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HEAVEN OPENED; 
 
 on, 
 
 A BRIEF AND PLAIN DISCOVERY 
 
 THE RICHES OF GOD'S COVENANT OF GRACE. 
 
 BY REV. RICHARD ALLEINE, 
 A. D. 1665. 
 
 RBVIKP A.XD GOMIWHAT ABRIDGKIX 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 
 

 The Rev. Richard Alleine, the able author of this 
 treatise, having published an excellent work enti- 
 tled "Vindiciae Pietatis," was requested to embody 
 into it a precious gem exhibiting " the Riches of 
 the Covenant of Grace, and the Believer's Triumph," 
 from the pen of his brother the Rev. Joseph Alleine, 
 author of the " Alarm to the Unconverted." The 
 result was that his meditations on the high theme 
 produced this glowing, spiritual, and practical treatise, 
 of which the gem from his brother constitutes chapters 
 14 and 15. 
 
 In the present edition, various antiquated or doubt- 
 ful phrases or sentences have been dropped, and a 
 few paragraphs on a single point which might give 
 offence to some evangelical Christians, have been 
 omitted. The headings and subdivisions of the chap- 
 ters have been made more distinct, and four very 
 short chapters on related topics are now united in 
 chapter 5. The treatise, says the author, is " fol- 
 lowed with my prayers that the good land, whereof 
 some clusters are here presented to thee, may be 
 thine inheritance. See and take." 
 
 347392 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction, 7 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 God himself granted in the Covenant, to be our Friend, Portion, 
 Sun, Shield, 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Christ in the Covenant. As the light of life; the Lord our right- 
 eousness; our Lord and King; our Head and Husband, . . 29 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Spirit in the Covenant. As a Spirit of wisdom and revela- 
 tion, holiness and sanctification, truth and direction, comfort 
 and consolation, 42 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The earth in the Covenant. The good things of the earth ; the 
 evil things of the earth, or the cross, 59 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The angels of light — the powers of darkness — death — the king- 
 dom, in the Covenant, 82 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 A new heart in the Covenant, 93 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 A heart to know the Lord in the Covenant, 102 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 One heart in the Covenant, 120 
 
 O A r* 
 
 47392 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 A heart of flesh in the Covenant, 148 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 A heart to love the Lord in the Covenant, 172 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 A heart to fear the Lord in the Covenant, 193 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 An obedient heart in the Covenant, 227 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 An enduring Covenant, , . 255 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Riches of the Covenant, or the exceeding great and precious prom- 
 ises. By Rev. Joseph Alleine, 267 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The believer's triumph in God's Covenant, or the various con- 
 flicts and glorious conquests of faith over unbelief. By Rev. 
 Joseph Alleine, 305 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 To the unconverted, with a form of words expressing man's 
 covenanting with God, 329 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 To God's covenant people, 356 
 
 Directions as to Prayer, 374 
 
HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Good news from heaven ! the Day-spring from on 
 high hath visited this undone world ! After a deluge 
 of sin and misery, behold the bow in the cloud. The 
 Lord God has made and established a new covenant, 
 and this it is that has cast the first beam on the dark 
 state of lost and fallen man, and has brought life and 
 immortality to light. This covenant is the hope of 
 sinners, the riches of saints, the magna charta of the 
 city of God : the forfeited lease of eternity renewed ; 
 God's deed of gift, wherein he has, on fair conditions, 
 granted sinners their lives, and settled upon his saints 
 an everlasting inheritance. 
 
 Hear, ye forlorn captives, who have sold your- 
 selves to eternal bondage, spoiled yourselves of all 
 your glory, sealed yourselves up under everlasting 
 misery. You are dead in your sins, guilty before 
 God, under wrath, under a curse, bound over to eter- 
 nal vengeance. But behold, there is yet hope in 
 Israel concerning this thing; the Lord God has had 
 compassion upon you, has opened a way for you to 
 
tS HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 escape out of all this misery and bondage. Lift up 
 the hands that hang down, strengthen the trembling 
 knees : an ark, an ark has (rod prepared, in which is 
 salvation from the flood ; a covenant, a new covenant 
 has he made and established, which, if you lay hold 
 on it, will recover all you have lost, ransom you from 
 death, redeem you from hell, and advance you to a 
 more sure and blessed condition than your original 
 state from which you have fallen. This is the hope 
 of sinners ; this is the heritage of the servants of the 
 Lord. 
 
 Glorious tidings, good news indeed ! But what is 
 this covenant ? Or what is there that is given and 
 granted therein? "Why, in sum, there is all that 
 heaven and earth can afford, all that can be needed 
 or desired ; and this, by a firm and irrevocable deed , 
 made over, and made sure to all who will sincerely 
 embrace it. 
 
 Particularly, God has in his covenant granted and 
 made over Himself; his Son; his Spirit; the earth; 
 the angels of light ; the powers of darkness; death; 
 the kingdom — all the means of salvation. 
 
GOD IN THE COVENANT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GOD IN THE COVENANT. 
 
 The Lord God has made over himself in this 
 covenant. This is the great and comprehensive prom- 
 ise: "I will be their God." Jer. 31 : 33. I am God ; 
 and what I am is all theirs : myself, my glorious 
 incomprehensible essence, all my glorious attributes, 
 my omnipotence, my omniscience, my wisdom, my 
 righteousness, my holiness, my all-sufficiency, my 
 faithfulness. I will make over myself to them to be 
 henceforth and for ever theirs : their Friend, their 
 Portion, their Sun, and their Shield. 
 
 I. Their Friend. I was angry, but mine anger 
 is turned away; I was an adversary, I had a contro- 
 versy with them, but I am reconciled ; I have found 
 a ransom, the contest is settled, my wrath is ap- 
 peased, I am their friend : "I will forgive their in- 
 iquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jer. 
 31 : 34. I will take away their iniquity and receive 
 them graciously; "I will heal their backsliding, I 
 will love them freely ; for mine anger is turned away 
 from them." Hosea 14 : 4. Fury is not now in 
 me ; favor and friendship, love and good-will is all 
 they may henceforth expect from me. " Glory be 
 to God on high, on earth peace, good-will towards 
 men !" 
 
 Sinners, what is there to be feared, what is there 
 1* 
 
10 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 dreadful, but an angry God ? Thence is sorrow 
 and anguish, thence is famine, and pestilence, and 
 sword ; thence is death and hell : he does not know 
 what the wrath of God means, who does not see in 
 it all the plagues of earth, and all the vengeance 
 of eternal fire. Whatever terrors or torments have 
 seized upon thee — upon thy body, upon thy soul; 
 whatever losses, crosses, vexations, afflictions, plague 
 thee on this earth ; whatever horror and anguish, 
 whatever amazing, confounding torments are like 
 to meet thee and feed upon thee in the lake be- 
 neath, thou mayest say of all, This is the wrath of 
 God. When the Lord says to thee, Fury is not in 
 me, he says also, Fear shall be no more to thee. The 
 hour the Lord saith, I am thy friend, death and hell 
 vanish ; the day is broken, the shadows flee away. 
 This is one thing included in the promise, "I am 
 their God" — I am their friend. 
 
 II. Their Portion. Fury ceases ; fears vanish ; 
 friendship, favor, life are granted. But what shall 
 the soul have to live upon ? Man was never intended 
 to be self-sufficient ; he was created under a neces- 
 sity of dependence on something without him, not 
 only for the continuance of his being, but for the 
 comfort of his being ; he cannot live upon the air, 
 though he hath escaped the fire : the soul of man is 
 too big for all the world ; like Noah's dove, it can find 
 no rest below ; and where shall it find it, or on what 
 shall it. subsist? Why, God will not starve his 
 friends ; he who has saved their lives will find them 
 a livelihood ; he himself will be their portion, their 
 
GOD IN THE COVENANT. 11 
 
 maintenance, and their heritage for ever. As their 
 deliverance is from him, so their dependence shall he 
 on him ; he is their substance, and on him is their 
 subsistence ; he writes himself " the portion of 
 Jacob," Jer. 10, 16, and as such his saints accept 
 him, " The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance," 
 Psa. 16 : 5 ; he is their bread and their water, their 
 stock and their store. The Lord gives portions to his 
 enemies : not only the young ravens, but the old lions 
 and tigers ; the worst of men seek their meat from 
 God ; they " have their portion in this life, whose 
 belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure." Psa. 17 : 14. 
 They have their portion : some of them have their 
 portion in the city, others a portion in the field ; to 
 some he gives a portion of gold, to others a portion of 
 worldly glory, to others a portion of pleasures ; with 
 all these he deals as the father of the prodigal, he 
 gives them their portion and sends them away. But 
 while he gives portions to these, He is the portion of 
 his saints : he makes over and settles himself upon 
 them, as their inheritance for ever : they shall never 
 be in want while there is fulness in him to supply 
 them ; they shall never be in straits while there is 
 power in him to relieve them : all their wants are 
 upon him. 
 
 The Lord is their portion, and he is a- sufficient 
 portion. " With thee is the fountain of life." Psa. 
 36. " In thy presence is fulness of joy." Psa. 16. 
 The Lord God is all things to them: " In my father's 
 house there is bread enough, and to spare." He that 
 has all things below God, but not God, has nothing; 
 
12 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 he that has nothing besides God, but has God, has all 
 things ; enough and to spare ; filling up, and running 
 over : there is still more •, to be had, if more could be 
 held. The soul has never enough till it has more than 
 enough, is never full till it runs over — never full 
 while it can contain and measure and number all 
 that it has : this is its judgment of all. In God is 
 enough for filling up, and running over ; enough there 
 is in him to fill up all their faculties. 
 
 Their understandings. There are infinitely beau- 
 tiful perfections on which we may gaze and fill our 
 eyes with unspeakable delight ; but when we have 
 looked the furthest into them, when the most search- 
 ing eye, the most intense thoughts have searched and 
 run their utmost, they come not near the end ; they 
 shall look, and look, and see, and see, and when they 
 can reach no further, then they shall wonder at those 
 treasures of light and beauty that are still beyond 
 them. Admiration is the understanding full, and 
 running over : when it is nonplussed, and can reach 
 no further, then it wonders at what it perceives still 
 beyond it. The apostle tells us that the gospel, 
 which presents God in flesh, hath in it a height, and 
 depth, and length, and breadth, Eph. 3 : 18, and I 
 may tell you from him, it is a height without top, a 
 depth without bottom, a length without limits, a 
 breadth without bounds ; in one word, immensity ; 
 unmeasurable, and therefore unspeakable, unsearch- 
 able glory. While the blind world deride and despise 
 the portion of the saints, looking on God and all the 
 things of God as shallow things that have no depth 
 
GOD IN THE COVENANT. 13 
 
 in them, they will be found by those who search into 
 them, to be deep things that have no bottom, " The 
 deep things of God." 1 Cor. 2 : 10. All the raptures 
 and ecstasies of the glorious joy of the saints in the 
 other world break in upon them from their vision of 
 God. 
 
 There is enough to fill up their wills and affec- 
 tions : there is infinite goodness, incomprehensible 
 love, marvellous loving-kindness, unspeakable de- 
 lights, glorious joys. " Oh, how great is thy good- 
 ness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear 
 thee !" Psa. 31 : 19. " Oh, how great is thy good- 
 ness :" it is the voice of exultation, an admiring 
 word ; great beyond expression, great beyond imagi- 
 nation. " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
 have entered into the heart of man the things which 
 God hath prepared for them that love him :" it is the 
 voice of a heart leaping for joy, rejoicing in hope of 
 the glory of God which is laid up for his saints. 
 "Laid up; where?" Why, laid up in himself: that 
 is the fountain, that is the treasury; there is love, 
 there is joy, there is satisfaction ; our life is hid with 
 Christ in God. love the Lord, all ye his saints. 
 bless the Lord, all ye his saints. He that is mighty 
 has done for you great tilings : " Since the beginning 
 of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by 
 the ear, neither hath the eye seen, God, besides 
 thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth 
 for him." Isaiah 64 : 4. Or, as it is in the margin, 
 " There hath not been heard or seen a God besides 
 thee, which doeth so for him that waiteth for him." 
 
14 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 There is enough to fill up our time: there is 
 admiring work, and praising work for ever ; there is 
 matter for love and joy to live and feed upon for 
 ever ; endless praises, eternal pleasures, everlasting 
 rejoicings, " everlasting joy," " pleasures for ever- 
 more." There is enough to reward all our labors, 
 and repay all our expenses ; there is a full reward. 
 " Fear not, Abraham; I am thy shield and thy ex- 
 ceeding great reward." Gen. 15:1. Christian, thou 
 shalt not serve the Lord for naught, he will reward 
 thee : and it is little in his eyes that thou shouldest 
 serve him for corn and for wine, for sheep and for 
 oxen, yea, for the crowns and kingdoms of this world ; 
 these shall not be thy hire; the everlasting God will 
 be thy reward, thine exceeding great reward ; exceed- 
 ing not thy work only, but thy very thoughts also. 
 A little is too much for thy earnings, but the whole 
 world is too little for his bounty. Less than nothing 
 might satisfy for thy labors, but less than himself 
 will not satisfy for his love : the eternal God will be 
 thy reward. Oh, the unsearchable riches of the poor- 
 est of saints. Poor ; what, and yet hast a God ? In 
 want ; what, and yet hast all things ? Is he God 
 that is thine, and art thou still in straits ? Would a 
 few sheep and oxen, vineyards and olive-yards make 
 thee a rich man, and can God leave thee a beggar ? 
 Is not a pearl more than pebbles ; milk and wine 
 better than mud and water ? Men use to say, Money 
 is all things — meat, and drink, and clothes, and 
 friends, and land — virtually all things. And is not 
 God more than money ? Sure he has said to his gold, 
 
GOD IN THE COVENANT. 15 
 
 " Thou art my god," who cannot say, Let God be 
 mine, and then go thou thy way. Hast thou a God, 
 and yet art thou poor ? Nay, further, would the fat- 
 ness of the earth and the fulness of heaven, if thou 
 hadst both, be enough for thee ? Would corn, and 
 wine, and houses, and lands, and pleasures here, and 
 eternal life hereafter suffice thee ? And is not God 
 alone as much as all this ? Dost thou want star- 
 light when thou hast the sun ? Is the ocean more 
 full for the rivers that run into it ? Or would there 
 be any want there, if all these were stopped and dry ? 
 Can they contribute to it which have their rise from 
 it? Has the Almighty God a self-sufficiency, and 
 has he not enough to satisfy a poor worm ? Is he 
 blessed in himself, and may est not thou be blessed in 
 him? He that thinks any thing less than God will 
 suffice, understands not a soul ; and he that wants 
 any thing more, understands not God. God alone is 
 as* much as God and all the world ; and this is the 
 heritage of the servants of the Lord, God is their 
 portion. 
 
 If enough be not yet said, look awhile, and con- 
 sider whence thou art taken up into this blessedness. 
 What hast thou left! What an exchange hast thou 
 made! Thou wert taken with the prodigal from the 
 trough, with the beggar from the dunghill, yea, as a 
 brand out of the burning ; there thy lot had fallen. 
 Oh, where hast thou left the rest of the world ? Bless- 
 ing themselves in vanity, pleasing themselves with 
 shadows and apparitions, feeding on ashes, warming 
 themselves at their painted fire, sporting themselves 
 
1G HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 with the wind, rejoicing in a thing of naught : their 
 crackling thorns, their flattering pleasures, their drink- 
 ings and dancings and roarings, their horses and their 
 dogs, their hawks and their harlots ; making a shift 
 awhile to make merry with these while they are 
 hastening to the pit, to that fire and brimstone which 
 is the portion of their cup. 
 
 Consider, what is the chaff to the wheat? What 
 is a comet to the sun ? What is the night to the day ? 
 What are bubbles and children's toys to the durable 
 riches ? What are things that are not, to him whose 
 name is I AM ? But Oh, what are death and wrath 
 and the curse, which were once all thy heritage, to 
 that life and love and peace and joy and glory, which 
 thou now possessest in that Grod who is thy portion ? 
 What a poor wretch wert thou once, when thou hadst 
 nothing but sin and shame and misery that thou 
 couldst call thine own. These thou mightest call 
 thine — sin was thine, woe was thine, death and fhe 
 grave and the curse and the pit were thine own ; but 
 that was all thou hadst : thy good things thou livedst 
 upon, had they been of ever so great value, were none 
 of thine ; thy house and thy lands are none of thine ; 
 thy gold and thy silver and thy substance are none 
 of thine ; they are all but borrowed, or committed to 
 thee as a steward, and all to be given up on demand ; 
 and what thou hast spent of them thou must be 
 brought to a reckoning for : a poor wretch thou wert, 
 and hadst just nothing; for all that thou hadst was 
 none of thine. 
 
 But now, God is thine own, all that he is, all that 
 
GOD IN THE COVENANT. 17 
 
 he has is thine ; never couldst thou lay such a claim 
 to any thing thou possessedst; to house, or wife, or 
 child, or body, or soul, as now thou rnayest to thy 
 God. God. is as surely thine as thou art thyself: as 
 sure as thou art a man, thou hast a God. 
 
 Come, Christian, here is now thy portion ; the 
 light of thine eyes, the lifting up of thy head, the joy 
 of thy heart, the strength of thy bones, thy stock, thy 
 treasure, thy life, thy health, thy peace, thy rest, thine 
 all : "Whom have I in heaven, but thee? and there is 
 none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh 
 and my heart faileth ; but God is the strength of ral- 
 licart, and my portion for ever." Psalm 73 : 25, 26. 
 Here is thy portion, know it for thy good, take it for 
 thine own ; live upon it, and. live up to it. 
 
 1. Live upon thy portion. Here thou mayest feed, 
 herein thou mayest rejoice, herein thou mayest bless 
 thyself for ever. "Let him that blesseth himself on 
 the earth, bless himself in the God. of truth." Let 
 him that rejoiceth in the earth, rejoice in the God of 
 truth. Let the strong man live upon his strength, let 
 the wise man live upon his wits, let the rich man live 
 upon his lands ; but come thou, live upon thy God ; 
 come, enjoy God and thy soul ; enjoy God in thy soul, 
 enjoy thy soul in God. Thou hast possession, what 
 should, hinder thy fruition? In fruition, the schools 
 tell us, there are three things which go to make it up: 
 knowledge, delight, and satisfaction. 
 
 Knowledge. According to the clearness or cloudi- 
 ness of our apprehensions of any good, we more or 
 less take the pleasure or comfort of it ; and therefore 
 
18 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 the full fruition of God is not till at last, when we 
 shall know as we are known. Here we see as but in 
 a glass, and darkly; we know but in part, and while 
 we know but in part, we love but in part and joy but 
 in part ; the dimness of our sight makes an abatement 
 of our joy. When the veil shall be taken away, when 
 we shall come to see face to face, then we shall fully 
 feel what it is to have a God. Christian, know thou 
 the God of thy fathers ; the more thou knowest, the 
 more thou hast. 
 
 The carnal world enjoy not God at all ; God is not 
 known in their tabernacles : in Judah is God known, 
 his name is great in Israel ; at Salem is his taber- 
 nacle, and his dwelling in Zion. But what of God in 
 Edom, or Ammon, or Amalek, or Egypt; those dark 
 regions wherein neither sun nor star appears ? Leave 
 them to their dunghill gods, to the gardens which 
 they have desired and the oaks which they have cho- 
 sen. The Lord is before thee, know it for thy good. 
 Study thy God, Christian ; roll over his sweetness in 
 thy mind, as thou dost the sweet morsel in thy mouth ; 
 see what he is, and what thou hast laid up in him ; 
 read over daily his glorious names ; walk through 
 those chambers of his presence, his glorious attri- 
 butes. Look into the chamber of his power, and see 
 what thou hast laid up for thee there. Go into the 
 chamber of his wisdom, and see what that will afford 
 thee. Look into the chambers of his goodness, mercy, 
 faithfulness, holiness, and behold what treasures are 
 laid up for thee in each of these. Enter into thy 
 chambers, they are all thine ; let thine eye be there, 
 
GOD IN THE COVENANT. 19 
 
 let thy meditation be there, let thy soul be there every 
 day; there is thy portion, search it out and know it 
 for thy good. 
 
 Delight. Fruition is taking the pleasure of what 
 we have. We cannot enjoy what we do not love, and 
 love implies delight. We cannot enjoy that wherein 
 we do not joy. "Delight thyself in the Lord." Psa. 
 37:4. "I sat down under his shadow with great 
 delight." Sol. Song 2:3. If his shadow be so pleas- 
 ant, what will his sunbeams be? "0 taste, and see 
 that the Lord is good." Psa. 34 : 8. Our senses help 
 our understandings ; we cannot by the most rational 
 discourse perceive what the sweetness of honey is ; 
 taste it, and you shall perceive it. "His fruit was 
 sweet unto my taste." Dwell in the light of the 
 Lord, and let thy soul be always ravished with his 
 love. Get out the marrow and the fatness that thy 
 portion yields thee. Let fools learn by beholding thy 
 face, how dim their blazes are to the brightness of 
 thy day. 
 
