pains, when he healed thy sickness, and raised thee up as from the very grave! Were not all these precious mercies? Alas, these are but small things for thee in the eyes of GOD; he intendeth thee far greater things than these, even such as these are scarce a taste of. It was a choice mercy that GOD hath so notably answered thy prayers, and that thou hast been so oft and evidently a prevailer with him: but O think, are all these so sweet and precious, that my life would have been a perpetual misery without them! Hath his providence lifted me so high on earth, and his merciful kindness made me great? How sweet then will the glory of his presence be! And how high will his eternal love exalt me! And how great shall I be made in communion with his greatness! If my pilgrimage and warfare have such mercies; what shall I find in my home, and in my triumph? If I have had so much in this strange country, at such a distance from him; what shall I have in heaven, in his immediate presence?

7. Compare also the mercies which thou shalt have above, with those particular providences which thou ⟨p. 363⟩hast enjoyed thyself. If thou be a christian indeed, thou hast, if not in thy book, yet certainly in thy heart, many favours upon record; the very remembrance and rehearsal of them is sweet; how much more sweet was the actual enjoyment? But all these are nothing to the mercies which are above. Look over the excellent mercies of thy youth, the mercies of thy riper years, the mercies of thy prosperity and of thy adversity, the mercies of thy several places and relations: are they not excellent and innumerable? Canst not thou think on the several places thou hast lived in, and remember that they have each had their several mercies? The mercies of such a place, and such a place; and all of them very rich and engaging mercies? O how sweet was it to thee, when GOD resolved thy last doubts! when he overcame and silenced thy fears and unbelief! when he prevented the inconveniencies of thy life, which thy own counsel would have cast thee into! when he eased thy pains, when he healed thy sickness, and raised thee up as from the very grave! Were not all these precious mercies? Alas, these are but small things for thee in the eyes of GOD; he intendeth thee far greater things than these, even such as these are scarce a taste of. It was a choice mercy that GOD hath so notably answered thy prayers, and that thou hast been so oft and evidently a prevailer with him: but O think, are all these so sweet and precious, that my life would have been a perpetual misery without them! Hath his providence lifted me so high on earth, and his merciful kindness made me great? How sweet then will the glory of his presence be! And how high will his eternal love exalt me! And how great shall I be made in communion with his greatness! If my pilgrimage and warfare have such mercies; what shall I find in my home, and in my triumph? If I have had so much in this strange country, at such a distance from him; what shall I have in heaven, in his immediate presence?