The saints everlasting rest

This is that joy which was procured by sorrow; this is that crown which was procured by the cross: my LORD did weep, that now my tears might be wiped away; he did bleed, that I might now rejoice; he was forsaken, that I might not now be forsaken; ⟨p. 378⟩he did then die, that I might now live. This weeping, wounded LORD, shall I behold; this bleeding Saviour shall I see, and live in him that died for me. O free mercy that can exalt so vile a wretch! free to me, though dear to Christ! here must I live with all these saints! O comfortable meeting of my old acquaintance, with whom I prayed, and wept, and suffered; with whom I speak of this day and place! I see the grave could not contain you, the sea and earth must give up their dead; the same love hath redeemed and saved you also: this is not like our cottages of clay, our prisons, or earthly dwellings: this voice of joy is not like our own complainings, our groans, our sighs, our impatient moans; nor this melodious praise like our scorns and revilings, nor like the oaths and curses which we heard on earth: this body is not like the body we had, nor this soul like the soul we had, nor this life like the life that then we lived; we have changed our place, we have changed our state, our clothes, our thoughts, our looks, our language; we have changed our company for the greater part, and the rest of our company is changed itself; before we were weak and despised, but now how glorious! Where are now our different judgments, our divided spirits? Now we are all of one judgment, of one name, of one heart, of one house, and of one glory. O sweet reconcilement! O happy union! which makes us first to be one with Christ, and then one with ourselves! Now our differences shall be dashed in our teeth no more, nor the gospel reproached through our folly. O my soul, thou shalt no more lament the sufferings of the saints; never more condole the church's ruins; never bewail thy suffering friends, nor lie wailing over their death-beds, or their graves: thou shalt never suffer thy old temptations from Satan, the world, or thy own flesh; thy body will no more be such a burden to thee; thy pains and sicknesses are all now cured; thou shalt be troubled with weakness and weariness ⟨p. 379⟩no more; thy head is not now an aching head, nor thy heart now an aching heart; thy hunger and thirst, and cold and sleep, thy labour and study are all gone.