 Let thy delights in God be pure and unmixed 
 delights. Let thy spirit be so filled with God, and 
 so raised above carnal joys, that it be no damp upon 
 thee to have nothing but God. Live above, in that 
 serene air which is not defiled with earthly exhala- 
 tions. Sickly bodies, and so sickly souls cannot live 
 in too pure an air. Be so wholly spiritual, that spir- 
 itual joys, spiritual delights may be suited to thee 
 and sufficient for thee. Do not say, I want the joy 
 of the vintage and of t the harvest ; I want the joy of 
 the bridegroom and of the bride ; I want the sound of 
 
20 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 the millstones and the light of the candle, to make 
 my comfort full. Let the joy of the Lord be thy 
 strength and thy life ; say with the prophet, " Al- 
 though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall 
 fruit be in the vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail, 
 and the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be 
 cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the 
 stalls ; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the 
 God of my salvation." Hab. 3 : 17, 18. 
 
 Satisfaction. The quiet, or resting of the soul in 
 its portion. Therefore the schools say that the last 
 end only is the proper object of fruition. The carnal 
 world, whatever they possess, cannot be said properly 
 to enjoy it, though it be their god that they live upon; 
 as their drag- is thsir god, their gold is their god, their 
 plough and their plenty and their pleasure is their 
 god ; they burn incense to them, yet they cannot en- 
 joy them; there is no rest for them in their god. 
 "What man is he that feareth the Lord? his soul 
 shall dwell at ease." Psa. 25 : 12, 13. In the original 
 it is, "shall lodge in goodness." The soul is never at 
 ease while it is in want, every want wrings it; it 
 can never take up its lodging where it cannot take its 
 rest. His soul shall be at ease ; shall lodge, that is, 
 shall take up its rest in the goodness of God : when 
 we find rest in our beds, then we enjoy them. Is thy 
 soul lodged in God ? enjoy thy lodging. " Return 
 to thy rest, my soul, for the Lord hath dealt boun- 
 tifully with thee." As it was said to, so let it be said 
 by the church and every saint, " This is my rest, here 
 will I dwell for ever." Here thou mayest find rest 
 
GOD IN THE COVENANT. 21 
 
 when thou hast no other rock to lean upon ; thou 
 ma vest be at rest in thy God, in thy most restless 
 state, in a weary land, in a barren wilderness, in a 
 tempestuous ocean. However it was in the vision of 
 the prophet, yet thou may est say, If the wind rise, 
 the Lord is in the wind ; if after the wind an earth- 
 quake, the Lord is in the earthquake ; if after the 
 earthquake a fire, the Lord God is in the fire ; and, 
 wherever thou findest God, thou mayest find rest. If 
 thou find God in a wilderness, thou wilt find rest in 
 the wilderness; if thou find God in the earthquake, or 
 the tempest, or the fire, even there also thy soul shall 
 find rest. When thou canst not rest in thy bed, nor 
 in thy house, nor in thy land, thou mayest still rest 
 in thy God. Say, Christian, say again, "Return to 
 thy rest, my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bounti- 
 fully with thee." Though my helps fail me, and my 
 friends fail me, and my flesh and my heart fail me, 
 " God is the strength of my heart and my portion for 
 ever. This is my rest, here will I dwell for ever." 
 
 To these I might add a fourth thing wherein fru- 
 ition consists — the making- use of our portion. He 
 enjoys, who uses what he has. We enjoy our por- 
 tion, when we have a power and heart to make use 
 of it on all occasions. " I am thine, soul ; come and 
 make use of me as thou wilt, thou mayest freely; I 
 have nothing that is not for thee ; thou mayest freely 
 come to my store ; and the oftener, the better welcome." 
 Have thou not a God lying by thee to no purpose ; let 
 not thy God be as others' gods, serving only for a 
 show. Have not a name, only that thou hast a God : 
 
22 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 since he allows thee, having such a Friend, use him 
 daily: "My God shall supply all your wants;" never 
 want while thou hast a God, never fear or faint while 
 thou hast a God : go to thy treasure, and take what- 
 ever thou needest; there are bread and clothes, and 
 health and life, and all that thou needest. 0, Chris- 
 tian, learn the divine skill to make God thine all, to 
 find in thy God bread and water and health and 
 friends and ease ; he can supply thee with all these ; 
 or, which is better, he can be, instead of all these, thy 
 food, thy clothing, thy friend, thy life. All this he 
 has said to thee in this one word, "I am thy God;" 
 and hereupon thou mayest say, I have no husband, 
 and yet I am no widow; my Maker is my husband. 
 I have no father nor friend, and yet I am neither fa- 
 therless nor friendless ; my God is both my Father and 
 my Friend. I have no child; but is not he better to 
 me than ten children ? I have no house, but yet I 
 have a home ; I have made the Most High my habita- 
 tion. I am left alone, but yet I- am not alone ; my 
 God is good company for me ; with him I can walk, 
 with him I can take sweet counsel, find sweet repose ; 
 at my lying down, at my rising up, while I am in 
 the house, as I walk by the way, my God is ever with 
 me ; with him I travel, I dwell, I lodge, I live, and 
 shall live for ever. 
 
 2. Live up to your privilege. Live according to 
 your rank and quality, according to your riches laid 
 up for you in God. The rich men of this world live 
 like rich men, they sort themselves with persons of 
 their own quality, attend on the courts of princes, are 
 
GOD IN THE COVENANT. 23 
 
 employed about the palace ; you may read their 
 estates in the whole way of their life ; they wear 
 them on their hacks, spread their tables with them ; 
 they live sumptuously, and fare delicately. Chris- 
 tians, feed not on ashes or husks, you have better 
 meat ; you have milk and honey, marrow and fat- 
 ness, the hidden manna, the bread that comes down 
 from heaven, the water of life ; you have blessed priv- 
 ileges, precious promises, lively hopes, living comforts, 
 glorious joys, the fountain of life to feed your souls 
 upon : come eat, friends ; drink, yea, drink abun- 
 dantly, beloved ; outfare the rich man, who fared 
 sumptuously every day ; you have enough to main- 
 tain it ; let every day be a glad day, a feast-day with 
 you. 
 
 Let your clothing be according to your feeding. 
 Be clothed with the sun ; put on the Lord Jesus. 
 "The King's daughter is" — and so let all the King's 
 sons be — "all glorious within;" let their clothing be 
 of wrought gold. Be clothed with humility, put on 
 love, bowels of compassion, gentleness, meekness; put 
 on the garments of salvation. 
 
 Let your company and converse be according to 
 your clothing. Live among the excellent, among 
 the generation of the just. Get you up to the "gen- 
 eral assembly and church of the first-born," to that 
 "innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits 
 of just men made perfect." Live in the courts of the 
 great King, behold his face, wait at his throne, bear 
 his name, show forth his virtues, set forth his praises, 
 advance his honor, uphold his interest : let vile per- 
 
24 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 sons and vile ways be contemned in your eyes ; be 
 of more raised spirits than to be companions with 
 them. Learn hence a holy elevation of spirit. Re- 
 gard not their society nor their scorns, their flatteries 
 or their frowns ; rejoice not with their joys, fear not 
 their fear, care not for their care, feed not on their 
 dainties ; get you up from among them, to your coun- 
 try, to your city, where no unclean tiling can enter 
 or annoy. Live by faith, in the power of the Spirit, 
 in the beauty of holiness, in the hope of the gospel, in 
 the joy of your God, in the magnificence, and yet the 
 humility, of the children of the great King. 
 
 III. He is their Sun. He will discover and make 
 manifest to them the riches and glory of their portion. 
 He has granted them himself for their portion, and he 
 will reveal and make manifest to them what a portion 
 he is. He will make manifest both the blessedness 
 they shall enjoy in him, and the way to it, and also 
 the dangers that lie in the way. "The Lord God is 
 a sun." Psalm 84 : 11. The sun is the light of the 
 world, it discovers itself and all things else. We can- 
 not see the glory of the sun but by its own light ; the 
 moon, the planets, the firmament, and all this lower 
 world would disappear, if the sun withdrew its light. 
 Beauty and deformity, safety and danger, the right 
 way and the wrong, are all brought to view by the 
 light of the sun ; the sunlight makes the day ; night 
 is spread over the world when the sun is set. So God 
 is glorious ; but who would be ever the wiser, did not 
 this glory shine? u In thy light shall we see light." 
 Psa. 36 : 9. "Why is the glorious God apprehended, 
 
GOD IN THE COVENANT. 25 
 
 understood, admired, by so few among the sons of 
 men ? Because he is out of sight ; the sun is not 
 risen upon them, nor shines unto them : they have 
 moonlight or starlight, some dimmer reflections of tins 
 glory at second-hand ; but they see not the sun. 
 
 What is the reason that truth and falsehood, good 
 and evil, substances and shadows, things perishing 
 and things permanent, are no better distinguished ? 
 What is the reason that men are so mistaken and 
 misguided in their judgments, in their choice, in their 
 way; that they are at such a loss, such wanderers 
 from their bliss ? AVhat is the reason that men's own 
 sparks, the light of their own fires, their candlelight 
 or torchlight, their fleshly imaginations, their carnal 
 prosperity, their pleasures, their ease, their earthly 
 glory, and their carnal joys that hence flash up to 
 them, are so adored and admired by them ? 0, they 
 see not the sun. God is out of sight ; and thence are 
 all their foolish mistakes and miscarriages. God will 
 be a sun to his saints. "Thy sun shall no luore go 
 down." They shall have a right to the comfort of 
 this glorious sun ; he will show them his face, he will 
 cause his glory to appear, he will lead them into him- 
 self by his own beams ; he will show them their end, 
 and the means — the goal, and their way to it ; he will 
 show them the good part, and the right path ; good 
 and evil, duties and sins, realities and delusions, helps 
 and hinderances, dangers and advantages, their snares 
 and their succors, will all be discovered to them by 
 the light of the Lord. 
 
 Hearken, thou poor and dark soul, that hast cho- 
 
 He.ivcn Opened. 2 
 
2b HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 sen, but thou knowest not what ; that art going, hut 
 thou knowest not whither ; that art wandering and 
 stumbling on, hut thou carest not how ; that corn- 
 plainest thou canst not see, thou canst not value, thou 
 canst not he affected with all the glory and joy of the 
 invisible world ; that findest thy husks and thy trash 
 to be a greater pleasure to thee than all the riches of 
 immortality; that would est fain mind and choose and 
 love and relish and seek God and things above, but 
 thou canst not : thou seest so little of the beauty of 
 them, that they do not entice thy heart after them ; 
 and when thou art seeking, thou art at a loss and in 
 the dark as to the way that thou shouldest take. 
 Hearken, soul, thy God calls to thee : Come unto 
 me, look unto me, and I will be thy sun ; I will show 
 thee all that glory, and the right way that will bring 
 thee to it ; I promise thee I will ; trust me, I will be 
 a light unto thee. 
 
 IV. Their Shield. " The Lord God is a sun and 
 a shield." Psa. 84 : 11. The gods of the earth are 
 styled, "the shields of the earth," Psa. 47 : 9; much 
 more the God of glory. Faith is called a shield : 
 "Above all, taking the shield of faith." Eph. 6 : 16. 
 This signifies the same as " God is a shield." Faith is 
 to the soul whatever God is. This is the grace that 
 entitles the soul to God, and applies God to the soul. 
 " Fear not, Abraham ; I am thy shield." Gen. 15 : 1. 
 What is promised to the father of the faithful, stands 
 sure to all the seed. Rom. 4 : 16. The state of Chris- 
 tians in this life is a militant state, a state full of 
 hardships and hazards ; by reason whereof, richly 
 
GOD IN THE COVENANT. 27 
 
 as they are provided for, they are subject to fears of 
 being undone and spoiled of all. They are in fears 
 about things eternal ; they have spiritual adversaries 
 that lie in wait for their souls, that fight against their 
 souls, that are tempting them, and enticing them from 
 their God ; that watch their opportunities to steal 
 away their God, by stealing away their hearts from 
 him ; and such dangerous attempts of this kind they 
 meet withal, that they often are in great doubt what 
 the issue may be. They are in fears about things 
 temporal ; their names are shot at, their liberties are 
 invaded, their estates, with all the comforts of their 
 lives, are in danger to be made a prey ; to-day they are 
 a praise, to-morrow a scorn ; to-day they are full and 
 abound, to-morrow they may have nothing left; they 
 die daily; they are "killed all the day long." But 
 whatever their dangers and their fears are, here is suffi- 
 cient provision made against all: God is their shield. 
 Christian, thou hast enough, and all that thou hast 
 is in safety. Thou art compassed about with a shield, 
 secured on all hands, there is no coming at thee to do 
 thee harm. Whatever assaults are made, thy God is 
 a wall of partition between thee and harm. They are 
 not shields of brass and iron thou art furnished with; 
 the strong God is thy defence. Wherefore dost thou 
 doubt, thou of little faith ? A Christian, and yet 
 afraid ; shifting for thyself; taking care for the asses 
 and oxen and sheep ; vexing and loading and losing 
 thyself, in thy cares and fears from day to day ? Where 
 is thy God, man ? Doth not God take care for oxen 
 and asses and all that thou hast ? 
 
28 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 But 0, what meanest thou by this ? To be shift- 
 ing thyself from danger, by shrinking back from thy 
 God ; securing thyself from affliction, by taking sanc- 
 tuary in iniquity ! What art thou doing but throwing 
 away thy shield to save thee from harm ; making a 
 breach in thy wall, to keep thee in safety? "Walk 
 before me, and be thou perfect," saith God ; and then, 
 "Fear not, Abraham ; I am thy shield." Gen. 15 : 1 ; 
 17 : 1. This now is the first and great promise of the 
 covenant, "I am thy God." 
 
CHRIST IN THE COVENANT. 29 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHRIST IN THE COVENANT. 
 
 God has put Christ into the covenant, and made 
 him over to his people : "I will give thee for a cove- 
 nant." Isa. 42 : 6. He who is promised as the chief 
 matter, the mediator, surety, and scope of the cove- 
 nant, is called, The Covenant. "I will give thee for 
 a covenant ;" that is, I covenant to give thee to the 
 people. 
 
 Dost thou say, "Whatever glory and blessedness 
 there is in the fruition of God, woe is me, there is a 
 great gulf fixed "between me and it, over which there 
 is no passing ; there is a partition- wall raised, over 
 which there is no climbing; there is a handwriting 
 against me, and while that stands, all that is in God 
 is nothing to me. Were this God mine, I had enough. 
 Let me be put to labor or to suffering ; let me dig, or 
 beg, or starve and die ; whether I be rich or poor, have 
 something or nothing, be a praise or a reproach, it 
 matters not, if God be mine. But 0, how may I ob- 
 tain this ? Who shall bring me to God ?" 
 
 The Lord God hath given thee his Son to undertake 
 for thee, and to be thy way unto the Father. Heb. 
 10:19,20. Jesus Christ — who is the Morning-star, 
 the Sun of righteousness, the image of the invisible 
 God, the first-born of every creature, by whom are all 
 
30 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 things, who is before all things, the head of the body 
 the church ; who is the beginning, the first-born from 
 the dead, in whom dwells all fulness, even the fulness 
 of the godhead bodily; who has made peace by the 
 blood of his cross, Colossians, chs. 1, 2 ; whose name is, 
 " Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the ever- 
 lasting Father, the Prince of peace," Isa. 9 : 6 — this 
 Jesus is granted thee in the covenant, to bring thee to 
 God. To which blessed and glorious purpose he is 
 exhibited as the Light of life; as the Lord our right- 
 eousness; as our Lord and King; and as our Head 
 and Husband. 
 
 I. As the Light of life. "A light to lighten the 
 Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." Luke 
 2 : 32. "In him was life, and the life was the light 
 of men." John 1 : 4. "He that followeth me shall 
 have the light of life." John 8 : 12. There is a light 
 that serves to kill and destroy, to bring death and 
 condemnation to light : the light of the law, that kill- 
 ing letter concerning which the apostle says, "When 
 the commandment came, sin revived, and I died ; the 
 commandment which was ordained to life^ I found to 
 be unto death." Rom. 7 : 9, 10. But Christ brings 
 life and immortality to light. Heaven, glory, the in- 
 visible God, which are lost out of reach and out of 
 ken, are all discovered in the face of Jesus Christ j 
 "To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of 
 God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4 : 6. He 
 is the image of the invisible God, the brightness of his 
 Father's glory, the glass in which by reflection we see 
 the sun. "Show us the Father, and it sufRceth us." 
 
CHRIST IN THE COVENANT. 31 
 
 Why, says he, hast thou known me, Philip, and yet 
 say est thou, Show us the Father ? "He that hath seen 
 me, hath seen the Father;" and this is the light of 
 life. John 14 : 8, 9. "This is life eternal, that they 
 might know thee the only true Grod, and Jesus Christ 
 whom thou hast sent." John 17 : 3. 
 
 II. As the Lord our righteousness. This is his 
 name: "He shall be called, The Lord our righteous- 
 ness." Jer. 23 : 6. To this end he is given to us, 
 
 1. As our propitiatory sacrifice: "The propitia- 
 tion for our sins." 1 John, 2 : 2. "Christ our pass- 
 over." 1 Cor. 5:7. " The Lamb slain from the foun- 
 dation of the world." Rev. 13 : 8. Our price, our 
 ransom, to satisfy justice, pacify wrath, discharge 
 from the curse; to blot out the handwriting, break 
 down the wall of partition ; to finish the transgression, 
 to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for 
 iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, and so 
 to bring us to Grod. Whatever difficulties appear in 
 thy way, whatever doubts ari.se in thy heart, from thy 
 sins, from thy guilt, from thy poverty, from thy im- 
 potence — whatever objections thy fears may hence put 
 in, the blood of the Lamb will answer all. Christ 
 our passover is sacrificed for us. 
 
 2. As a merciful and faithful High-priest, Heb. 
 2 : 17, who has made an atonement for us in the 
 earth, and appears for us in heaven; who has made 
 reconciliation for us, and makes intercession for us, 
 "to appear in the presence of God for us." Heb. 
 9 : 24. We read, Exodus 28 : 12, 29, that Aaron, 
 as the type of Christ, was to bear the names o[ the 
 
32 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 children of Israel engraven in stones upon his shoul- 
 ders and upon his breastplate, when he went into the 
 holy place, for a memorial before the Lord contin- 
 ually. Our Lord is entered into the heavens, to ap- 
 pear in the presence of Grod with our names upon his 
 shoulders and upon his heart, for a memorial before 
 the Lord : the least of saints has his name there en- 
 graven. 
 
 "Here is my ransom, Lord," saith Christ, "and 
 behold my ransomed ones. Here is my price and my 
 purchase, my redemption and my redeemed. What- 
 ever accusers there be, whatever charge be laid against 
 them, whatever guilt lies upon them, here are the 
 shoulders that have borne all that was their due, and 
 paid all that they owe ; and upon these shoulders and 
 in this heart thou mayest read all their names ; and 
 when thou readest, remember what I have done for 
 them, acquit and absolve them, and let them be ac- 
 cepted before thee for ever. Remember the tears of 
 these eyes, the stripes on this back, the shame of this 
 face, the groans of this body, the anguish of this soul, 
 the blood of this heart ; and when thou rememberest, 
 whatever name thou findest engraven upon this heart 
 and upon these shoulders, they are the persons whose 
 all these are; and whatever these are, whatever ac- 
 ceptance they have found with thee, whatever satis- 
 faction thou hast found in them, put it upon their 
 account; never let me be accounted thine Accepted, 
 if they be rejected ; never let me be accounted right- 
 eous, if they lie under the imputation of wicked. If 
 they be not righteous in my righteousness, I must be 
 
CHRIST IN THE COVENANT. 33 
 
 guilty under their guilt. Whatever I am, whatever 
 my satisfaction is, all is theirs; for them I plead, for 
 them I pray ; my tears, stripes, wounds, groans, 
 anguish, soul, blood, all cry and say, Father, forgive 
 them ; Father, accept them." 
 
 Of all cries there are no such strong cries as the 
 cry of blood, and that whether it be against or for 
 the guilty; its voice shall be heard on high. "Thy 
 brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." 
 G-en. 4. And what followed ? Woe to those persons 
 against whom blood crieth. But where blood, such 
 blood cries for them, for pardon, for mercy, blessed 
 are those souls. 
 
 Christian, this blood is for thee: it "speaketh bet- 
 ter things than that of Abel." Heb. 12 : 24. It pleads, 
 sues, presses for thy discharge from all that is upon 
 thee. Thou hast many cries against thee : Satan 
 cries, thy sins cry, thine own heart and conscience 
 cry against thee, and thou art amazed at the dread- 
 ful noise they make ; but behold, the blood of the 
 Lamb, who is God, cries for thee. Thou hast an 
 accuser, but thou hast an Acquitter ; thou hast adver- 
 saries, but thou hast an Advocate: "An Advocate 
 with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is 
 the propitiation for our sins." 1 John, 2 : 1, 2. "Who 
 shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? It 
 is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? 
 It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, 
 who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh 
 intercession for us." Rom. 8 : 33, 34. 
 
 Nay, further, thou hast not only a righteous, but 
 
34 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 a merciful High-priest, that is provided with a sacri- 
 fice, and hath a heart to offer it for thee; thy name 
 is in his heart as well as on his shoulders, in his 
 bowels as well as on his hack. He hath blood for 
 thee, precious blood; and he hath bowels for thee, 
 bowels of mercy. He can have pity and compassion 
 on the miserable. Heb. 5:2. If he can find no 
 other, he can find arguments enough from thy woe 
 and thy misery to draw forth his soul towards thee. 
 He is merciful, and his mercies are tender mercies ; 
 he is pitiful, and his compassions are tender compas- 
 sions : thou art not so tender of the wife of thy bosom, 
 of thine own child — thou art not so tender of thine 
 own flesh, of the apple of thine eye, of thine own soul, 
 as thy Lord is of thee. His Spirit is moved for thee, 
 his soul melts over thee, he bleeds in thy wounds, he 
 suffers in thy sorrows, his eye weeps, his heart breaks 
 over thy broken and undone state ; fear not his for- 
 getting thee. 
 
