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MEDITATION XCVIII.

GOD HIS PEOPLE'S INHERITANCE.

Gibraltar Mole, June 6, 1759.

THE priests in Israel were allowed to approach

nearer to God than others, and were enriched with many excellent privileges; yet these favourite ones were to have no possession in the land. Was this because he loved them not like the other tribes, or would show himself unkind to his own? No; it was because he loved them extremely, and would give them no less than himself for their inheritance. Why, then, should it seem hard to me to have little or nothing in this world, who have such a possession as the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth?

But, replies repining Incredulity, "These priests were secured of the tythe, and a certain portion of their sacrifices; now, had I only sufficient for an honest livelihood, I would seek no more." Ah! wicked fears, impious doubts! Is it not in the power of the same Lord to furnish two tables alike? They fed at his altar, at the table of his offerings, that they might ever be present with him. Was not this kindness? I feed at the table of his providence, that I may daily make my prayer to him, "Give us this day our daily bread," and depend upon him. Is not this kindness? Is not the one as sure as the other? A bad season made a thin harvest, consequently the tythe was less. The provider is the same Lord, the promise is the same truth, and all things are still in the same hand. Now, how agreeable and becoming is it, that such as are a peculiar people, a chosen nation, a royal priesthood, as all his saints are, should be de

prived of these creature-enjoyments, which might deprive them of nobler privileges, and more spiritual possessions? It is the wisdom of those that would dwell near God, to be divorced from the world; but since this, in the greatness of our folly, is not our choice, it is good in God, in his infinite wisdom, to confer such kindness on us, as it were against our will; thus keeping us empty-handed of worldly possessions, that we may accept of himself, the better inheritance.

He that is not, though deprived of all things, not only pleased, but transported with this promise, “I am thy possession, I am thine inheritance," has no notion of bliss, nor could the whole world bestowed on that man make him happy. Oh! consummate madness! so to mistake between imaginary and real, shadowy and substantial, transient and eternal things! for this world at best (the experience of all mankind will prove it) is but a common under the curse; but the divine inheritance contains fields of glory, paradises of bliss, rivers of life, oceans of love, scenes of pleasures, heavens of ecstasy, yea, in a word, the plenitude of God.

MEDITATION XCIX.

DISTANCE DIMINISHES VIEWS.

Gibraltar Mole, June 8, 1759.

THINGS at a distance seem vastly less than what they really are. The lofty hill that affords a noble prospect at the foot, lessens so, while we recede from it, that in a little it seems no larger than a mole-hill, and then sinks out of sight.

Now, how true does this hold of spiritual and eternal things! What narrow notions and confined conceptions have we of the world to come! Nothing but the eye of faith, through the telescope of revelation, can glance this after-state; but how often do mists of ignorance darken the eye, and clouds of unbelief obscure the glass! Hence, the intuition is often interrupted, and the view at best falls very far short of what it shall be, when faith resigns to vision in the day of glory. What a perverse opinion have we of the celestial paradise! It is so distant from our sight and affections, that we are apt to think the garden of God no better than a barren desert, and that there is neither fruit nor flower in all the heavenly Eden. We think nothing of the hosannas of the higher house; nothing of the howlings of the lowest hell. What unconcerned views have we of the wrath to come! of the glory that shall be revealed! We dwell at such a distance from the throne of grace, that we are little benefited by the healing beams; and the throne of glory is so far distant, that we behold but little of the heavenly splendours. Alas! like children who peep through the wrong end of the prospect-glass, we conceive a future world to be of no great moment, and we set death at such a distance, that it is almost out of sight! But, were our glances rightly guided, we should believe the one to be all our concern, and behold the other as always at the door. The sun that lights the world, by his great. distance appears to us only as a small globe of fire; but, were he as near as the clouds, his vast bulk. would make an august, an awful appearance; andi wherever we should roll our eye, it would be all one firmament of fire! Even so, how little do we see of

him who kindled up the sun, and lighted all the stars! Though he be not far from every one of us, yet we see him not, who is all things in all! But when our eye is spiritually enlightened, we shall see him in all things, in heaven above, and on earth beneath; in creation and providence; in the scriptures of truth, and in the Son of his love; in the heavenly hosts, and in the church of the first-born; in his own perfections, and in every power of the soul.

No wonder that religion appears ill-favoured and ugly to the men of the world, who have never taken a near look of her countenance and charms. But the nearer we live to the Saviour, the more of his loveliness we shall see, and be the more enamoured; and the more we exercise ourselves in religion, the duties thereof will still be the more amiable and engaging. Now, if glory at this great distance (for what can be more removed from each other, than time and eternity, this and the other world?) be so desirable, so divine, whose very foresight sheds an heaven into the soul, which rejoices with exceeding great joy, in hope of the glory of God! what must it be, when possessed to the full? If the numbered drops that water the fields below be so refreshful, what must that overflowing fulness be in the regions above, that satiates and replenishes the soul? If the Sun of Righteousness shines so bright in the firmament of grace, through all the clouds, where he is but beginning to arise, what must his clear, his unclouded beams be in the firmament of glory, where his meridian is eternal? If this bliss, this happiness, this life, this joy and glory, be accounted by us, while little known, immense, excellent, and infinite, what must it be, when beheld in another light, possessed in a higher capacity, and enjoyed to its extent!

MEDITATION C.

JUBILEE.

Gibraltar Mole, June 12, 1759.

EVERY thing that was written of old was written

for our instruction, on whom the ends of the world are come. Now, Israel, when redeemed from Egyptian bondage, had both a sabbatical year appointed them, and the great jubilee. The first was eyery seventh year, that not only weeks but years might have their Sabbath; and the last when a week of sabbatical years was completed. There was also an ambulatory release (if I may so call it) respecting every individual, when, after six years service, the man-servant and maid-servant were set at liberty. All these Israel, by divine command, observed; and though their deliverance from Egyptian bondage was thereby commemorated, yet it respected a much diviner and more interesting liberty. By one the land was to rest; by another the labourers were enlarged; and by the third the lawful heirs returned to the inheritance of their fathers. And may not this prefigure, that wherever the gospel is believed, the land that reeled to and fro, that was moved exceedingly, because the transgressions of its inhabitants were heavy upon it, is favoured with a kind of rest and repose, in comparison of those places where the beams of the house, and the stones of the wall, cry out to one another? Again, is not here prefigured the deliverance of individuals from the slavery of sin, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God? And, lastly, is not here shadowed out the salvation of the whole world, from the ignorance, idolatry, and darkness, that had overspread all nations?

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