 He is a merciful and a faithful High-priest. No 
 dignity to which he is exalted above thee, no distance 
 to which he is removed from thee, can make him for- 
 get his friends ; he is gone into the heavens, and is 
 there exalted far above all principalities and powers, 
 and set down at the right hand of (rod. He is gone, 
 but he hath carried thy name with him as a perpet- 
 ual memorial for thee. Thou art unfaithful ; shame 
 to thee ! thou forgettest thy Lord at every turn ; 
 every business that comes, every trouble that comes, 
 every pleasure that comes, every companion that 
 comes, makes thee forget thy Lord, forget his love, 
 
CHRIST IN THE COVENANT. 35 
 
 forget thy duty : 0, how small a matter will steal 
 thy heart from him ; yea, stir up tumults and rebel- 
 lions against him. Thy comforts, thy hopes, thy 
 needs which thou hast daily from him, will not all 
 prevail to hold him in remembrance with thee. Thou 
 forgettest thy Lord, but he will not forget thee ; though 
 thou hast been unfaithful in many things, yet he is in 
 nothing. "Yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny 
 himself." 2 Tim. 2 : 13. He would not be true to 
 himself, if he be not faithful to thee ; his interest lies 
 in thee ; thou art his, his possession, a member of his 
 body, fear not ; if he should be unfaithful to thy soul, 
 he is therein unfaithful to his own body. If thy case 
 be such that he can help thee, if there be any thing 
 wherein he can stead thee — if all that he has, his 
 blood, his righteousness, his interest with the Father, 
 will be sufficient for thy help, he has undertaken to 
 procure it for thee and secure it to thee. Faithful is 
 he that has called you, and will do it. 
 
 This now is that Jesus who is given unto us, as 
 our propitiatory Sacrifice, as our merciful and faith- 
 ful High-priest, who suffered on the earth, and is 
 gone into the heavens for us ; standing in lus red 
 robes, garments rolled in blood — with the glorious 
 white inscribed upon the red — pardon, peace, absolu- 
 tion, acceptance ; with the names of lus ransomed 
 ones engraven upon his heart and upon his shoul- 
 ders : this is that Jesus, who is the Lord our right- 
 eousness. 
 
 III. As our Lord and King. " A King shall reign 
 in righteousness," and in him shall the Gentiles trust. 
 
36 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 " Shout, daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy King 
 cometh." Zech. 9:9. " The government shall be on 
 his shoulder." Isa. 9 : 6. Grod hath more care of his 
 saints, than to leave the government of them on their 
 shoulder. Is not her King in her ? 
 
 He is a King to gather them, a King to govern 
 them, a King to defend and save them : to save them 
 from their temporal enemies, the sons of violence^ the 
 men of this evil world ; to save them from their spir- 
 itual enemies, from their sins. li Thou shalt call his 
 name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their 
 sins." Matt. 1 :21. It is a mercy to be under gov- 
 ernment and under protection. What would become 
 of us were there no King in Israel ? Where there is 
 no king, all are kings ; more kings than men : Satan 
 will be a king, every lust will be a lord — as many 
 kings as there are devils and sins. Whither would 
 our unruly hearts carry us ? How easily would our 
 wily and potent enemies ruin us. What tyranny 
 would sin exercise within ; what cruelty should we 
 suffer from without. Whither should we wander ; 
 where should we fix ? What peace, what order, what 
 stability ? Whence should counsel and protection and 
 salvation come, were there no Lord over us ? It is a 
 mercy to be under government ; but to be under such 
 a government, under a King, and such a King ; such 
 a wise and potent King, such a meek and merciful 
 King, such a holy and righteous King! Oh, what a 
 wonder of mercy! " Rejoice greatly, daughter of 
 Zion ; shout, daughter of Jerusalem ; behold, thy 
 King cometh unto thee : he is just, and having salva- 
 
CHRIST IN THE COVENANT. , 37 
 
 tion ; lowly, and riding upon an ass's colt." He is 
 just, having salvation; as a Priest he hath purchased, 
 as a King he bestows his salvation. He comes not to 
 get, but to give — not to give laws only, but to give 
 gifts unto men ; and he gives like a king, palms, 
 crowns, and thrones — salvation to his people by the 
 remission of their sins. Oh, how unthankful ; 0, 
 how foolish is this rebellious world ! Impatient of 
 subjection, they shake off the yoke, groan under 
 duty, under discipline : " We will not have this man 
 to rule over us." Who then shall save you ? Hard 
 to be a Christian ; strict laws, severe discipline, no 
 liberty ! Is this thy complaint, Christian ? Nay, 
 rather, There is no liberty left me to be miserable : if 
 I will be his, I must be happy. 
 
 Let fools inherit their own folly, but let Israel 
 rejoice in him that made him, let the children of Zion 
 be joyful in their King ; for the Lord taketh pleasure 
 in his people, he will beautify the meek with salva- 
 tion. Lift up your heads, ye gates ; and be ye lifted 
 up, ye everlasting doors ; and the King of glory shall 
 come in. Who is this King of glory ? The Lord of 
 hosts, yea, the Lord our righteousness, he is the King 
 of glory. The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our 
 Lawgiver, the Lord is our King, he will save us. 
 Praise ye the Lord. Come all ye Nimrods, ye mighty 
 hunters on the earth ; come all ye sons of Anak, ye 
 seed of the giants ; come all ye sons of Belial, ye seed 
 of the adulterer ; come all ye Ishmaelites and Am- 
 monites, ye Moabites and Hagarenes, associate, con- 
 federate, take counsel together, smite with the tongue, 
 
38 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 bite with the teeth, push with the horn, kick with the 
 heel; come all ye gates of hell, and powers of dark- 
 ness ; thou dragon with all thy armies, with all thy 
 fiery darts and instruments of death; come thou king 
 of terrors with thy fatal dart : the virgin the daugh- 
 ter of Zion has despised you all, she has laughed you 
 to scorn ; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her 
 head at you ; her King is in the midst of her ; the 
 Lord is her King, he will save her. 
 
 4. As our Head and Husband. He that is given 
 to be Head over all things to the church is given to 
 be the Head of the church, Eph. 1 : 22, 23, and of 
 every member in particular. 1 Cor. 11:3. Believ- 
 ers are all joined to the Lord. 1 Cor. 6 : 17. United 
 in Christ as fellow-members ; united unto Christ as 
 their common Head, " from which all the body, by 
 joints and bands, having nourishment ministered, and 
 knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." 
 Col. 2 : 19. They are married to Christ : "I have 
 espoused you to one Husband." 2 Cor. 11 : 2. From 
 this union follows a communication of influences, and 
 a combination of interests. 
 
 1. A communication of influences. " Having 
 nourishment ministered." Christ our Head is our 
 Fountain of life. Our Head is our Heart also, out 
 of it are the issues of life ; from him we live, and are 
 nourished and maintained in life. He is our Joseph, 
 all the treasures of the holy land are with him. "In 
 him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and know- 
 ledge." Colos. 2:3. "It pleased the Father that 
 in him should all fulness dwell." Colos. 1 : 19. He 
 
CHRIST IN THE COVENANT. 39 
 
 is the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and 
 truth. 
 
 Here observe what grace there is in Christ. The 
 schools tell us, that in him there is a threefold grace. 
 1. The grace of union. The human nature of Christ, 
 hath received the high grace or favor to be personally 
 united to the second person hi the godhead ; by vir- 
 tue of which union the fulness of the godhead is said 
 to dwell in him bodily — bodily, that is, personally, or 
 substantially, in opposition to the types and shadows 
 of the Old Testament, in which God is said to dwell 
 in a figure. God was said to dwell in the tabernacle, 
 in the ark of the covenant, in the temple ; but in 
 these he dwelt only as figures and shadows of the 
 human nature of Christ. In Christ he dwells not in 
 a figure, but personally and substantially. As Christ, 
 Col. 2 : 17, is called the body, in opposition to the 
 types of old, which were but the shadow ; so bodily 
 here denotes not a figurative, but a personal inhabi- 
 tation. Christ is the body, not a shadow; and God 
 dwells in him bodily, that is, substantially, and not in 
 a shadow. 2. Habitual grace. All those moral per- 
 fections wherein stands the holiness of his nature : 
 the love and fear of God ; his humility, meekness, 
 patience ; in sum, Ins perfect conformity to the image 
 and whole will of God. " Such a High-priest became 
 us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from 
 sinners." Heb. 7 : 26. 3. The honor which is given 
 to him to be Head of the church. 
 
 Also observe how Christ is said to be full of 
 grace. There is a twofold fulness of grace. In re- 
 
40 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 spect to grace itself: thus he is said to be full of 
 grace, that hath all grace, and hath it in the greatest 
 excellency and perfection. Also, in respect to the 
 person that hath it ; and thus a person is said to be 
 full of grace, that hath as much grace as he is capable 
 of. Christ is full of grace in both respects : the grace 
 which is in him, is grace in the highest perfection of 
 it, and in infinite fulness. 
 
 Observe also, that this fulness of Christ is ours, 
 and for us: "Of his fulness have all we received, 
 and grace for grace." John 1 : 16. " Your life is hid 
 with Christ in God." Col. 3 : 3. Your life : that is, 
 both your spiritual life, grace ; and your eternal life, 
 glory. " This is the record, that God hath given to 
 us eternal life ; and this life is in his Son." 1 John, 
 5 : 11. Our life is said to be in Christ in three re- 
 spects. 1. It is hid in Christ as the effect in the 
 cause : as the life of the branches is hid in the root, 
 so is the life of a Christian in Christ ; he is our root. 
 2. It is deposited with Christ : it is laid up with him, 
 committed to his trust and custody ; with him it is 
 secured and put into safe hands. 3. The dispensation 
 of it is committed to him : from him it is at his pleas- 
 ure to be imparted to us ; of his fulness we receive. 
 The Son hath life in himself, and he giveth it to whom, 
 when, and in what measure he pleaseth. 
 
 Christian, art thou nothing in thyself ? Thou hast 
 enough in thy Jesus. Art thou dark ? he is a foun- 
 1ain of light. Art thou dead? he is a fountain of 
 life. Art thou poor and low, weak in knowledge, in 
 faith, in love, in patience ? he is a treasure of all 
 
CHRIST IN THE COVENANT. 41 
 
 grace ; and what he is, he is for thee. Is he wise ? 
 he is wise for thee. Is he holy ? he is holy for thee. 
 Is he meek, merciful, humble, patient ? he is so for 
 thee. Is he strong ; is he rich ; is he full ? it is for 
 thy sake. As he was empty for thee, weak for thee, 
 poor for thee ; so for thee he is mighty, he is rich and 
 full. While thou bewailest thine own poverty and 
 weakness, bless thyself in thy Lord, in his riches, 
 righteousness, and strength. 
 
 2. A combination of interests. As the head and 
 body, as the husband and wife, so Christ and his 
 saints are mutually concerned — are rich or poor, must 
 stand and fall, live and die together. As the husband 
 conveys to the wife a title to what he hath ; as the 
 wife holds of the husband ; so is it between Christ 
 and his church : they have nothing but through him ; 
 their whole tenure is in the Head ; and whatsoever is 
 his, is theirs. His God is their God, his Father is 
 their Father; his blood, his merits, his Spirit, his vic- 
 tories, all the spoils he has gotten, all the revenue and 
 income of his life and death, all is theirs. For them 
 he obeyed, suffered, lived, died, rose, ascended, is set 
 down in glory at the right hand of God. He obeyed 
 as their Head ; died as their Head ; rose, ascended, 
 reigns as their Head ; and has in their name taken 
 possession of that inheritance which he purchased for 
 them. This is that Jesus who is given to us, and 
 thus is he granted and made over to all his saints in 
 this covenant of God. 
 
42 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SPIRIT IN THE COVENANT. 
 
 Gtod has put his Spirit into the covenant : the 
 Almighty, the eternal Spirit ; the Holy Spirit, the 
 Spirit of glory and of God. 
 
 This holy and eternal Spirit is first poured forth 
 on our Head the Lord Jesus, to anoint him our 
 Redeemer, to furnish and qualify him for that great 
 undertaking. " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
 because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good 
 tidings unto the meek." Isa. 61 : 1. " The Spirit of 
 the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom 
 and understanding, and of the fear of the Lord." Isa. 
 11:2. 
 
 And he is promised to each member of Christ : 
 " I will put my Spirit within you." Ezek. 36 : 27. 
 To all these he is granted, as a Spirit of wisdom and 
 revelation ; as a Spirit of holiness and sanctification ; 
 as a Spirit of truth and direction ; and as a Spirit of 
 comfort and consolation. 
 
 I. As a " Spirit of wisdom and revelation." Eph. 
 1 : 17, 18. To enlighten them, to open their blind 
 eyes, and to shine into their hearts ; to give them the 
 knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
 Christ, that they may know what is the hope of his 
 calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheri- 
 tance in the saints ; to counterwork the spirit of this 
 
THE SPIRIT IN THE COVENANT. 43 
 
 world, whose work is to blind men's eyes, lest the 
 light of the glorious gospel should shine unto them. 
 2 Cor. 4 : 4-6. 
 
 This is he by whom the Father hath called us 
 "out of darkness into his marvellous light." 1 Pet. 
 2 : 9. The light that the Spirit brings in is a marvel- 
 lous light, and that in three respects : 
 
 1. It is a marvellous thing that ever light should 
 come inlo such dark souls. That those who were 
 born blind, and upon whom the god of this world 
 had, for many years together, been trying his skill to 
 thicken their darkness, to increase and seal them up 
 under it — that ever such eyes should be opened, and 
 the light of life shine in upon such hearts, this is a 
 marvellous thing. When our Lord Jesus in the days 
 of his flesh opened the eyes of those who hud been 
 born blind, the people ran together and wondered at 
 the sight. If you should see stones live, if you should 
 see dead stocks or dry bones walk up and down the 
 streets, if you should see trees, or houses, or moun- 
 tains full of eyes, this were not more full of wonder, 
 than to behold blind sinners receiving their sight. 
 Thou wert once darkness ; art thou now light in the 
 Lord ? Stand and wonder at thy cure. 
 
 2. They are marvellous thing's which this light 
 discovers. It is a wonder that such eyes should ever 
 see at all ; and lo, they see wonders. The gospel is 
 a mystery full of wonders: there are heights, and 
 depths, and lengths, and breadths. "We have seen 
 strange things to-day :" strange love, strange grace, 
 wonderful wisdom, wonderful pity, patience, mercy; 
 
44 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 wonderful providences, wonderful deliverances, incom- 
 prehensible excellences, unspeakable joy and glory. 
 It is a wonder there should be such things every day 
 before our eyes, and yet we could not see them till 
 now ; and it is a wonder, that when we did not see 
 them before, we should ever see them now — that those 
 things which we despised, derided, mocked at, stum- 
 bled at, as mere foolishness and fancy, we should now 
 see and admire, even to astonishment — that that Jesus 
 who was to the Jews a stumbling-block, to the Greeks 
 foolishness, should be to the same men when called, 
 the wisdom of God and the power of God. Oh the 
 deep things of Grod! Oh the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ, which he that searcheth all things reveals unto 
 the saints ! Oh the hidden treasures they now discover 
 in this deep mine ! To you that believe, he is precious, 
 a praise, an honor ; all fair, all glorious ; and you have 
 seen his glory, as the glory of the only begotten Son 
 of God, full of grace and truth. 
 
 Again, there are marvellous evils, as well as good 
 things, which by this light are brought to light. Sin, 
 with all the hidden things of darkness that lie below 
 in those chambers of death — the secrets of the evil 
 heart of man. Sin appears a wonder to the savingly 
 enlightened soul: exceeding sinful, a world of wicked- 
 ness. There is death, and hell, and the devil in every 
 sin ; unkindness, unthank fulness, folly, enmity, re- 
 bellion, spite, and the blackness of darkness. What 
 once appeared as a pleasure, a delight, a beauty — or 
 at least, if an evil, yet but a trifle, a matter of nothing — 
 is become a plague, a terror, a burden, a bondage, 
 
THE SPIRIT IN THE COVENANT. 45 
 
 bitterness, shame, sorrow; and such a high provoca- 
 tion, that whereas once he swelled and murmured, 
 and cried out of rigor, severity, cruelty in the least 
 punishment of it ; now he wonders at the clemency, 
 and patience, and forbearance of God, that such an 
 affront and provocation had not long since turned the 
 whole earth into a hell. 
 
 Christian, thou complainest thou canst not see, 
 thou canst not feel, thou canst not mourn, thou canst 
 not break under all the guilt that lies upon thee; 
 thy heart is hard, thine eyes are dry ; not a tear, not 
 a groan, scarce a sigh will all this evil fetch out from 
 thee. "Oh this blind and sottish mind ! Oh this dead 
 and senseless heart ! what shall I do ? what would I 
 not do to get me a melting, mourning, broken spirit? 
 but I cannot, I cannot; I cannot see, I cannot bleed, 
 nor break." beg the light of this Holy Spirit; and 
 if the sight he will present thee with, of this wonder- 
 ful evil, do not rend thy heart, and turn thee, and 
 open all thy sluices, and let out thy soul in sighs and 
 groans, in shame and sorrow, thou mayest then well 
 be a wonder to thyself. But be not discouraged, be 
 not dismayed; do not say, This rock will never break, 
 this iron will never melt; I may go sighing for sighs, 
 mourning after tears, groaning after groans, but all in 
 vain, it will never be ; I am past feeling ; sorrow flies 
 from me, repentance is hid from mine eyes. Do not 
 thus discourage thyself; wait for this Spirit, open to 
 it and thou shaft see flowing in such streams of self- 
 shaming, self-confounding light, as shall flow forth in 
 self-abasing, self-abhorring streams of tears. 
 
46 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 3. These marvellous things are revealed to them 
 with marvellous clearness; that is, in comparison 
 with what they are to the purblind world, and in com- 
 parison with what they themselves once saw. They 
 come to see the glory, and the beauty, and the reality 
 of the wonderful things of (rod. "We have seen his 
 glory," saith the apostle. John 1 : 14. "The kind- 
 ness of Grod our Saviour appeared;" "but we all, with 
 open face, behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord." 
 2 Cor. 3 : 18. Out of Zion hath he appeared in per- 
 fect beauty. 
 
 It is prophesied of the unbelieving world, that 
 when they should see Christ, they should see no 
 beauty in him. Isa. 53 : 2. Strange ! though he is 
 all beauty, yet they should see him, and yet see no 
 beauty ; that is, they shall see him, and yet not see 
 him. "What is thy beloved more than any other be- 
 loved ? What is Christ more than an ordinary man ? 
 What is the gospel more than an ordinary story? 
 What is the Spirit? What is truth? What is there 
 in this faith and love, in this holiness and righteous- 
 ness, in this peace of conscience, and joy of the Holy 
 Ofhost? What substance is there in them? Where is 
 the glory, and wherein is the excellency of them ? 
 Which way came the Spirit of the Lord from me to 
 thee ?" Thou ' shalt know in that day, when thou 
 shalt call to the mountains to fall on thee, and the 
 rocks to hide thee from the face of Grod and the Lamb. 
 We know whom we have believed. We know that 
 we know him. We speak that which we know, and 
 testifv what we have seen. We have an unction from 
 
THE SPIRIT IN THE COVENANT. 47 
 
 the Holy One, we know all things. God hath revealed 
 them to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit seareheth all 
 things, even the deep things of God. Now we have 
 received not the spirit of this world, hut the Spirit 
 which is of God, that we might know the things that 
 are freely given to us of God. We have a clear and 
 certain sight. We do not see men as trees walking, 
 with our eyes half open: we see men as men, Christ 
 as Christ, truth as truth, in its full lustre and evi- 
 dence. This we have seen and do testify, neither 
 deceiving nor being deceived. We thank thee, 
 l ; ;i (her, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid 
 these things from the wise and prudent, and hast 
 revealed them unto babes. 
 
 And as they see truth and holiness and goodness 
 in their wonderful glory and beauty, so also folly and 
 falsehood and sin in their wonderful ugliness and de- 
 formity. Sin appears to them to be sin, folly to be 
 folly, falsehood to be falsehood ; they see men as men, 
 Christ as Christ, truth as truth, holiness as holiness ; 
 and they see beasts as beasts, fools as fools, sin as sin, 
 devils as devils, hell as hell. They see all things as 
 they are, temptations as they are, delusions as they 
 are ; they see what is under them, the hook under the 
 bait, the sting in the locust's tail, the war in the 
 devil's heart carried on under his fawning face ; they 
 are not ignorant of his devices. 
 
 Sinners, cease your wondering at the saints, let 
 them be no longer for signs and for wonders in Israel ; 
 cease your wondering at the saints, and come and 
 wonder with them. Wonder not that they speak not 
 
48 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 as you, live not as you, run not with you after the 
 same follies and vanities. Oh, if you once come to 
 see what they see, you will be a wonder to yourselves. 
 Mock not at their blessedness : blessed are their eyes, 
 for they see. The blind envy, but do not disdain the 
 seeing. Say not, These men are in a dream, or drunk, 
 or mad; take heed, blaspheme not the Holy Spirit, 
 call not his light darkness, put not your darkness for 
 light. "Would you know, when these men testify 
 what they have seen and heard, whether they are sober 
 or beside themselves ? Come and see : I say not, 
 stand and see ; you cannot see at the distance you 
 stand : come near, come in, and you shall see — see 
 your blindness first, if ever you will see the light. 
 Oh, bewail your darkness and seek light ; seek, and 
 you shall see it. " Son of David, have mercy on me." 
 Why, what wilt thou, man? "Lord, that I may 
 receive my sight." Shall that be thy cry ? pity thy 
 blind soul. pray for eyes. They that see, pity the 
 blind. be eyes to thy blind, be a light to thy dark 
 soul ; let them that dwell in darkness see thy great 
 light. Sinners, those whom you persecute do thus 
 pity, do thus pray for you: "Lord, that their eyes 
 might be opened." "Will you say, Amen, to their 
 prayers ; or will you say, Lord, regard not their word, 
 we desire not the knowledge of thy ways ? 
 
 Christians, be marvels. You that have seen mar- 
 vellous things, be marvellous persons. Let your light 
 shine, let the light which hath shined into your hearts 
 shine forth in all your paths: let the Spirit of light 
 within you, be a Spirit of glory resting upon you. 
 
THE SPIRIT IN THE COVENANT. 49 
 
 Once you were darkness, but now are ye light in the 
 Lord ; walk as children of the light. Be ye holy, 
 harmless, the children of God, without rebuke, in the 
 midst of a crooked generation, among whom ye shine 
 as lights in the world. 
 
 Beclouded Christian, thou goest on bemoaning and 
 bewailing thyself, complaining that thou art still blind ; 
 that the light hath sinned into thy darkness, but thy 
 darkness comprehendeth it not ; thine eye is yet but 
 tender, at least, and thou canst see but little — but lit- 
 tle of Christ, the sun is but as a spark to thee — but 
 little of sin, that mountain looks yet but as a molehill; 
 it is " neither clear nor dark," neither night nor perfect 
 day. Thou didst hope that long ere this thy scales 
 would have fallen oft', that the veil would have been 
 removed, but they abide upon thee ; thou waitest for 
 light, but behold obscurity — for brightness, but thou 
 walkest in darkness ; thou goest on, adding darkness 
 to darkness, the darkness of sorrow to the dimness of 
 sight. Thou fearest that the gospel is hid from thee, 
 that it is still night, because it is not yet noon with 
 thee. But hearken : As little as thou seest of Christ, 
 dost thou see so much that thou prizest and lovest and 
 cleavest to him above all? As little as thou seest of 
 sin, dost thou see so much that thou loathest and 
 slimmest it above all things ? Dost thou walk in that 
 little light thou hast ; dost thou love, long, wait, cry 
 for the light ? " Send forth thy light and thy truth, 
 lift up the light of thy countenance ; Sun of righteous- 
 ness, shine upon me ; why are the wheels of thy char- 
 iot so long in coming ? when, Lord ? Make haste, my 
 
 FTravm Opened. D 
 
50 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 "beloved ; might I once see thy face, as the sun, 
 looking over the mountains." Is this thy voice ; are 
 these the breathings of thy soul ? Be of good com- 
 fort, these are the glimmerings and groanings of that 
 Holy Spirit within thee, who hath already delivered 
 thee from darkness, and will bring thee forth into his 
 marvellous light ; thou shalt know, if thou follow on 
 to know the Lord. "Arise, shine ; thy light is come, 
 the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Though 
 yet, as to thy sense, it be neither clear nor dark, nei- 
 ther night nor perfect day, "at evening time it shall 
 be light." 
 
 II. As a Spirit of holiness and sanctification. 
 He is given as a holy Spirit, and as a sanctifying 
 Spirit; therefore sanctification is called the "sanctifi- 
 cation of the Spirit." 2 Thess. 2 : 13. He comes to 
 change us into his own nature, to make us partakers 
 of his holiness ; he is a refiner's fire, and fuller's soap, 
 Mai. 3:2, to purge and work and wash off the filth 
 and corruption of our nature. It is said, he shall be 
 to the church "a Spirit of judgment and a Spirit of 
 burning," to wash away the filth of the daughters of 
 Zion, and to purge the blood of Jerusalem from the 
 midst thereof. Isa. 4:4. "A Spirit of judgment," 
 that is, in the rulers of Israel — stirring them up to do 
 justice and execute judgment, that so the guilt of 
 blood may be taken away ; and " a Spirit of burning," 
 that is, in the hearts of the people of Israel, to con- 
 sume and destroy the inward lusts of then hearts, 
 that no more such wickedness be committed among 
 them. 
 
THE SPIRIT IN THE COVENANT. 51 
 
 "What he is to the church, this he is to every saint, 
 a Spirit of judgment, to give sentence against their 
 lusts, to condemn them to the fire : these must be 
 cast out. " To the fire with them ; away with them ; 
 get ye hence, ye sons of the bond-woman ; ye may not 
 be heirs with the sons of the free woman." The Spir- 
 it of the Lord first discovers and convinces of sin, 
 judges between light and darkness, grace and sin, and 
 then gives sentence: "Away with these lusts, they 
 may not be suffered to live." It is a Spirit of burn- 
 ing, to execute the sentence, to consume them in the 
 fire. The Spirit of sanctification is a Spirit of morti- 
 fication. "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the 
 deeds of the body, ye shall live." Rom. 8 : 13. It is 
 the Spirit that kills sin, the flesh profiteth nothing. 
 
 The Spirit implants the soul into Christ, gives it 
 an interest in his death, brings it under the influence 
 of his death. It is the death of Christ that is the 
 death of sin ; these thieves are crucified with him : 
 " Our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body 
 of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should 
 no longer serve sin." Rom. 6 : 6. Hell knew not 
 what they did when they crucified Christ ; death and 
 all its armies were put to death with him. 
 
 The Spirit raises up another party in the soul, a 
 party against a party, an army against an army; 
 brings grace in to take up arms against sin. Grace 
 doth not only fight against sin, but is in the very na- 
 ture of it the death of sin. Humility is pride dead; 
 meekness is sinful passion and frowardness dead; 
 patience is impatience slain. 
 
52 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 The Spirit excites and stirs up the soul against 
 sin ; sets it a praying against it : the Spirit of grace is 
 a Spirit of supplication, it fetches down hailstones and 
 thunderbolts from heaven to destroy these Amorites,' 
 sets a watch against sin, presses the soul to deal 
 wisely with it, to keep it low by cutting off all pro- 
 vision from the flesh, restraining and keeping it short 
 of all those fleshly objects which would keep it in 
 heart, and so it is starved to death. It is true, our 
 own greatest wisdom, watchfulness, abstinence, self- 
 denial, and all external means alone, will fall short of 
 killing one lust ; it is the Spirit who killeth, without 
 him the flesh profiteth nothing. All external attempts 
 for the mortification of the flesh, are but a fleshly mor- 
 tification. But if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify 
 the flesh, praying in the Spirit, watching in the Spirit, 
 curbing and keeping under this body, seeking always 
 the assistance of the Spirit, then it shall die. 
 
 Christian, thou livest in a weary land, and thou 
 hast but a weary life of it; briers and thorns are with 
 thee, the Canaanite is yet in the land, thou sojournest 
 in Meshech, and hast thy habitation in the tents of 
 Kedar ; and thou hast a Meshech and Kedar within 
 thee — thou hast armies within thee of fleshly lusts 
 which fight against thy soul. Thou goest mourning 
 daily, because of the oppressor — those spiritual wick- 
 ednesses which lie in thy heart, and war in thy mem- 
 bers. Thou often groanest and criest out to thy God, 
 " Liberty, liberty ; redemption, redemption. Oh, this 
 proud heart ! Oh, this vain heart ! Oh, this earth- 
 liness ! Oh, this fleshliness, this slothfulness, this 
 
THE SPIRIT IN THE COVENANT. 53 
 
 enmity and rebellion against the law of my mind, and 
 my God! When I would do good, evil is present 
 with me. I cannot, I cannot do the things that I 
 would. I can with no peace serve or enjoy my God 
 and my soul : my duties are either prevented or pol- 
 luted, my comforts are either wasted or made quite to 
 vanish and disappear. When I would serve my God, 
 I must away to serving my appetites, or my pride, or 
 my friends; when my soul is a little got upon the 
 wing, and soaring in the upper region, it is presently 
 checked, pulled down again to the earth. Oh, my 
 pinioned, imprisoned soul ! Woe is me, wretched 
 man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body 
 of tins death ?" Yet comfort thy heart ; the enemy 
 flies upon thee as a flood, but the Spirit of the Lord 
 shall lift up a standard against him. Thou com- 
 plainest thy gold is become dross; yet he will turn his 
 hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, 
 and take away all thy tin. Though these briers and 
 thorns be set in battle against thee, yea, and against 
 him also, yet he will go through them, he will burn 
 them together. Isa. 27 : 4. 
 
 Thou complaincst that thy garments are defiled, 
 thy glory is stained, thy beauty is marred, the image 
 of thy God is so defaced that there is but here and 
 there a spot of it left upon thee. While thy Lord 
 says, " Thou art all fair, my love," thou criest 
 out, "I am all foul, my Lord:" thou wouldst be 
 holiness to thy Lord, but thou art an offence to him; 
 holiness is still thy love and thy desire and thy long- 
 ing, but it flies from thee ; it is rather thy wish than 
 
54 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 thy hope ; thou canst weep over, but thou canst not 
 weep out thy deformity ; thine iniquity is still marked 
 before the Lord. If there be a little grace in thee, 
 yet there is such a weakness in its sinews, such a 
 paleness in its face, that it is not like to live ; or if it 
 live, how little hope that ever it should thrive or 
 flourish. 
 
 Thus thou complainest, thus thou goest mourn- 
 ing and sighing and sinking and fainting in thy 
 mind, and now and then venturest out a desponding 
 prayer : " Lord, pity ; Lord, look upon my sorrow 
 and my sin; Lord, wash me; Lord, help me." Why, 
 the Lord God hath sent thee his help out of his sanc- 
 tuary, and his strength out of Zion. The eternal 
 Spirit is come down on purpose to give battle to the 
 flesh, to subdue thine iniquities, and bring all those 
 that rise up within thee under thy feet. Thou mis- 
 takest thyself and thine enemies, if thou thinkest 
 they will be conquered by one blow of thine arm ; 
 tlais kind goeth not out so ; " not by might nor by 
 power," much less by weakness and by flesh, by any 
 weak attempts of thine own, "but by my Spirit, 
 saith the Lord." It is work for a G-od, to relieve 
 and cleanse such a heart, to turn such a hell into 
 a heaven. What thou canst not do, being weak 
 through the flesh, behold, he comes down to do for 
 thee ; thou hast proved thine own weakness, now try 
 everlasting strength. He stands at the door and 
 knocks, hear his voice at the door : " Wilt thou be 
 made clean ? Wilt thou be made whole ? Wilt thou 
 be delivered ?" Open to him, and with him deliver- 
 
THE SPIRIT IN THE COVENANT. 55 
 
 ance comes in. He stands at the pool, stirring the 
 waters for thee ; put in thy cripple-soul, and be 
 healed of all thy diseases; say to him, "Lord, if 
 thou wilt thou canst make me clean," and thou shalt 
 soon have this answer, " I will ; be thou clean." 
 
 III. As a Spirit of truth and direction. John 
 16 : 13. He shall guide them by his counsel, he shall 
 lead them in the way that they should go. They 
 shall hear a word behind them, saying, This is the 
 way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, 
 and when ye turn to the left. Isa. 30 : 21. He shall 
 lead them into all truth, to prevent mistakes ; and 
 into all righteousness, to prevent miscarriages. Nay, 
 more, he shall not be only their star, but their strength 
 too ; he shall guide them on, and help them on ; they 
 shall be led by the Spirit, bound in the Spirit, pressed 
 in Spirit ; they shall be excited, assisted, carried on in 
 the power of the Spirit, in the way that they should 
 go ; he will cause them to walk in the statutes of the 
 Lord. Whatsoever thy waywardness and thy wan- 
 derings have been, whatever thy feebleness and fickle- 
 ness be, whatever false lights and false ways are be- 
 fore thee, whatever temptations thou meetest with to 
 turn thee aside out of the right way, whatever doubts 
 hence arise in thy heart, " I shall one day or other 
 perish from the way, and be a lost sheep at last;" yet 
 his guidance shall be prosperous, and the event shall 
 be sure ; he shall so guide thee by his counsel, that 
 he shall bring thee to glory. He shall gather his 
 lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, 
 and gently lead those that are with young. 
 
56 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 IV. As a Spirit of comfort and consolation. "If 
 I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; 
 but if I depart, I will send him unto you." John 
 16 : 7. He shall come unto them, and abide with 
 them, to supply the absence of their Redeemer, to 
 support them under their affliction, to witness their 
 adoption, to seal them up unto the day of redemp- 
 tion, and to be the earnest of their inheritance. Eph. 
 1 : 13, 14. 
 
 "He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto 
 you." John 16 : 14. "He shall receive of mine," that 
 is, not only of the truths, those treasures of wisdom 
 that are in me, though that be specially intended, but 
 of my love, my righteousness, my holiness, and all 
 those treasures of grace and mercy that are laid up in 
 me : whatever there is in me that may stand you in 
 any stead, yield you any relief or support, the Com- 
 forter whom I will send you shall bring it down to 
 you; he shall take my blood and the pardons it 
 hath purchased for you, my compassions that are 
 working in me towards you, my prayers and inter- 
 cessions I am offering up for you; he shall take of all 
 those treasures of grace and everlasting consolations 
 which are laid up for you with me; he shall take of 
 mine, and show it unto you. As much as you have 
 in the world to afflict and amaze you, as little as you 
 have of your own to comfort you, either in your hearts 
 or in your houses, or among your friends, he shall 
 show what I have for you to refresh you. 
 
 Christians, a sight of Christ in our sorrows, in 
 our fears, in our thickest darkness, what daylight 
 
THE SPIRIT IN THE COVENANT. 57 
 
 would it bring in ! "When thou lookest into thy heart, 
 and art astonished and confounded at what thou find- 
 est there — at the blindness and the hardness, the pov- 
 erty and the emptiness, the guilt and the guile, the 
 pride and the peevishness, the evil thoughts, the vile 
 affections, the filthy lusts, that are swarming and 
 working in thee; when thou lookest into the world, 
 and tremblest at what thou beholdest there — the 
 malice, the craft, the power, that is engaged against 
 thee ; the furious spirits, the fiery tongues, the fierce 
 looks, the violent hands, that are flying upon thee, 
 and the little relief the earth will afford thee ; when 
 thy heart faints and dies within thee at the sense of 
 this thy woful and forlorn state, a sight of what thou 
 hast in thy Lord is presented to thee by his Spirit. 
 Look thou here, soul, what thy Jesus has sent thee 
 down — a glance from his eye, a drop from his heart, 
 food from his table ; and all to tell thee, Yet do I not 
 forget thee ; behold the care I take of thee, the treas- 
 ures I have for thee, to encourage thy love and re- 
 ward thy faithfulness. Oh, how will this make aft 
 thy darkness depart, and turn the shadow of death 
 into the morning! 
 
 Thus is the Holy Spirit given to the saints, to be 
 the light of their eyes, the death of their sins, the 
 guide of their ways, the stay of their hearts ; to up- 
 hold their grace, and to maintain their peace ; to sub- 
 due their enemies and their fears; to secure them 
 from temptations, or succor them when tempted ; to 
 wipe off their reproach, or make it their crown; to 
 heal their diseases, or make them their cure ; to help 
 
58 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 their infirmities, to work their works, to make their 
 yoke easy and their burdens light ; to turn their sighs 
 into songs, to form their groans into prayers, send 
 them up to their Lord, and bring down returns; to 
 comfort their hearts, to establish, strengthen, settle 
 them, that they be neither offended at the rod nor 
 moved from the hope of the gospel. 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 59 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 
 
 God hath put the earth into the covenant. Though 
 the saints have not their portion in this life, yet this 
 world also is theirs : " The meek shall inherit the 
 earth." Matt. 5 : 5. "Things present, and tilings to 
 come, all are yours." 1 Cor. 3 : 22. 1. The good 
 things present. 2. The evil things present. 
 
 I. The good things present. "Houses, and breth- 
 ren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, 
 now in this time." Mark 10 : 30. "Length of days 
 are in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and 
 honor." Prov. 3 : 16. "Houses and lands," you say, 
 "and riches and honors! where are they? Who are 
 the poor of this world, the houseless, harborless, and 
 friendless? Who have woe, and want, and shame, 
 and sorrow ? Who are strangers and pilgrims, dwell- 
 ing in tents, driven into corners, into dens, and caves, 
 hunted up and down upon the mountains of the earth? 
 To whom is hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, 
 but to the meek of the earth ? Is this to inherit the 
 earth? All theirs, when nothing is theirs?" Yet they 
 do inherit the earth. For, 
 
 1. They shall ever have as much as will suffice 
 them, and that is as much as all. They shall not 
 want any thing but what they may well want : 
 "Your Father knoweth that you have need of these 
 
60 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 things;" and lie knows how much you need. More 
 than is needful, is more than enough; and more than 
 enough is a prejudice. Many men have too much; 
 too much money, too much esteem, too many friends; 
 more than they can hear ; so much as to sink them, 
 and drown them in perdition. 
 
 Christians shall have enough ; they shall never he 
 in such a needy state hut whatever is necessary for 
 them in all the earth they shall have. " The earth is 
 the Lord's, and the fulness thereof;" and he has said, 
 that those that seek him shall not want any tiling 
 that is good. Psalm 34 : 10. If the whole world 
 can supply them out of all its store, they shall he 
 supplied. 
 
 2. "What they have, they have a better and fur- 
 ther title to, than any others in the world. What 
 they have descends upon them not harely hy provi- 
 dence, hut by promise. Heh. 1 : 2. Christ is heir of 
 all things, and they are fellow-heirs with Christ. A 
 little coming from the promise has more in it than the 
 greatest abundance that is only handed down hy com- 
 mon providence. That which comes in from the 
 promise, comes in with a blessing : if thou hast but a 
 handful, thou hast a blessing in thy hand; if thou 
 hast hut a corner, thou hast a blessing in thy corner. 
 A little from love is a great blessing. Thou hast God 
 in every morsel thou eatest, and in every drop thou 
 drinkest; a drop from heaven will turn thy bran into 
 the finest flour, and thy water into wine. 
 
 what serene and quiet lives, how void of care, 
 distracting care, might the saints live in the world ! 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. bl 
 
 What are the burdens that gall our backs, what the 
 briers that tear our flesh, what the thorus that pierce 
 our hearts ordinarily, but the cares of this life? What 
 shall I eat? what shall I drink? wherewith shall 
 I be clothed ? where shall I dwell ? how little have 
 I for to-day, what for to-morrow, what for hereafter.' 
 how shall I secure what I have? when this is gone, 
 whence shall I be supplied? Thus do we go on 
 piercing ourselves through with many sorrows. Our 
 cares for supply eat up what we have ; our thoughts 
 cut deeper than our wants ; we cannot at so cheap a 
 rate fear, as we often actually bear, the want of all 
 things. 
 
 And why take ye thought? "The earth is the 
 Lord's, and the fulness thereof;" and he hath said, 
 "All this is yours; you shall want nothing." You 
 have not only providence to live upon ; you have also 
 the promise before you, and this hath all things in it; 
 all is yours. "What have I for to-morrow? what for 
 hereafter?" Why, what saith the promise? "Thou 
 shalt want nothing, neither thou nor thine. Never 
 saw I the righteous forsaken, nor their seed begging 
 their bread." 
 
 Hast thou two worlds made sure to thee, and canst 
 thou want ? Thou mayest as well make a pitiful cry 
 at a full table, where shall I have my next morsel ? 
 as under such a full promise, where shall I have my 
 next meal ? how much beneath the spirit of Chris- 
 tianity are the carking, anxious lives of too many 
 Christians. You do not believe, you do not believe ; 
 you talk of your covenant-right, of your part in the 
 
62 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 promise, of living by faith ; but where is any such 
 thing? Can you trust God for your souls, and can 
 you not trust him for your bodies, for your children ? 
 Believe, and you will make as much, and be satisfied 
 as well, with a penny in the promise, with a meal in 
 the promise, with a house in the promise, as with a 
 penny in your purse, or a meal in your cupboard. 
 
 "What dost thou get by all thy anxiety? "Which 
 of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his 
 stature " — one farthing to his store ? Tears and trou- 
 ble are all it will add to thee. Be quiet, and nothing 
 will ail thee ; let not any straits sting thee before they 
 come ; want not before thou wantest ; let not the 
 winter's frost nip thee while it is yet summer. 
 
 Know when thou art well, and be content. All 
 is thine ; if thou inheritest thy God, thou inheritest 
 the earth ; nothing of all its store shall be kept back 
 from thee that is necessary for thee ; only thou must 
 not look to be thine own carver, thy God will carve 
 out what thou needest. Let enough suffice thee, and 
 thou shalt never have too little. Thou shalt never 
 have so little, but thou mayest say, This little is 
 enough. 
 
 What if that which thou wantest in water, be 
 made up in wine ; if thou hast but little in bran, 
 but the more in flour? A short meal with a smile 
 from heaven thou mayest count no fast, but a feast ; 
 a little oil in the cruse, how far will it go with a smile, 
 the blessing of the covenant ! If the upper spring run 
 freely, thou mayest abate a nether spring. 
 
 Let my Beloved comfort me with his apples, 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 63 
 
 and stay me with his flagons ; and -let the rest be as 
 little and as coarse as it will. Let the promise be 
 my portion, let the pipes be kept open to my soul, and 
 then the least pittance for this body shall suffice me. 
 0, my Lord, let me feed with thee, and I will not 
 complain whatever my fare be. Let my portion be 
 from thy table, and then be it much or little — let me 
 hear thy voice, "I am thine, and with me all things," 
 and I am content to be at thy allowance. Let thy 
 deed of gift stand sure to me, and put in my children's 
 names there, and I ask no more for myself or them. 
 Hold thy peace, keep silence, my anxious soul; 
 know when thou art well ; be in nothing careful, the 
 Lord is at hand. 
 
 II. The evil things of this earth are theirs. The 
 cross is in the covenant. "If his children forsake my 
 law, and walk not in my judgments ; if they break 
 my statutes, and keep not my commandments ; then 
 will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their 
 iniquity with stripes." Psa. 89 : 30-32. 
 
 The covenant hath its cross. The doctrine of the 
 gospel is the doctrine of the cross, the preaching of the 
 gospel is the preaching of the cross. 1 Cor. 1. The 
 mysteries of a crucified Jesus and of his crucified 
 saints fill up the whole New Testament. The cross 
 is not only imposed upon the saints as their burden, 
 but bequeathed unto them as a legacy. It is given 
 unto them as an honor and a privilege. "Unto you 
 it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe 
 on him, but also to suffer for his sake." Phil. 1 : 29. 
 It is joined with the most glorious gift, the gift of 
 
64 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 faith. Yea, and it is a greater gift than this : to suf- 
 fer in faith is more than barely to believe. 
 
 But by virtue of the covenant, the cross is a bless- 
 ing. "Blessed are they which are persecuted for 
 righteousness' sake ; blessed are ye when men shall 
 revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all man- 
 ner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." Matt. 
 5 : 10, 11. "Where then is the blessedness ; or wherein 
 stands it ? It stands in these things : In the separa- 
 tion of the cross from the curse ; in the sanctification 
 of the cross to its ends ; in the proportioning of the 
 cross to your needs and strength ; and in the special 
 comforts of the cross. 
 
 1. The cross is separated from the curse. There is 
 something in this. To be able to say under the sorest 
 afflictions, This scourge is no scorpion ; this is no 
 curse, it is but a cross. Our Lord bore both the cross 
 and the curse together, and that made his cup so bit- 
 ter ; but now he hath divided them : the curse he 
 hath left upon sinners, and laid only the naked cross 
 on his saints. The crosses of reprobate sinners are all 
 curses. Every affliction is a curse ; there is wrath in 
 all their sufferings ; there is vengeance in every dart ; 
 every rod is a serpent to them. Thou who art of the 
 number of Christ's implacable enemies, when he comes 
 to fall upon thee and to grind thee under his hand, 
 thou wouldest have a word of comfort to be spoken to 
 thee in thy sorrow : no, no, there is no comfort can be 
 spoken ; thou mayest say of every dart he smites thee 
 with, This is sent of Crod to avenge himself upon me. 
 The crosses of the impenitent are all curses ; but the 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 65 
 
 saints' curses are all come to be but crosses. Though 
 men curse, the Lord will not curse ; whatever trou- 
 bles come upon thee, though there be vinegar in them, 
 yet there is no vengeance in them ; though there be 
 anguish in them, yet there is no wrath in them ; 
 though they be ill-looked, yet there is no ill-will in 
 them ; they come upon no ill intent, nor shall have 
 any evil issue. The smitings of the wicked are to 
 thee as the smitings of the righteous were to the 
 psalmist, a precious balm. "Let the righteous smite 
 me; it shall be a kindness — it shall be an excellent 
 oil, which shall not break my head." Psalm 141 : 5. 
 And thou mayest say, Let the wicked smite me with 
 the tongue, with the fist of wickedness, or what they 
 will ; it shall not break my head, much less my heart ; 
 it shall be a kindness to me, an excellent oil. 
 
 2. The cross is sanctified to its ends. It has 
 many holy and excellent ends, and it shall prosper, it 
 shall accomplish its ends. The cross is laid on the 
 saints sometimes to prove them, sometimes to reprove 
 them, to humble them, to purge them ; and whatever 
 it is sent to them for, it shall not return in vain. As 
 the word, so the rod shall accomplish that which he 
 pleases that sent it. By this the iniquity of Jacob 
 shall be purged. 
 
 3. The cross is proportioned to their needs and 
 strength. " I will correct thee in measure, and will 
 not leave thee altogether unpunished." Jer. 30 : 11. 
 Just so much as will serve shall suffice ; the wise 
 physician has respect both to the need and to the 
 strength of the patient. " I will not contend for ever, 
 
66 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 neither will I be always wroth ; lest the spirit should 
 fail before me, and the souls which I have made." 
 Isa. 57 : 16. The apostle tells the saints that they 
 have need of patience, Heb. 10 : 36 ; and their expe- 
 rience tells them they have need of something to exer- 
 cise their patience. And their needs are different: 
 some are knotty pieces, and need more ; others are 
 tender, and upon them less will serve. The stubborn 
 child must have more stripes ; the shaking of the rod 
 will do more on some spirits than the smart of it on 
 others, but all need something. Let him only that 
 is without sin say, I have no need of shame and sor- 
 row. The Lord will neither over, nor under do ; 
 every one shall have his load, and no more — no more 
 than they can bear, and no less than their need re- 
 quires. The Lord delights not in his children's tears, 
 he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of 
 men ; but yet he would rather have them cry than 
 perish. 
 
 "Wonder not, Christians, that your tender Lord 
 puts you to pain, and that your pains are so sharp 
 and so many ; your heavenly Father knoweth that 
 you have need of all these things. It is a mercy 
 that he will chastise ; you may put your corrections 
 among your mercies. His breakings of you are his 
 blessings, his woundings are your cures ; and by 
 your own, as by your Lord's stripes, you are healed. 
 And when you shall review and read over all his 
 darker providences, and behold the wisdom and ten- 
 derness which is mingled with his severities, evinced 
 in his laying on so much, and yet no more than 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 67 
 
 was needful, you will then acknowledge with the 
 psalmist, " Thou in very faithfulness hast afflicted 
 me." 
 
 0, my Lord, let me not want thy staff nor thy 
 rod, neither a friend nor an enemy ; neither a calm 
 nor a storm ; neither food nor medicine : if my dis- 
 ease be too strong for my physic, let me have yet a 
 stronger potion ; if my wanton heart will not yet be 
 tamed, put on more fetters, a heavier load — load upon 
 load, weight upon weight. Let me never be sick of 
 my remedy till I be cured of my disease. Let me 
 rather suffer by the hand of a devil, than perish by 
 the hand of a lust. Spare not, Lord, cease not, Lord, 
 to smite thy servant, till thou hast thereby smitten 
 down all mine enemies. Peace, plenty, ease ! what, 
 that I may have to spend upon my lusts ; to wax 
 wanton against my God? Such peace I will not 
 have. Pain, trouble, want, any thing rather than 
 peace upon such terms. Correct me, Lord, yet in 
 judgment, but not in thy fury, lest I be consumed 
 and brought to nothing. 
 
 4. The cross hath its special comforts. " Blessed 
 be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort ; 
 who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may 
 be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by 
 the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of 
 God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, 
 so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And 
 whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and 
 salvation, winch is effectual in the enduring of the 
 
68 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 same sufferings which we also suffer ; or whether we 
 be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation : 
 and our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye 
 are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye he also of 
 the consolation." 2 Cor. 1 : 3-7. 
 
 The comforts of the cross are often the sweetest 
 and the fullest that the saints ever taste on this side 
 the crown. The first draught is often hitter ; the 
 green cross is heavy, and it is necessary it should he 
 so. It must be a heavy yoke that will tame an 
 unruly neck : if it gall not, it will not heal ; it is the 
 smart of the rod that stills the child. Think not your 
 burdens will lie easy when first laid on ; and think it 
 not much if they do not. The first conflict with temp- 
 tations may put you to a harder brunt than you are 
 aware. It must be so, that it may be for your good 
 afterwards. " Tribulation worketh patience ;" but 
 this it cannot do unless it pains you. It is observ- 
 able that it is not said that the cross worketh patience, 
 but the tribulation, the pinching of the cross, or the 
 pain the cross puts us to ; this is patience, a quiet 
 bearing that pain which the flesh when touched puts 
 us to. When we feel the thorns and the nails, when 
 the iron enters into our souls, when it pricks and 
 smarts, then it will work. The green cross is heavy, 
 a prison or a wilderness will be appalling at the first ; 
 but when your Lord comes in and visits you, then the 
 sweet, the pleasure comes ; and the more frowns at 
 the threshold, the more kisses you may expect after- 
 wards. Christ does not always meet his saints in the 
 porch : the devil's parlor, the inner prison is his ban 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 69 
 
 queting house, the dungeon his pavilion ; there they 
 drink and are satisfied. The stocks and the rack are 
 the organs that make them the sweetest music. Many 
 a saint has been sadly disappointed at the first, hop- 
 ing to meet with Christ at the door ; but behold, a 
 dreadful sight — behold, sin lieth at the door — all 
 his sins, all that ever he did against Christ, all his 
 unthankfulness, unfaithfulness, unkindness, rebellion 
 against his Lord, stand forth and stare him in the 
 face. 
 
 Christians, beware of sin now ; it will meet you 
 in the day of adversity, the cross will tell you all that 
 ever you did. "I remember my faults this day: now 
 I remember all my pleasant things — my Sabbaths, 
 my ordinances, my liberty, the dear society I once 
 enjoyed but trifled and wasted away. Oh, my pride 
 and my wantonness, my idleness, my earthliness, my 
 hypocrisy, wherefore arc you come thus to affright and 
 torment me? Lord, whither am I come? how 
 dreadful is this place ! Is this my prison-entertain- 
 ment ? Arc these my prison-comforts ? what a 
 hard lodging am I like to have with such companions! 
 the wormwood and the gall ; a dark habitation, a 
 bitter cup indeed, is now given unto me. Is this the 
 comfort of the cross ? Are these the sweets so much 
 talked of?" Yet be not dismayed, however roughly 
 thou art handled at the door ; it is better within ; the 
 devil is going out in this storm ; thy sins meet thee 
 now, but it is only to shake hands and part ; after this 
 agony, expect the angels to come and minister to thee. 
 Complain not. if thou yet find no sweet, thou hast 
 
70 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 not drank deep enough; in the next room thou may 
 est meet thy Lord, and then tell me if it come short 
 of all that hath been told thee. 
 
 But shall I give you a more particular view of 
 some of the special comforts of the cross, or our suf- 
 ferings for Christ ? I shall only first premise a word 
 to let you understand what I mean by the sufferings of 
 Christ. We then suffer for Christ, when we suffer for 
 Christ's cause ; when we suffer because we will be 
 Christians, will be holy and righteous; when we suffer 
 because we will not sin ; and when we suffer upon 
 Christ's call, when he cuts out a cross for us and lays 
 it upon us. Then Christ calls us to suffering when he 
 puts us to this choice, either to suffer or to sin ; when 
 either our backs or our consciences must suffer ; when 
 we must suffer, or he must suffer by us. "If any man 
 will be my disciple, let him take up his cross." Christ 
 is not, and Christians must not be prodigal of their 
 blood : their blood is his ; their estates, their names, 
 their liberties are all his, and to him they must be 
 accountable how they part with them. It is not ev- 
 ery cross that thou canst call "thy" cross ; we must 
 not leave our way to seek a cross : when Christ has 
 laid a cross athwart a Christian's way that he should 
 go, and he must either make a stand or turn aside, 
 or submit his neck to it, then he says, There is thy 
 cross ; take it up, and get thee gone. Whatever cross 
 be before thee, if thou hast a way open to avoid it 
 without sin, that is none of thy cross ; thou mayest 
 not take it up, or if thou dost, thou wilt have no 
 thanks for thy pains. 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 71 
 
 Christians should be wary here. Though it be an 
 evidence of a gracious spirit to be always of a ready 
 and forward mind to suffer for Christ ; and when he 
 demands, Who will go with me — who will bear my 
 cross ? cheerfully to answer, I will go, Lord, let me 
 bear it ; yet should we take heed that, as we hang 
 not back when he says Go, so we run not before 
 he send us. Though it be a high honor to suffer for 
 the gospel, yet no man taketh this honor upon him- 
 self, but he that is called of Grod. I would not go to 
 a prison without a mittimus from heaven, lest, if my 
 suffering be of myself, I be there left to shift for my- 
 self. If Christ should meet me in prison or in banish- 
 ment, and demand of me, "What doest thou here, 
 Elijah? friend, how earnest thou in hither?" what 
 should I say if I could not say this, Thou, Lord, hast 
 brought me hither ; my conscience, my duty hath 
 brought me here ? 
 
 But understand me here with this caution : that 
 when the cause for the main is Christ's, though the 
 call seems doubtful, yet when the sufferer hath care- 
 fully inquired the mind of God, truly follows the dic- 
 tates of an enlightened conscience, and sincerely de- 
 signs the honor of Christ and his gospel, although he 
 should err in some circumstances of his case, and for 
 fear of iniquity should choose affliction when possibly 
 he might have avoided both, God will surely own his 
 sufferings, and accept his readiness of mind. 
 
 Yet still take heed of careless or wilful errors ; 
 take heed of preparing nails for thine own cross, thorns, 
 scourges, spears for thine own head or heart. Take 
 
72 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 heed both how thou shunnest, and how thou espousest 
 a suffering state. Go not into it upon heedless mis- 
 takes ; go not into it for good company, much less 
 upon any carnal designs ; let not thy pride or osten- 
 tation, or the bias of any fleshly considerations, lead 
 thee into the house of correction, lest thou find them 
 the rods to lash thee when thou art there. 
 
 Christians, consider if there be not sometimes some 
 uncomfortable miscarriages in this matter ; and wheth- 
 er it has not been the lot of some of Christ's — with how 
 much justice or charity let the Lord be judge — to be 
 censured and reproached as unfaithful or as fearful, 
 on no other account but for walking by this rule : not 
 to go to prison without a warrant, that is, not to cast 
 themselves into a suffering state, while Grod hath left 
 a way open to escape without sin. I confess, the 
 more dangerous and the more ordinary error is on the 
 other hand : we are more apt — especially when afflic- 
 tions are more sharp, and bite in earnest, and then 
 will be the great trial — rather sinfully to shift our- 
 selves of them, than unwarrantably to run ourselves 
 upon them ; but yet let it be considered whether there 
 be not an error on this hand also. 
 
 It is true, where the cause is the same as to the 
 main, different circumstances may make that to be 
 one man's sin, which is another man's duty; yea, that 
 may be a duty to the same man at one time, which, 
 supposing him in different circumstances, might have 
 been his sin at another. And it is not seldom, through 
 the unavoidable difference of our apprehensions, and 
 the difficulty of discerning our cases, that Christians 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 73 
 
 equally careful to know and do the will of Grod, when 
 the case and the circumstances also are mostly the 
 same, do judge differently about their call to suffer- 
 ing. Here let no man be so tyrannical to others, as 
 to expect that they should go cross to their own, to 
 comply with their brethren's judgments and con- 
 sciences. Let us not put one another on this unmer- 
 ciful necessity, either to break our peace with God or 
 our friends. Let it be sufficient to us faithfully to 
 follow our own light, without judging or quarrelling 
 with those who are otherwise minded. Beware of 
 bitterness. Be not cruel to consciences ; smite not 
 with the tongue, nor let an evil thought arise in thy 
 heart, upon any such account as this. Thine arrows 
 will recoil and fly back in thine own face. Blemish 
 not thine own sufferings by blasting thy brother's lib- 
 erty. Let not the wariness of some be condemned 
 for cowardice, nor the forwardness of others for pride 
 or hypocrisy ; but let us be clothed with humility, let 
 us put on a spirit of self-suspicion, and of charity to 
 our brethren; and let tins Christian frame be the 
 more studiously maintained, the more our practices, 
 differing according to the variety of our apprehen- 
 sions, seem to condemn each other and so provoke to 
 uncomfortable schisms and contentions, and the more 
 pernicious such schisms are likely to prove in the 
 issue. 
 
 These things premised, I shall now show you what 
 the special comforts of the cross are. You may expect 
 your suffering state to be sweetened with, 
 
 1. A more plentiful diffusion of special grace. 
 
 Heaven Opened. \ 
 
74 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 Grace is a comfort ; it is never tetter with the saints 
 than when that flourishes. The joy of the harvest is 
 nothing to the joy of grace ; he is not a Christian that 
 cannot say, "It is summer," when these flowers ap- 
 pear in their beauty. Flourishing faith and love have 
 their glorious joys. 1 Pet. 1 : 8. The springs of grace 
 are a resurrection from the dead ; and there is no such 
 spring as after a shower. Oh, how green do the herbs 
 then look. The withering flowers do then lift up the 
 head. Never so many stars appear, nor with such 
 lustre, as in a frosty night. Grind the spices, and 
 their fragrancy flows out. Saints are never more 
 saints than in the house of bondage, or the land of 
 their pilgrimage ; our winter weather makes us warm 
 at heart. As our outward man perishes, our inward 
 man is renewed day by day. 2 Cor. 4 : 16. Perse- 
 cution is the time of life. "We are delivered to death 
 for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be 
 manifest in our mortal flesh. 2 Cor. 4 : 11. Decayed 
 soul, comfort thy heart, the cross is coming ; now thou 
 shalt live, now thou shalt recover. This weakness will 
 strengthen the things that remain and are ready to 
 die. Now, faith and love and patience and courage, 
 that have so long hung the wing, lift up the head, 
 the day of your redemption draweth nigh ; this night 
 is your day of hope. 
 
 2. The cross will also bring a more clear revela- 
 tion of special love. Lovest thou me, Lord ? If so, 
 it is enough. Let me hear thy voice, let me see thy 
 face. Kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth. Thy 
 loving-kindness is better than life ; send forth thy 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 75 
 
 light and thy truth, let these tell me thou lovest me. 
 Thy poor spouse is sick for love ; when wilt thou 
 say, " Thou knowest that I love thee '?" Why, come 
 up with me on the cross ; that withered tree bears 
 more blossoms of love, than all the green trees of the 
 field. The whole gospel is hung upon the cross. 
 Where our Lord hung, there is sin nailed, the curse 
 vacated, death vanquished ; pardon, peace, joy, glory, 
 showed forth in open sight. There is love with all its 
 tokens ; go up and take. Fear not to be baptized with 
 thy Lord's baptism, nor to drink of his cup ; this cup 
 also is the communion of the blood of Christ. Come 
 with me into the wilderness, there will I speak com- 
 fortably to thee. When thou most wantest it, where 
 thou wilt most value it, there will I show thee my 
 love. 
 
 Our Lord loves not to have love slighted : the full 
 soul loathes the honeycomb ; thou hast yet too many 
 lovers to bid thy Lord welcome : he keeps his best 
 wine till all thine own be soured ; then it will relish, 
 and then thou shalt have it. His oil is for thy wounds. 
 The child never knows so much of the parent's heart 
 and compassion as when it is sick or in distress; then 
 every look is love, every word is pity and compassion. 
 the compassion of Christ's heart towards his afflicted 
 children ! When thou knowest hatred, then look to 
 know love ; when thou art persecuted, when thou art 
 cast out and trodden under foot of men, then will he 
 take thee in and cherish thee. 
 
 3. Thou shalt have also a more full manifestation 
 of glory. There is not a prison into which the saints 
 
76 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 are cast, but hath a window in the palace. Calvary 
 becomes a Tabor, where they have a sight of their 
 Lord in his glory. Golgotha becomes a Pisgah, where 
 they may look over Jordan into the land of promise. 
 Hast thou known little of heaven ? thou hast not yet 
 been in the deep. 
 
 Of Stephen the first gospel-martyr it is said, 
 " He looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the 
 glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of 
 God." Acts 7:55. "And all that sat in the coun- 
 cil saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." 
 Acts 6:15. Such an admirable splendor and serenity 
 shone in his countenance, as spoke him rather an angel 
 than a man. Oh, what a heaven was there within, 
 that cast out such a divine lustre on his face! his joy 
 was too big for his heart, his face must have its share ; 
 yea, his very adversaries, at second-hand, behold the 
 glory of God. 
 
 He looked up and saw heaven opened. Looking 
 down, he might see hell opened, all his tormentors 
 about him, the jaws of death ready to devour and 
 swallow him up ; but looking up, he saw heaven 
 opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 
 " Oh, there he is, for whose sake is all this. My Be- 
 loved, my Beloved is yonder. Behold the region of 
 light, whither this dark tempest is wafting me." His 
 hell and his heaven meet, but the light swallows up 
 the dark. Hell ceases to be hell, where heaven ap- 
 pears to be heaven. This is the portion of suffering 
 saints. When you read what is written of those 
 armies of martyrs that have gone before^-of their 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 77 
 
 unspeakable joys, their undaunted courage, their ad- 
 mirable boldness ; of their cheering their friends, con- 
 founding their foes, their rejoicing in their stripes, 
 singing in their stocks, leaping in their chains, boast- 
 ing of their bonds, kissing their stakes, embracing the 
 flames, riding up in triumph in their chariots of fire, 
 not repenting of their faith, nor accepting of deliver- 
 ance — what doth this speak, but that their eyes, as 
 well as their anchor, are within the veil, whither 
 Christ their forerunner is gone before them ? Oh, 
 who would not be with them ? Who would fear suf- 
 ferings ? 
 
 Soul, what art thou afraid of? Whither art thou 
 running; from what art thou hiding thyself ? What is 
 thine ease, or thy liberty, or thy quiet ? Why so loath 
 to loose from this shore ? Launch forth into the deep. 
 Fear not transportation into thy house of bondage ; 
 when thou art once there, it is but look up and thou 
 art in Paradise. 
 
 Such are the sufferings of Christ, this is the cross 
 of the covenant. But it includes also, 
 
 4. That which comprehends all the rest, a more 
 manifest exhibition of Christ's special presence : "I 
 am with thee to save thee." Jer. 30 : 11. " When 
 thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; 
 and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee : 
 when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be 
 burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." Isa. 
 43 : 2. Through fire and water thou must go—" we 
 went through fire and water into a wealthy place" — 
 but wherever thou goest, he will go with thee. When 
 
78 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 the bush was on fire, the Lord was in the bush; when 
 the three children were in the furnace, the Son of Grod 
 was there with them. ' ' In all their afflictions he was 
 afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in 
 his love and in his pity he redeemed them ; and he 
 bare them, and carried them all the days of old." Isa. 
 63 : 9. Though all men forsook me, the Lord stood 
 with me and strengthened me. 2 Timothy, 4 : 16, 17. 
 The saints shall never have this to charge upon the 
 Lord, " I was in prison, and thou visitedst me not." 
 
 He is ever with them, to bear their burdens and 
 ease their shoulders ; to plead their cause and main- 
 tain their innocence ; to wash their stripes, to wipe 
 off their tears, to heal their wounds, to bind up their 
 broken bones, to revive their weary spirits, to per- 
 fume their prisons, to lighten their dungeons, to lead 
 them in their wanderings, to converse with them in 
 their solitudes ; to give down from above, in divine 
 smiles and spiritual joys, assurances of dearest love, 
 tenderest care, melting sympathy, gracious accept- 
 ance; to give down from above whatever is wanting 
 beneath : in fine, to preserve them from falling by 
 the presence of his grace, till he present them fault- 
 less before the presence of his glory. Oh, it is good 
 being with Christ anywhere. 
 
 " Tell me, thou whom my soul loveth, where 
 thou feedest and makest thy flock to rest at noon." 
 " Where thou feedest?" yea, where thou art, whether 
 feeding or fasting, whether rejoicing or mourning. 
 " Where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon?" 
 yea, and where thou sufferest thy flocks to be scat- 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 79 
 
 tered in the night. "Where thy flocks are, thou art 
 not far away; tell me where thou feedest, tell me 
 where thou art. My Beloved that feedeth among the 
 lilies, feedeth sometimes among the thorns. When 
 his love is a lily among thorns, there he feedeth. He 
 feedeth among thorns ; he feedeth with his sheep, he 
 feedeth with his lambs wherever they feed; when 
 darkness and desolation and devils and death feed 
 upon them, even then he feedeth them, and takes his 
 feeding with them. 
 
 Oh, wherever my Lord is, there let my lot fall. 
 Let me dwell among the thorns, if so my dwelling 
 be with my Lord among the lilies. Let me wander 
 among the mountains while he is with me telling 
 all my wanderings. Let me be scourged, so he will 
 wash my stripes ; let me weep, so he will wipe off my 
 tears : I would not fear wounds while I have such oil 
 to pour in. Come, all ye thieves and robbers, I fear 
 you not, my dear Samaritan comes by ; come, ye bulls 
 of Bashan, ye boars of the forest, let my Beloved kiss 
 me with the kisses of his mouth, and I regard it not 
 though you kick me with the heel. my Lord, bring 
 me where thou feedest, let me live hi thy face, let me 
 feel thy smiles upon my heart, let me love thee, tell 
 me thou lovest me, rememberest, pitiest, acceptest, 
 takest care for me, and then choose my condition, my 
 dwelling, and entertainment for me. 
 
 Fainting Christian, lift up thine eyes, comfort thy 
 heart ; here is that thou fearest and tormentest thyself 
 w ith. Here is the inside of that formidable cross, the 
 light side of those dark clouds, the sunny side of that 
 
80 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 shady thorn hedge that so wounds and afflicts thy 
 heart. Fear not, be strong and of a good courage. 
 Thou still sayest, ""Woe is me, I can find no such 
 thing. Ah, Lord God, doth he not speak parables ? 
 that I were assured it might be thus with me." 
 "Why, art thou not in covenant ? Believe, and all is 
 thine. I believe, and therefore have I spoken ; be- 
 lieve, and thou shalt see the salvation of God ; as 
 sure as the cross is thine, all the comforts of the cross 
 are settled upon thee. Read over all the gracious 
 words thou hast before thine eyes ; review all the 
 instances of suffering saints that have gone before 
 thee, to whom these good words have been made 
 good, in conspicuous increases of divine grace, in the 
 signal discoveries of divine love, in the clearest and 
 fullest revelation of divine glory, in the intimate sense 
 of the divine presence, quickening, enlarging, encour- 
 aging, supporting their spirits in the darkest dens, in 
 the sharpest conflict with reproaches, mockings, bonds, 
 banishments, torments, and deaths ; and know that 
 all these things are written for thy learning, that thou 
 through patience and comfort of the Scriptures may- 
 est have hope. 
 
 Read over Isaiah fifty-first : " Hearken to me, ye 
 that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord ; 
 look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the 
 hole of the pit whence ye are digged." " For the 
 Lord shall comfort Zion ; he will comfort all her waste 
 places ; he will make her wilderness like Eden, and 
 her desert like the garden of the Lord ; joy and glad- 
 ness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the 
 
THE EARTH IN THE COVENANT. 81 
 
 voice of melody." " Lift up your eyes to the heav- 
 ens," etc. " Hearken unto me, ye that know right- 
 eousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear 
 ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of 
 their revilings : for the moth shall eat them up like a 
 garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool ; but 
 my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation 
 from generation to generation." " I, even I, am he 
 that comforteth you : who art thou, that thou shouldest 
 be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man 
 which shall be made as grass ; and forgettest the Lord 
 thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and 
 laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared con- 
 tinually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, 
 as if he were ready to destroy ? And where is the fury 
 of the oppressor ?" " Where is the fury of the oppres- 
 sor ?" say est thou ; "where is it not, rather ? Is it not 
 in the house, and in the field ? Is it not in the city 
 and in the villages ? Is it not upon my cattle, upon 
 my purse, upon my body, upon my children, upon my 
 friends ? Where is not the fury of the oppressor ?" 
 But when thou rememberest the Lord thy Maker, 
 the oath, the promise, and covenant of God, the pres- 
 ence, protection, and comfort of thy God — when thou 
 rememberest this, then, " Where is the fury of the 
 oppressor ?" 
 
82 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ANGELS OF LIGHT —THE POWERS OF DARK- 
 NESS—DEATH—THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN — IN 
 THE COVENANT. 
 
 I. The angels of light are in the covenant. " Are 
 they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister 
 for them who shall be heirs of salvation ?" Hebrews 
 1 : 14. While our Lord himself was sent down to 
 minister, behold his servants are to be ministered 
 unto; the angels are made their ministers : "He shall 
 give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all 
 thy ways." Psa. 91:11. They have received a charge, 
 and they have great advantages for keeping the charge 
 of the Lord. 
 
 1. They are mighty. "Bless the Lord, ye his 
 angels that excel in strength." Psalm 103 : 20. An 
 angel is more than an army; what slaughters have 
 the angels made in the armies of the aliens ! A hun- 
 dred fourscore and five thousand Assyrians are slain 
 by one angel of the Lord, when encamped against 
 Judah. Isa. 37 : 36. It is hard service indeed that is 
 too hard for an angel. 
 
 2. They are numerous. There are great multi- 
 tudes of them. " Thousands of angels." Psa. 67 : 17. 
 "A multitude of the heavenly host." Luke 2 : 13. 
 
THE ANGELS IN THE COVENANT. S3 
 
 An angel is more than an army; but what then an; 
 an army of angels ? 
 
 3. They are faithful. They can do much for the 
 saints, but will they do it ? Yes, they are faithful ; 
 they do the commandments of God. Psalm 103 : 'JO. 
 God bids them keep, and they are faithful, and will 
 keep, his sheep: we are taught to pray that "the 
 will of God may be done on earth, as it is in heaven ;" 
 that men may be faithful as the angels of God. 
 
 4. They are favorites; they behold the face of 
 God, they dwell in his presence, they are admitted u> 
 stand before his throne, they ran be heard : they have 
 favor in heaven, and therefore have they such power 
 on earth. " Take heed that ye despise not one of these 
 little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their 
 angels do always behold the face of my Father which 
 is in heaven." Matt. 18 : 10. Touch not mine anoint- 
 ed, let alone my little ones, take heed how you offend 
 them ; their angels are before my Father, and are 
 mighty with him, to engage his power for their aid 
 and deliverance. 
 
 the great security of the least of saints ! These 
 mighty ones, these multitudes, these faithful ones, 
 these favorites of heaven, the holy angels of God, have 
 all received a charge from the Lord, to preserve and 
 defend them: "'Lord, open his eyes, that he may 
 see;' and behold, the mountain was full of horses 
 and chariots of fire round about Elisha." 2 Kings, 
 6 : 17. 
 
 Should a mighty prince commit any subject of his 
 to a potent and faithful life-guard, with this charge : 
 
84 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 "Look to this man, keep him in safety, see that he 
 come to no harm; whoever offends, do you defend 
 him ; wherever he goes, go you with him ; wherever 
 he lodges, stand, you as a guard ahout the house ; 
 while he sleeps, do you watch ; see that he want for 
 nothing, let no hurt come to him :" if this were thy 
 case, in what great security would st thou count thyself. 
 But 0, what is a life-guard of men to a guard of 
 mighty angels? "Fear not, little flock;" in heaven 
 your angels behold the face of God, and in earth they 
 have pitched their tents round about you. 
 
 II. The powers of darkness are delivered over in 
 the covenant : Satan and all his instruments. We 
 are naturally in bondage to Satan, held "captive by 
 him at his will," 2 Timothy, 2 : 26 ; his prisoners, his 
 slaves, his vassals. By the blood of the covenant, the 
 Lord hath brought forth his prisoners and redeemed 
 his captives, Zech. 9:11, and also hath spoiled prin- 
 cipalities and powers, and led captivity captive. In 
 this covenant there is deliverance of the prisoners, and 
 a delivery over of them by whom they were held — 
 a jail- delivery, and a delivery of the jailers into their 
 hands ; and they are delivered over bound, the god of 
 this world in chains, limited, spoiled, banished, and 
 cast out. " The gates of hell shall not prevail against 
 it." Matt. 16 : 18. The gates of cities were anciently 
 their special strength, and in them were their great 
 councils held for the contriving and managing of all 
 their concerns. By "hell," understand all that belong 
 to that dark region, Satan and all his instruments, 
 
THE POWERS OF DARKNESS. 85 
 
 the dragon with his armies, the serpent and all his 
 seed. By "the gates of hell," understand the power 
 and policy, the combination and counsels of Satan and 
 his whole party. These gates of hell shall not prevail 
 against it, that is, against the church ; neither against 
 the Head nor any member of it : they "shall not pre- 
 vail;" that involves two things. 
 
 1. They shall fight against it; they are all com- 
 bined and listed against the church, making a war 
 upon it. " Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation 
 thereof. Down with it, root and branch ; let it not have 
 a being, let it not have so much as a name under heav- 
 en." Particular quarrels there may be between devil 
 and devil ; Herod against Pilate, and Pilate against 
 Herod ; yet the tails of these smoking firebrands are 
 united against the Lord and his anointed ones — against 
 their profession, against their religion, against the soul 
 of every saint. Whatever veils or specious pretences 
 they varnish their quarrel with, this it is that lies at 
 the bottom of all their counsels and machinations; in 
 this all their aims are concentrated — to root out god- 
 liness, and the professors of it, from the earth ; to de- 
 ceive and destroy souls for ever. 
 
 2. Though they shall fight against the church, yet 
 they shall not overcome. They shall not prevail 
 against it ; that is, not finally: in the end the victory 
 shall be the saints'. Jerusalem shall be "a burden- 
 some stone for all people," Zech. 12 : 3 ; such a stone 
 that they shall not be able to lift, or move it out of 
 its place ; it shall stand as a rock, against wbich the 
 impetuous waves may dash themselves, but they can- 
 
86 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 not move it. Neither shall they be able to bear it. It 
 shall crush those who burden themselves with it. Those 
 who shake the church are pulling a house about their 
 ears, a rock upon their loins ; it shall break the backs 
 of all those who contend against it ; they shall be cut 
 in pieces that burden themselves with it, though all 
 the earth, yea, and hell too, be gathered together 
 against it. It is a vain design that Satan and his 
 partakers are driving on. " Why do the heathen rage, 
 and the people imagine a vain thing?" Psalm 2 : 1. 
 It is a vain design, and it is a fatal design to them- 
 selves : " Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, 
 thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." 
 
 In the first dawning of this glorious daylight, it 
 was promised that the seed of the woman should break 
 the serpent's head. " I will put enmity between thee 
 and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; 
 it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his 
 heel." Gen. 3: 15. "Now is the judgment of this 
 world ; now shall the prince of this world be cast out." 
 John 12 : 31. Cast out ; whence ? Why, cast out of 
 his kingdom, out of his hold, cast down from his throne 
 and dominion. His prison is broken, and now the prey 
 is taken from the strong, the captives of the mighty 
 are taken away. 
 
 But you say, "Was this indeed done at the death 
 of Christ, to which these words refer ? Does not Sa- 
 tan still reign? Is he not still the god of this world, 
 and the prince of the power of the air ? Yea, what a 
 hold has he yet of the saints that are in the earth ! 
 What a tyrant is he to them ; how does he entangle and 
 
THE POWERS OF DARKNESS. 87 
 
 ensnare them ; what havoc does he make in their con- 
 sciences ; lording it over them, leading them captives 
 by lusts and temptations ; what a strong party has 
 he still within them, bearing arms against their Lord, 
 fighting against their souls. What sad inroads does 
 he make upon their grace, upon their peace ; they 
 cannot rest for him day nor night, abroad nor at home, 
 alone nor in company ; he is ever following them ; 
 whithersoever they go, the devil is at their backs ; 
 they cannot pray, nor read, nor spend a thought, nor 
 cast a look, nor dispatch a sigh towards the Lord, but 
 Satan stands by to resist and hinder them. What a 
 yoke has he still upon their neck ; what clogs and 
 weights has he still upon their loins; how do they 
 mourn in their souls while he vexes them from day to 
 day ; how do they groan, and travail in pain, sighing 
 in themselves and waiting for their redemption. How 
 is it then said, Now is he cast out?" Because now he 
 hath received his judgment : " The prince of this world 
 is judged." John 16 : 11. Now is the fatal blow 
 given, now is the serpent's head broken, though lie 
 still may bruise and hang on the saints. The blow 
 he levelled at our Lord has rebounded on his own 
 head. Though he be as Grad, a serpent in the way, 
 yet you may now tread upon this serpent and it shall 
 not hurt you. The strong man is now bound ; if he 
 be a god still, he is a god in chains, a prince in fetters ; 
 he must ask leave of your Father, ere he can touch 
 one hair of your heads. He cannot tempt you, nor 
 cast a bank against you, nor shoot an arrow at you, 
 without a commission from heaven. The devils are 
 
88 HEAVEN OPENED.. 
 
 subject to you. He is cast out, and in your Lord's 
 name you may cast him out ; you may be instruments 
 to bring many a soul to repentance, that they may 
 recover themselves out of the snares of the devil, who 
 are held captive by him at his will. Every sinner 
 that is converted by you, you have cast out a devil 
 from that soul. 
 
 Though he be an adversary still, yet is he such 
 an adversary as may be resisted: "Whom resist, 
 steadfast in the faith." 1 Pet. 5 : 9. And if you will 
 resist, he shall flee from you. James 4 : 7. Stand, 
 and your enemy runs. 
 
 Nay, more, he is not only a conquered enemy, but 
 is made your servant. This viper shall yield you 
 medicine against his own poison. His smitings shall 
 be an excellent oil; the messengers he sends to buffet 
 you, the thorns he sticks in your flesh, shall be a pre- 
 vention of greater evils. The very destruction he in- 
 tends to bring upon you shall promote your salva- 
 tion. His winds shall blow off" your chaff, his floods 
 shall wash away your filth, his earthquakes shall open 
 your prison-doors, his tempests shall drive you to har- 
 bor. Some men need a tempest to save them from a 
 wreck. 
 
 Nay, once more, he is not low enough yet ; he 
 shall be brought yet lower. You have assurance of 
 his total and final overthrow. "The God of peace 
 shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." Romans 
 16 : 20. " The devil shall be cast into the lake of fire 
 and brimstone." Rev. 20 : 10. It is but a little while, 
 and when he has done his work he shall be sent to 
 
DEATH IN THE COVENANT. 89 
 
 his place, where he shall be shut up, and a seal set 
 upon him; whence he shall come out no more for 
 ever. He shall tempt no more, vex no more, deceive 
 no more, destroy no more, torment you no more ; he 
 shall be thrust out, he shall be chained up ; the tor- 
 mentor shall be tormented day and night for ever and 
 ever. 
 
 Stand, Christians, stand your ground a little while ; 
 follow your work, hold up your holy profession, hold 
 on your holy course ; keep your hearts, keep your 
 garments, keep on your armor, keep corruption under, 
 resist temptation, bear your affliction ; hold out faith 
 and patience, fight again your adversaries, watch with 
 your Lord this one hour, and behold, he that shall 
 come, will come ; he cometh quickly, and he that is 
 in the world shall be consumed with the breath of his 
 mouth, and destroyed with the brightness of his ap- 
 pearing. He shall be cast out, he shall be cast down, 
 and rise no more for ever. 
 
 III. God has put death into the covenant. "Wheth- 
 er Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, 
 or death, all are yours." 1 Cor. 3 : 21. Death ! there 
 is a great purchase, you will say; what advantage 
 is that ? Yes, death is an advantage. To die is gain. 
 For, 
 
 1. The commission of death is changed. It was 
 once, Take him, jailer; away with him, carry him to 
 prison, there to be reserved to the judgment of the 
 great day. It is now, Take him, janitor; take him, 
 porter ; take him in, give him an entrance into his 
 
90 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 Master's joy. Death does but take the bride when 
 she is ready, and lodges her in the chamber of the 
 bridegroom ; this made death the apostle's desire: "I 
 desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far 
 better." Phil. 1 : 23. 
 
 2. Death is conquered. What does this mean? 
 Your enemy is yours ; your enemy is subjected to 
 you; a conquered enemy is made a tributary j death 
 is disarmed, it has lost its sting. "When a serpent has 
 lost its sting, you may take it into your bosom. He 
 that can say, "Death, where is thy sting?" may go 
 on and add, "Thanks be to G-od, which hath given 
 me the victory." A signet sent from heaven with a 
 death's head, is a precious token. Come, Christians, 
 be of good courage ; set your feet on the neck of this 
 king of terrors. 
 
 3. Death is at once the destruction of all their 
 enemies. "When once death has done its office upon 
 them, then farewell Edom, and Amnion, and Amalek, 
 and Egypt — farewell the pricking brier and the griev- 
 ing thorn ; then farewell sin and sorrow for ever : the 
 Egyptians they have seen and feared and felt to-day, 
 they shall never see again for ever. It destroys itself, 
 the saints' last enemy, by destroying them ; it has its 
 welcome and farewell the same moment ; it is but 
 "Welcome death!" and "Farewell death for ever!" 
 Death dies with the saints ; once dead, they die no 
 more for ever ; mortality is swallowed up of life ; 
 death is cast into the lake of fire ; that is its region ; 
 there, there souls die, and die, and die again, over 
 and over, for ever and ever : but for the saints, it 
 
DEATH IN THE COVENANT. 91 
 
 does but set them on the banks of that good land, 
 whither it cannot follow them. Our Lord by death, 
 by ours as well as his own, has delivered those who 
 " through fear of death were all their lifetime subject 
 to bondage." 
 
 Christians, you may now not only with patience, 
 but with desire, expect the assault of this king of ter- 
 rors. " What, shall tribulation, and persecution, and 
 famine, and nakedness, and peril, and sword ; shall 
 sorrows and fears and mortality die with me ? Yea, 
 shall sin die with me ? then welcome death. Lord, 
 strengthen me this once, let me die with the Philis- 
 tines." Would it be good for thee to be with thy 
 Father; in the bosom of thy Bridegroom; the pres- 
 ence-chamber of thy Lord and Love ? Would it be 
 a mercy to thee to weep no more, fear no more, suffer 
 no more, be tempted no more, sin no more ; to be 
 unclothed of corruption, and be clothed upon with 
 immortality and incorruption ? Then bid death wel- 
 come. 
 
 Blessed souls, when you come ashore, and see the 
 light, the love, the joy, the rest, the glory, that is on 
 the other side, you will then more fully understand 
 what this meaneth, " Death is yours." Ho knew 
 something, who said, " I cannot tell you what sweet 
 pain and delightsome torments are in Christ's love; I 
 often challenge time, that holdeth us asunder ; I have 
 for the present a sick life, much pain, and much love- 
 sickness for Christ ; what would I give to have a 
 bed made for my wearied soul in his bosom ! 
 when shall we meet ? how long is it to the dawning 
 
92 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 of the marriage-day? sweet Lord Jesus, take wide 
 steps : come over the mountains at one stride. my 
 Beloved, flee as a roe, or a young hart upon the moun- 
 tains of separation. if he would fold the heavens 
 together like an old cloak, and shovel time and days 
 out of the way, and come quickly." 
 
 IV. God hath put the kingdom into this covenant : 
 " Theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:3. " It 
 is your Father's good pleasure to give you the king- 
 dom." Luke 12 : 32. Glorious things are spoken of 
 thee, thou city of God. I might here enlarge in 
 describing the glory of this kingdom ; but when I 
 have said all, I must at last leave it within the veil ; 
 and therefore shall only tell you from the apostle, 
 " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
 entered into the heart of man, the things which God 
 hath prepared for them that love him," etc. 1 Cor. 
 2 : 9. When by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, 
 the eyes of your understandings are opened, ye shall 
 know " what is the hope of his calling, and what the 
 riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." 
 Eph. 1 : 18. 
 
A NEW HEART IN THE COVENANT. 93 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A NEW HEART IN THE COVENANT. 
 
 God hath put into the covenant all the means of 
 salvation — all things necessary to our obtaining the 
 everlasting kingdom. 
 
 All the outward means of salvation. Ordinances — 
 the word, sacraments, and prayer ; officers — prophets, 
 apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Ephes. 
 4 : 11, 12 ; 1 Cor. 3 : 22. 
 
 All the inward means of salvation. Every grace, 
 every duty ; our obtaining the one, and performing 
 the other ; these are all comprehended in the second 
 part of that great promise, "They shall be my 
 people." Two things are hereby signified : 
 
 The first is, I will account you and reckon you for 
 mine. You shall have the privilege and the blessings 
 of my people. I will set you apart, and separate you 
 to myself, out of all the tribes and kindreds of the 
 earth ; and will avouch you for my portion and pecu- 
 liar possession. I will set you as the apple of mine 
 eye, as a seal upon my heart, and upon mine arm. I 
 will mark you out for the people of my love ; of you 
 will I take care, for you will I provide, with you are 
 my delights, over you will I rejoice, with you will I 
 dwell, and you shall dwell with me for ever. 
 
 The other is, I will not only reckon you for my 
 people, but I will undertake for you, that you shall 
 consent to me, accept of me, own me, follow me, 
 
94 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 and cleave to me as my people. I will not only sep- 
 arate you to myself, but I will fashion you for my- 
 self; I will sanctify you, and guide you, and teach 
 you, and help you. I will fulfil in you all the good 
 pleasure of my will ; I will work all your works in 
 you ; I will avouch you for my people, and you shall 
 avouch me for your God. You shall love me, fear 
 me, obey me ; I will keep you from falling, and pre- 
 serve you to my heavenly kingdom. 
 
 Particularly, the Lord hath promised to give them, 
 1. A new heart ; 2. A heart to know the Lord ; 3. One 
 heart ; 4. A heart of flesh ; 5. A heart to love the Lord ; 
 6. A heart to fear the Lord ; 7. A heart to obey the 
 Lord ; 8. A heart to endure to the end. 
 
 A NEW HEART. 
 
 " A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit 
 will I put within you." Ezek. 36 : 26. This new 
 heart is the genus comprising all the graces noticed in 
 the chapters which follow ; and therefore the less shall 
 suffice to be spoken of it here. A new heart, that is, 
 not physically new in regard to substance, but mor- 
 ally only in regard to qualities. 
 
 This new heart signifies both another heart, and a 
 more excellent heart. It is said of Caleb, Numbers 
 14 : 24, that he had another heart. And this other 
 heart is declared to be a more excellent heart than 
 was in the rest of the people. While they either fol- 
 lowed not the Lord, or did so but haltingly, he fol- 
 lowed the Lord fully. " A man of understanding is of 
 an excellent spirit." Prov. 17 : 27. 
 
A NEW HEART IN THE COVENANT. 95 
 
 There is another heart that is not a new heart. 
 Nebuchadnezzar had another, but no new heart — the 
 heart of a beast for the heart of a man : an evil heart 
 grown worse is not a new heart, but the old heart 
 grown older. We read that when Saul was anointedi 
 king, God gave him another heart, 1 Sam. 10 : 9 ; 
 this was a more excellent heart than he had before, 
 and yet not the heart here promised. He gave to 
 him another heart, that is, the spirit of government ; 
 the heart of a king instead of the heart of a private 
 person ; a more public, enlarged, heroic heart ; the 
 heart of a king, fitted to the station and office of a 
 king. 
 
 The excellences of this new heart are not natural, 
 but spiritual excellences, as will appear more in the 
 handling of the particular graces promised ; and are 
 such as fit Christians for their new state, work, and 
 reward. 
 
 For their new state. Christians are made the 
 children of Grod, vessels of honor, a royal priesthood, 
 a holy nation, a peculiar people ; and God gives them 
 a heart answering to the dignity of their high calling. 
 
 For their new work. A Christian hath better 
 work to do than other men : while their business lies 
 all here below, in this earth, in their fields and vine- 
 yards, etc., Christians' work lies above, with their God 
 and their Jesus, and within, about their nobler and 
 immortal part ; their work is spiritual, and such is 
 the heart that is given to them. 
 
 For their new reward. God intends better things 
 for them ; a better portion, a better hope, better com- 
 
96 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 forts, joys, and delights here, and a better inheritance 
 hereafter ; and he prepares them better hearts to re- 
 ceive these better things ; he will not put his new 
 wine into old bottles. 
 
 The excellences of this new heart may be reduced 
 to these three: 
 
 1. A new light, discovering the dignity of their 
 state, the spirituality of their work, the glory of their 
 reward. 
 
 2. A new law, or frame, or bent of spirit, inclin- 
 ing, disposing, and fitting them to all that which they 
 are made for. And this is the meaning of God's writ- 
 ing his law in the heart. The law written in the 
 heart signifies not only the law made known in the 
 heart, but the heart made suitable to the law, and 
 adapted to the obedience of it. There is a kind of 
 connaturalness between the new heart and all that 
 the law requires. 
 
 3. A new power, strengthening them for their new 
 work. We have all these mentioned in one scrip- 
 ture : " God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but 
 of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Tim. 
 1:7. A sound mind, there is the new light ; a spirit 
 of love, there is the new law, or frame, and with these 
 a spirit of power. 
 
 In sum, this new heart is the divine nature, the 
 image of God renewed, the life of God begotten, 
 Christ formed in them. A heart after God's own 
 heart, containing in it all those graces of the Spirit, 
 wherein stand their likeness to God and their capa- 
 city of serving and enjoying him. This is the heart 
 
A NEW HEART IN THE COVENANT. 97 
 
 the Lord will give : " A new heart will I give unto 
 you." 
 
 Against all these glorious things promised, it would 
 he objected, " A kingdom promised ! glory and honor 
 and everlasting blessedness granted ! Alas, what is 
 all this to me? To whom is it promised; or upon 
 what terms ? "When I consider what is required, it 
 is all one to me as if there had been nothing prom- 
 ised. The way to this blessedness is too narrow, the 
 gate is too strait for me ever to hope to enter. What- 
 ever the crown be, the strictness and severities of a 
 Christian course, the very foresight of them does 
 amaze and confound me. Live a new life! deny my- 
 self, take up my cross, follow Christ, spend my days 
 in fasting and praying and mourning ; live by rule, 
 look^to every step, to every word, to every thought — 
 all these things are against me. A new life, a new 
 course : if this be it, I shall never bear it. It is all 
 one to me as if there had been no Christ, no gospel, 
 no kingdom promised, if it cannot be obtained upon 
 other terms than these. I may even as well sit down 
 as I am, and run the venture of what follows, as to 
 feed myself with hopes of that which I see I can never 
 obtain. If I do but move heavenwards, the stream 
 carries me down ; if I do but take up a thought, 
 make an essay, set a foot forward towards this new 
 course, I find my old things hang upon my heels. 
 My old customs, my old companions, my old pleas- 
 ures and ease and liberties quickly pull me back. 
 what shall I do? I must be undone, I must be a lost 
 and condemned wretch. Fain I would be happy, but 
 
98 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 I cannot be holy. I dread, I often tremble to think 
 of losing Christ, and the blessings of his gospel ; but 
 this wretched heart is too hard for me, and will not 
 come. I am ashamed, I am plagued to think what I 
 am likely to lose, and for how little ; but I cannot 
 help it ; the way is such that this foolish heart will 
 never endure it." 
 
 Why, hearken, soul ; the Lord who hath called 
 thee to this new course, will give thee a new heart. 
 And there is not any thing required in a holy life so 
 irksome and so contrary to thee, but this new heart 
 is so fitted and suited to it that it will become easy to 
 thee. Its pain will be pleasant, its severity will be 
 liberty, its very drudgery, as thou countest it, will be 
 a great delight. " I delight to do thy will, my 
 God ; yea, thy law is within my heart." Psa. 40 : 8. 
 And of the renewed soul it is said, " His delight is in 
 the law of the Lord :" in the original, his will, his 
 heart, is in the law. Psa. 1 : 2. The law is in the 
 heart, and his heart is in the law. G-od's will and his 
 are the same. Whatever God bids him do, his heart 
 bids him do, and his hand will never say his heart 
 nay. He that delights in the law because it is a law 
 commanding such things, will never grudge to do 
 what it commands. 
 
 Where it is a pleasure to be commanded, it is no 
 pain to obey. Whatever work the law cuts him out, 
 this work he loves. Bid him pray, bid him watch, 
 bid him walk humbly with his God ; it is work he 
 loves ; it is in his heart to do it. Bid a saint draw 
 nigh to God in any duty ; it is as if you bade the 
 
A NEW HEART IN THE COVENANT. 99 
 
 hungry to eat, or the thirsty to drink, the naked to 
 be clothed, the beggar to come for alms, or the poor 
 laborer for a day's work. Bid a Christian deny him- 
 self, or crucify his flesh; it is the same as if you bade 
 him deny his enemy, revenge himself on his enemy : 
 such revenge is sweet. But how pleasant is it to 
 him to be called to a life of praise ; to live above in 
 the light, in the love, in the joy of the Lord ; to be 
 searching and studying and looking into, and admir- 
 ing those everlasting treasures of spiritual and heav- 
 enly delights laid up in God ; to behold his face, to 
 live in his presence, and to dwell in the light of his 
 countenance ! It is true, there is some remaining 
 difficulty and irksomeness in the sweetest works of 
 religion, as far forth as the heart is unrenewed and is 
 yet carnal. " Deny myself; mortify lust ; forsake my 
 companions ; withdraw from iniquity ! why, what is 
 this but to cut off my hand ; to pluck out my eyes ; 
 to tear my flesh ? Walk with God ; seek his face ; 
 dwell in his presence ! it is all one as to bid me feed 
 on the air, wander on the mountains, dwell in the 
 wilderness ; and as much pleasure can I find in the 
 one as in the other." It is so indeed, as far as thou 
 remainest carnal ; the Lord God and all his ways are 
 a wilderness, a land of darkness to thee ; but as much 
 as thou hast of this new heart, so much ease and 
 pleasure thou wilt find herein. 
 
 Desponding soul, thou sayest thou art yet ignorant, 
 and hast little knowledge of the way of the Lord ; but 
 behold a new light to lead thee. Thou art yet carnal, 
 and thy heart is contrary, and ever contending with 
 
100 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 God ; but the new nature will end the strife. Thou 
 art weak and impotent, the work is too hard for thee, 
 if thou lovedst it ever so well ; but how will this be 
 when thou art endued with power from on high ? 
 
 friend, wouldst thou indeed live this new life ? 
 then get this new heart. "But 0, there lies the diffi- 
 culty; how or where shall I get it?" Why, have re- 
 course to the covenant; there it lies for thee. "But 
 how shall I get it thence ?" Why, hath not the Lord 
 promised to give it thee ? take the word from his 
 mouth, and put it into thine own ; turn the word of 
 promise into a prayer. Doth he say, "I will give?" 
 let thy soul answer, "Give, Lord, give me this 
 new heart. I am weary, Lord, and thou art weary 
 also of this wicked heart : at once ease thyself and 
 me ; take away this, and give me a better heart." 
 Turn the word of promise into a prayer, and then 
 turn the word of prayer into a word of faith. He 
 says, "I will give;" let thy faith say, "Thou wilt 
 give, I shall have it ; since thou hast said, thy ser- 
 vant may also boldly say, thou wilt do it. Thou wilt 
 give me a better heart. Farewell, my old sins, lusts, 
 and companions ; farewell, my old pleasures and ways ; 
 now for heaven in earnest, now welcome the strait 
 gate, the new and living way. Old things are passed 
 away, all things shall become new." Turn the word 
 of promise into a prayer, turn thy prayer into a word 
 of faith, and God will turn the word of faith into a 
 word of command. "Be it according to thy word. 
 Let there be a new light, let there be a new law, let 
 there be a new power, let there no more be a spirit of 
 
A NEW HEART IN THE COVENANT. 101 
 
 fear in this heart, hut a spirit of power, of love, and 
 of a sound mind." And as when he said in the crea- 
 tion of the great world, "Let there be light," let there 
 be a firmament, let there be a sun and moon, it was 
 so; so when he shall say, in the new creation of thy 
 little world, Let there be light, let there be love, let 
 there be power — let us again make man in our image, 
 after our own likeness, it shall be so. The Lord hath 
 said, I will ; let thy prayer say, Do it, Lord ; let thy 
 faith say, Thou wilt do it; and Grod will say, Amen 
 So be it. 
 
102 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A HEART TO KNOW THE LORD. 
 
 "I will give them a heart to know me." Jer. 
 24 : 7. The knowledge of God is the first excellency 
 of the new heart. As in the old, so in the new crea- 
 tion, as was said before, the first word is, " Let there 
 be light." There is not so glorious a preeminence of 
 day above night, as of the knowledge above the igno- 
 rance of God. As the firmament without a sun, as 
 the body without an eye, so is the soul without know- 
 ledge. "What this knowledge of God here promised is, 
 will appear, if we consider its object and its act. 
 
 The object of this knowledge is God : not only the 
 nature or being of God, manifested in his essential 
 perfections, his glorious attributes, his infiniteness, 
 eternity, omnipotence, in his personal relations, the 
 subsistences in the godhead ; but God in Christ God 
 in covenant ; yea, the whole mind and will of God, 
 all that which God hath revealed to us as our duty 
 or happiness. God known in the heart, is the whole 
 Bible opened : the law opened, the gospel opened ; 
 duties, comforts, privileges made manifest. Christ 
 opened in his sufferings, in his satisfaction, in his 
 Spirit, in all the riches of his glory : the whole mys- 
 tery of godliness revealed. The heart opened, man 
 made known to himself, all the depths of the heart, 
 all the deceits of the heart, all the faculties and pow- 
 
 
A HEART TO KNOW THE LORD. 103 
 
 ers of the heart, with their motions, operations, in- 
 clinations, the rectitude or obliquities of them. Heav- 
 en opened, the crown, the kingdom known; everlast- 
 ing rest, glory, honor, immortality brought to light. 
 Hell opened, sin known, the devil known, wrath, 
 temptation, the curse, eternal fire known. All this, 
 even all that God is, and all that he has revealed in 
 his word and works, are the object of this knowledge 
 of God. 
 
 The act. To know, is to apprehend, or understand 
 God, and the things of God : "Let him that glorieth, 
 glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me." 
 Jer. 9:24. "That ye may be able to comprehend 
 with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and 
 depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ." 
 Eph. 3 : 18, 19. This apprehension of God doth not 
 barely denote our having received some intellectual or 
 metaphysical notions of God, and the truths that are 
 in him ; but further, it denotes, 
 
 An approbation of him ; an approving or liking 
 the things that are excellent: "That your love may 
 abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all 
 judgment, that ye may approve things that are excel- 
 lent." Phil. 1 : 9, 10. 
 
 Appropriation. The knowing of God as a recon- 
 ciled God ; a God, and a God to me ; good, and good 
 to me ; wise, and wise for me ; my Lord and my God. 
 To know God in Christ, reconciled through Christ, 
 propitious through Christ, this is saving knowledge. 
 To know and not possess, to see and not eat, to know 
 an angry God, a wrathful God, a God lost — to know 
 
104 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 goodness, mercy, loving-kindness, compassion, all-suf- 
 ficiency, and to have the heart recur, "What is this 
 to thee ? this is none of thine " — the damned thus 
 know, and die. 
 
 Affection. As "they that know thy name will 
 put their trust in thee," Psalm 9 : 10, so those that 
 know thy name will love thee, and fear thee, and re- 
 joice in thee, and bless thy name. To know and hate 
 God, to know and contemn God, to know and fly from 
 God, to know and blaspheme and curse God, the devils 
 thus know and tremble. 
 
 But especially that which distinguishes this sav- 
 ing from common knowledge is, its power and its 
 savor. 
 
 I. Its power. The knowledge of God is mighty — 
 my preaching was not weak, but mighty in you, 2 Cor. 
 13 : 3. It hath, 
 
 1. A transforming power. ""We all, with open 
 face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are 
 changed into the same image." 2 Cor. 3:18. "Be 
 ye not conformed to this present world, but be ye 
 transformed by the renewing of your minds." Rom. 
 12 : 2. The renovation of the mind both is this change, 
 and works it further upon the whole soul ; this new 
 light is the new creature ; old things pass away, all 
 things become new, where the mind is savingly en- 
 lightened. God known in the soul, is God united 
 with the soul ; Christ revealed in the heart, is Christ 
 formed upon the heart ; there is life in this light, it is 
 no other than the light of life. The knowledge of God 
 comprehends, is involved in, and inspirits and ani- 
 
A HEART TO KNOW THE LORD. 105 
 
 mates every grace and duty. As the same soul in the 
 eye sees, in the ear hears, in the palate tastes — as the 
 same juice is in the olive fatness, in the fig-tree sweet- 
 ness, in the oak strength, in the rose fragrancy, in the 
 lily beauty; so the same grace, which in the mind is 
 light, in the heart is love, holy desire, holy fear, holy 
 joy. Thus one says, that as feeling is inseparable from 
 all the organs of sense — as the eye feels and sees, the 
 ear feels and hears, the palate feels and tastes, the 
 nostrils feel and smell ; so knowledge is involved in 
 every grace. Faith knows and believes, charity knows 
 and loves, temperance knows and abstains, patience 
 knows and suffers, humility knows and stoops, repent- 
 ance knows and mourns, obedience knows and does, 
 compassion knows and pities, hope knows and expects, 
 confidence knows and rejoices ; and therefore we be- 
 lieve, and love, and obey, and hope, and rejoice, because 
 we know. 
 
 God gives us this knowledge as the eye of our 
 souls, and by that eye he enters with all his power and 
 glory ; that ye may know the love of Christ, which 
 passeth knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness 
 of God. Eph. 3 : 19. Daylight is not that light we 
 receive by reflection from the moon and stars, at sec- 
 ond-hand : when the sun is risen and come in among 
 us, then it is day; when the Sun of righteousness is 
 risen in the heart, there is the light of life ; God is 
 and God dwells in this light, and where God dwells 
 every unclean thing vanishes. Can darkness dwell 
 with the sun ; can death dwell with life ? According 
 to the measure of the manifestation of God in us, so 
 
106 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 far forth is sin necessarily vanished. Thou art but 
 the carcass of a Christian, the light that is in thee is 
 darkness, the life that is in thee is death, if thou be 
 not in the whole man renewed after the image of him 
 that created thee. If Christ be not formed in thy 
 heart, if the love, the humility, the meekness, the 
 patience, the compassion, the holiness of the Lord 
 Jesus be not begotten in thee, whatever thou know- 
 est, thou knowest nothing as thou oughtest to know; 
 if thou hast all knowledge and hast not charity, and 
 so if thou hast all knowledge and hast not humility, 
 meekness, holiness, thou art but as sounding brass, or 
 a tinkling cymbal. 
 
 Doubting Christian, that complainest of and be- 
 wailest thine ignorance, and fearest that thou knowest 
 not God, look upwards where his glory dwells ; lift 
 up thine eyes and see. Or if thou canst not see, lift 
 up thy heart for eyes : " Lord, where dwellest thou ? 
 let me see thy face, show me thy glory, pity the blind, 
 let my blind eyes be opened, and my tongue shall be 
 loosed and speak forth thy praise." Look upward, 
 and if yet thou seest not thy God, look inward: 
 canst thou see his face in thy soul? canst thou see 
 his image on thy heart? canst thou behold in this 
 glass the glory of the Lord, and find thyself changed 
 into his image ? then comfort thy heart, how short- 
 sighted soever thou seemest to be, how dim soever thy 
 candle burns, how weak soever in the knowledge of 
 God thou complainest thou art, thou hast seen God, 
 thou hast seen his face in peace. God that com- 
 manded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined 
 
A HEART TO KNOW THE LORD. 107 
 
 into thy heart, and given thee the knowledge of his 
 glory in the face of Jesus Christ. 
 
 2. A fructifying 1 power. This sunshine makes a 
 , fruitful soil. My desire for you, saith the apostle, is 
 "that ye might he filled with the knowledge of his 
 will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding ; that 
 ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, 
 being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in 
 the knowledge of God ; strengthened with all might, 
 according to his glorious power, unto all patience and 
 long-suffering with joyfulness." Col. 1 : 9-11. " Be- 
 ing filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are 
 by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of (rod," 
 Phil. 1 : 11 ; full of light and full of love, of faith, of 
 patience, of humility, and fruitful in every good work. 
 "A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, 
 bringeth forth good things ; and an evil man, out of 
 the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things." Matt. 
 12 : 35. A good man hath a good treasure within 
 him, a treasure of heavenly wisdom, of divine truth, 
 a treasure of light ; God hath shined into his heart ; 
 he is filled with all the fulness of God ; and what is 
 laid up within, he brings forth without. An evil man 
 hath an evil treasure, Satan hath been filling his 
 heart. " Why hath Satan filled thy heart ?" Acts 
 5 : 3. The treasures of darkness are there, a treas- 
 ure of lust and lies ; falsehood and folly are found 
 with him : these treasures of darkness within bring 
 forth darkness; dark souls lead dark lives ; their way 
 is dark, their deeds are darkness. Oh, how fruitful 
 are sinners in their unfruitful works! "filled with 
 
108 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covet- 
 ousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, debate, deceit, 
 malignity." Romans 1 : 29, 30. Their hearts are 
 full, and thereupon their mouths full, their eyes full, 
 their hands full ; mouths full of cursings, eyes full of 
 adultery, hands full of violence, filled with all un- 
 righteousness. " generation of vipers, how can ye, 
 being evil," having such hearts, "speak good things?" 
 All is evil that comes from you ; and how can it be 
 otherwise? Out of the abundance of the heart the 
 mouth speaks. And in like manner, generation of 
 believers, how can ye, being good, but bring forth 
 good things ? Or how can you say or think there is a 
 treasure of grace, a fountain of light within, when no 
 streams spring forth ? Penury in the life speaks no 
 great plenty in the heart ; the truths of God within 
 you are the seed of God, the good seed that he sows 
 in his fields : where there is good seed sown in good 
 ground, you will expect a fruitful harvest ; a bar- 
 ren crop speaks a barren soil, or no good seed sown 
 there. 
 
 "Hereby we do know that we know him, if wo 
 keep his commandments." 1 John, 2 : 3. We know 
 God. "But are you sure of it? Are you not mista- 
 ken?" No, we are not mistaken; we know that we 
 know him. "But how do you know it?" Why, how 
 are trees known ? By their fruits ye shall know them. 
 "How do ye know that. this is indeed the tree of know- 
 ledge ?" Why, see what fruits are hanging upon it : 
 we keep the commandments ; here is obedience grow- 
 ing, here is holiness and righteousness and mercy. 
 
A HEART TO KNOW THE LORD. 109 
 
 Doubtless this is the right tree, for behold all the 
 commandments, the two tables hanging upon the 
 boughs of it, and not broken, but kept and observed. 
 We may as well say obedience is no obedience, duty 
 is no duty, faith and love and humility and patience 
 are not what they are, as that the tree that brings 
 forth this fruit is not the tree of knowledge. " We 
 know that we know him, because we keep his com- 
 mandments." Yea, and this tree of knowledge is the 
 tree of life too, both in one: "A tree of life to them 
 that lay hold upon her." Prov. 3:18. Where these 
 fruits are not found, where there are nothing but 
 shows and painted fruits — where there are nothing 
 but the fruits of unrighteousness, contention, strife 
 covetousness, sensuality, and the like — he is very ig- 
 norant indeed that is not able to say, Whatever I am 
 ignorant of, this one thing I know, that I know not 
 God. Christian, boast not of what thou hast, but 
 consider what thou doest ; try thy head by thy heart, 
 and thy heart by thy hand ; judge of thy light by thy 
 love, and thy love by thy life ; say not that God hath 
 shined into thy heart, unless thy light shine, thy works 
 shine before men: "The path of the just shineth." 
 Prov. 4 : 18. It is but a form of knowledge that, brings 
 forth but a form of godliness ; he that holdeth the 
 truth in unrighteousness, hath not the truth in him. 
 Thou say est thou knowest the Lord, but what say 
 thy ways? Do these speak the same things? Ac- 
 tion is the best interpreter of the inner man : feel the 
 pulses of thy heart ; what watchfulness, what holiness 
 has thy knowledge brought forth ? Hast thou received 
 
110 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 the Spirit, who yet walkest in the flesh? What, 
 heaven in thy heart, and naught but earth in thy 
 hand ; truth in thy heart, and lies in thy mouth ; 
 holiness in thy heart, glory in thy heart, and in thy 
 tongue nothing hut filth or froth ? What, a heart so 
 full, and a life so empty ; how can these things he ? 
 Has the light in thy heart given laws only to thy heart ? 
 or does thy heart submit, while thy tongue rebels and 
 thou kickest with the heel ? 
 
 Woe to us Christians, that sinners should be so 
 full, and saints so empty; that they should speak 
 what they have seen with their father, and we should 
 speak no more what we have seen with our Father; 
 that oaths, and lies, and blasphemies, and scoffs, and 
 cursing should be so rife in their mouths, and that 
 truth and goodness and holiness, blessings and praises, 
 should be no more in ours; that there should be so 
 much guile in their lips, and so little grace in ours; 
 that the shade should be more fruitful than the sun ; 
 that the good ground should be the only barren ground ; 
 that their habitations should be so full of violence and 
 oppression and wantonness, and no more mercy and 
 righteousness and sobriety in ours. 
 
 Woe to us, that we know so much to so little pur- 
 pose ; that we should be bushels to hide, and not 
 rather candlesticks to hold forth the candle of the 
 Lord he has lighted up in us. how many dark 
 souls might our candle lead on to the sun : the light 
 that is in Israel might do much towards turning Egypt 
 into a Goshen. Speak, Christians, speak what you 
 have seen, and testify what you have believed : bring 
 
A HEART TO KNOW THE LORD. Ill 
 
 forth out of your treasure ; pity the blind world, or at 
 least be more helpful one to another. Instruct as you 
 have been instructed ; convince as you have been con- 
 vinced ; comfort as you have been comforted of (rod. 
 Outvie sinners ; let not their mouths be so full of 
 cursing as yours of blessing ; while theirs are so full 
 of blasphemies, let it be said of you as of your Lord, 
 Full of grace are their lips, (rood words are not 
 wind ; you may reckon them not among the leaves, 
 but the fruit. While you are speaking of the things 
 of God, you are therein doing the will of God. I con- 
 fess the proverb is true, The greatest talkers are not 
 always the greatest doers. But it is true also, he is 
 seldom a great doer that hath nothing to say. There 
 is a speaking which is our doing. There is a speak- 
 ing in a way of boasting, to magnify and set up our- 
 selves ; beware of that : and there is a speaking to the 
 use of edifying, to build up our brethren. When we 
 are speaking to instruct, to convince, to awaken, and 
 whet on our own and other spirits to our work, we are 
 then doing our work. Speak, Christians, and speak 
 often the things that you know ; but let me add, let 
 your lives speak also, and not your lips only. If you 
 would not be vain talkers, nor all tongue, let your 
 lips speak, and your hands speak, and your feet speak ; 
 let your works and your ways speak the wonderful 
 things of God. Bring forth what you have received : 
 he that is all inside, and he that is all outside, are 
 equally nothing. The one is a shadow without sub- 
 stance, the other's substance is but a shadow ; the one 
 is a deceiver, the other a deceived soul ; the one boasts 
 
112 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 himself, the other thinks himself something ; hut nei- 
 ther is any thing. 
 
 Christians, be full of good fruits, and you will 
 make full proof that your wisdom is from above. 
 "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do 
 them." 
 
 Feeble Christian, that knowest but little of God 
 and callest that little nothing, while thou doubtest 
 whether the light hath shined into thee, dost thou 
 walk in the little light thou hast ; dost thou shine as 
 a light in the world ; dost thou know how to be holy 
 and humble and harmless and honest ; dost thou live 
 under the power of those truths thou knowest ; dost 
 thou fear the Lord, and obey the voice of his ser- 
 vants ? If so, trust in the Lord, and stay thyself on 
 thy God ; thou art a child of light, though, through 
 thy trembling heart, thou walkest in darkness. Hav- 
 ing not seen, thou lovest ; and believing, thou shalt 
 rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 
 
 II. Its savor. "And maketh manifest the savor 
 of his knowledge by, us in every place." 2 Cor. 2 : 14. 
 The knowledge of Grod is sweet-scented ; it casts forth 
 a fragrancy wherever it comes. It hath a grateful- 
 ness to the heart, and leaves sweet impressions on the 
 senses of the saints. They taste that the Lord is 
 gracious. As their breathings go up as sweet incense, 
 so his beams come down with like sweetness to them. 
 The name of the Lord is "as ointment poured forth." 
 Sol. Song 1 : 3. Why, what is his name ? This is 
 his name : " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and 
 gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness 
 
 
A HEART TO KiNOW THE LORD. 113 
 
 and truth ; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving 
 iniquity, transgression, and sin." Exod. 34 : 6, 7. 
 Oh, what a bundle of myrrh, what a garden of spices 
 is here inclosed. What a sweet-smelling savor does 
 it send forth to those who have their senses exercised 
 to discern both good and evil. 
 
 The name of the Lord is a precious ointment, and 
 the knowledge of God is this ointment poured forth. 
 Where God is known in the soul, there his sweet 
 savor is shed abroad. The thoughts of God are pre- 
 cious, the ways of God are pleasant to them that 
 understand them. His fruit was sweet unto my 
 taste. Oh, the ineffable pleasures of religion ! The 
 carnal world count it an insipid thing ; they cannot 
 taste ; and no wonder, for they do not see the things 
 of God, nor can they, because they are spiritually 
 discerned. Let God be savingly known, and then 
 you will find what the savor of his knowledge is. 
 This light is sweet, it is a pleasant thing to behold 
 the sun. my soul, let thy walks, let thy dwellings 
 be in this garden of the Lord ; let the sun shine, and 
 the smell of his spices shall flow forth unto thee. 
 my Lord, shed abroad thy sweet ointment, let the 
 smell of thy garments refresh my soul. Let me taste 
 and see ; let me see, and I shall taste that the Lord 
 is gracious. 
 
 Vanish, all ye carnal pleasures and sensual de- 
 lights ; these rosebuds rot, the flowers of your gar- 
 dens wither, dead flies are in all your ointments, the 
 light of the Lord hath shined all your glories into 
 darkness. The waters of the sanctuary have made 
 
114 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 all your waters brackish ; there remains no pleasure 
 in them. 
 
 He that hath known the Lord, hath more or less, 
 according to the measure of his knowledge, received 
 in the relish and sweetness of it ; and what he hath 
 received in, he sends forth before men ; he hath re- 
 ceived, and he is a sweet savor. As the preachers, 
 so the practitioners of piety are a sweet savor of 
 Christ unto God, and hand down the sweetness of 
 God unto men. They are of savory lips, and of sav- 
 ory lives ; the savor of their graces is shed abroad in 
 the churches of Christ. Carnal hearts send forth a 
 stench instead of a sweet smell ; they are all rotten- 
 ness, the savor of a sepulchre is all they have ; their 
 ways, their words, their very breath smell of a rotten 
 heart ; yea, the very best they have, their pleasures, 
 their garments, their gallantry, their powders and 
 perfumes and sweet odors savor of their proud and 
 vain and sensual hearts. But Oh, what a scent do 
 their oaths and their curses and their scoffs and their 
 lies send forth! Sinners, learn to know the Lord, and 
 this will quickly change your savor. And you that 
 know any thing of God, think not that your know- 
 ledge is saving, till your souls have received in, and 
 your ways do send forth the savor of his knowledge. 
 
 This second mark of a heart to know the Lord, 
 namely, the sweet savor of this knowledgej the pleas- 
 ure that it brings into the soul, might be of uncertain 
 significance if it stood alone : there may some pleas- 
 ure and joy arise from the common knowledge of 
 God ; and sometimes there is but little joy where 
 
A HEART TO KNOW THE LORD. 115 
 
 there is true religion. But where it is found in con- 
 junction with the former mark, ths evidence of its 
 soundness will be more full. Find all together, this 
 transforming, this fructifying, this savory knowledge, 
 and you may rest satisfied that this is the saving 
 knowledge of God. And of this is the promise, " I 
 will give them a heart to know me." 
 
 Oh, how much need have we si ill to wait, and beg 
 for the accomplishment of this promise ; how little 
 sound knowledge is there found among us ! gome 
 are weak in knowledge who have been long taught 
 of God, and yet are not taught of God. God hath 
 been teaching them, but they have not learned of 
 him; 1hcy have had a good master, but have been 
 poor scholars — weak men, as we call men of low un- 
 derstanding. Oh, how many weak souls are there, 
 even among professing Christians, who, though they 
 might have been teachers of others, yet need to be 
 taught the first principles of the oracles of God. 
 Some men have not the knowledge of God ; I speak 
 this to their shame. 1 Cor. 15 : 34. 
 
 Others are men of knowledge, but of weak know- 
 ledge, who know much, but to little purpose ; their 
 great knowledge has little power in them ; their lusts 
 are too strong for their light, I spake unto thee with 
 a strong hand, and instructed thee. Isa. 8:11. If 
 God have spoken to these men, yet his hand has not 
 instructed them ; the nail has not been struck deep 
 enough, it dwells in the head only, it has not reached 
 their heart ; they have an eye, but are far enough 
 from having a heart to know the Lord. Their know- 
 
116 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 ledge does not lead them on to religion, but must 
 serve them instead of religion ; it is made to serve, 
 and not suffered to guide and govern — to serve their 
 turns, to serve their interest, to serve their pride and 
 their covetousness. Their knowledge of God makes 
 them devils ; it helps them to play the hypocrite, to be 
 deceivers of others, yea, and of their own souls. It 
 will seek them out acceptable words, put prayers into 
 their mouths, praises into their lips, spiritualize their 
 language, furnish them with savory discourse, carry 
 them plausibly through duties, which in name are for 
 God's glory and the good of souls, but are in truth 
 only sacrifices to their lusts. The knowledge of God 
 humbleth, but this knowledge puffeth up, and lifteth 
 up — puffeth them up in their own, and lifteth them 
 up in others' thoughts ; and when it has done this, it 
 has done them all the service they have for it to do, 
 unless it may be they have some worse work for it — 
 to make rents and divisions in the church of Christ, to 
 maintain disputes, to cavil and quarrel, to divide and 
 make parties, to make twenty religions out of one, 
 till at length they make that one to be none. AVhile 
 the apostle says, " Some men have not the knowledge 
 of God, I speak this to your shame ;" I may say 
 also, Some men have the knowledge of God, I speak 
 this to their shame. What, the knowledge of God, 
 and no more humility ; the knowledge of God, and 
 no more charity ? I speak this to your shame. Have 
 the faith of Christ in respect of persons ? have the 
 knowledge of God in respect of parties ? know God, 
 and yet divide and scatter and confound them that 
 
A HEART TO KNOW THE LORD. 117 
 
 are of God ? yea, and contend and quarrel about 
 small differences, and protest, " Here is God, and 
 not there; with us, and not with you?" when, it may 
 be, a little charity would tell you, for the main, he 
 may be with both; and so much uncharitableness 
 makes it a question whether he be with either. The 
 more such men pretend to the knowledge of God, the 
 greater their shame. 
 
 Friends, beware you be not undone, either by 
 your ignorance or your knowledge. Love not dark- 
 ness, and eall not darkness light ; call not that the 
 knowledge of God which is not ; misuse not that 
 which is. Hast thou no knowledge ? "What, and 
 such a promise before thee? "I will give them a 
 heart to know me, they shall all know me." What, 
 and such a gospel before thee, the work whereof is to 
 open blind eyes, and to turn from darkness to light ? 
 Open thy mouth, sinner, and God will open thine 
 eyes ; " Ask, and thou shalt have ; seek, and thou 
 shalt find ;" see, wink not at the light that shines 
 round about thee ; love not darkness, if thou love not 
 death. " This is eternal life, to know thee." What 
 then is ignorance ? there 's death in thy heart, if there 
 be no light in thine eye. 
 
 Hast thou knowledge ? be thankful, and be hum- 
 ble ; be not high-minded, but fear ; prize it, but do 
 not abuse it. Hast thou received the knowledge of 
 the truth ? Live under the power of the truth thou 
 knowest ; resign up thyself to it — to its transforming 
 power ; give it leave to work, and to change thee into 
 its own image ; let this new light make thee a new 
 
118 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 man — to its governing power ; let it teach, thee and 
 rule thee ; let it teach as one that has authority ; let 
 it rule till it hath put all thine enemies under thy 
 feet ; till every thought, every imagination, and every 
 high thing he made low, and brought into captivity to 
 Christ. Let not the light of the Lord help thee to do 
 the devil's work ; let it not he fodder for thy flesh, 
 lest it be fuel for thy flames ; let it not repent thy 
 God nor thee, that ever thou hadst such a talent com- 
 mitted to thee ; let it neither be loss to God, nor the 
 eternal loss of thine own soul. He that hath appeared 
 on earth in beams of light will be revealed from heaven, 
 in flames of fire rendering vengeance to all that know 
 God but obey not the gospel of Christ. Woe to those 
 that neither know nor obey ; but Oh, what to those 
 that obey not, though they know ? 
 
 Christian, know the Lord, but know and fear ; 
 know and serve, know and honor thy God; know God, 
 and know thyself, thy sin and thy misery, thy dan- 
 gers and thy temptations ; know and mourn ; know 
 and be ashamed ; know, and fear, and watch, and 
 fight, and overcome. Know God, and know Ins will, 
 thy duty and thy way, thy privileges and opportuni- 
 ties, thy race and thy crown. Know, and do, and run, 
 and suffer, and wait, and hope, and rejoice in hope of 
 the glory of God. Know God, but God in Christ, God 
 reconciled, pardoning, absolving, accepting through 
 him. Know, and believe, accept, adventure upon, 
 resign, commit thyself to him. Know thy God, and 
 behold him ; look upon thy God in his power, in his 
 wisdom, in his holiness, in his goodness, in his loving- 
 
A HEART TO KNOW THE LORD. \l3 
 
 kindness, in his mercy. Behold him in his word, in 
 his works, in his providence, in his saints, in thy soul, 
 in his Son ; set him before thine eyes, look upon thy 
 Grod, and never leave looking till thou art changed 
 into his image and satisfied with his likeness ; and 
 when thou art brought to this, then he hath done for 
 thee what he hath said: "I will give them a heart 
 to know me." 
 
129 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ONE HEART. 
 
 "I will give them one heart." Ezek. 11 : l'V 
 
 We read, " Ephraim is like a silly dove, without 
 heart," Hos. 7 : 11 ; he hath no heart at all, that is, 
 none for his God, as good as none ; and in Psa. 12 : 2, 
 we read that Israel had a douhle heart, a heart and 
 a heart — more hearts than one ; but says the Lord, I 
 will give them a heart, and it shall be but one, and 
 iio more. 
 
 Not to dwell on the signification of this text as it 
 respects Christians collectively, let us consider it as it 
 respects each particular Christian. This " one heart" 
 may be taken as opposed to a wavering, a divided, 
 and a double heart. 
 
 It is opposed to a wavering, unstable heart. Jas. 
 1:6, 8. Wavering-minded men have almost as many 
 hearts as they live days, or meet with cases; a heart 
 that changes with the weather, and tacks about with 
 every wind, that resolves and repents, that chooses 
 and changes, that, like a wave of the sea, is tossed 
 about with every wind. This you may call either 
 many hearts, or no heart, as you will. But the be- 
 liever's one heart is a fixed, established, resolved heart: 
 " It is good that the heart be established with grace." 
 Heb. 13 : 9. Grace fixes, establishes, and brings to a 
 
. ONE HEART. 121 
 
 consistency with itself the heart which before was any- 
 thing or nothing. 
 
 It is opposed to a divided heart, Hos. 10 : 2 ; a 
 heart cut in two as it were ; a cloven heart, one half 
 for God, the other half for sin ; one half for Christ, the 
 other half for this present world ; God having a corner 
 in it, and the rest for sin and the devil. This " one 
 heart " is an entire heart ; all the powers of it are 
 united within itself, and go the same way ; God hath 
 the whole heart. " Bless the Lord, my soul ; and 
 all that is within me, bless his holy name." Psalm 
 103 : 1. All its springs are in him, and thither do all 
 its streams bend their course. 
 
 It is opposed to a double heart or a hypocritical 
 heart, properly so called, Psa. 12 : 2, 3 ; "a heart and 
 a heart," a heart in the breast and another in the 
 tongue. Our outside is presumed to be an expression 
 of our inside ; what we speak, we pretend to be in 
 our very hearts. It is the very heart in the tongue 
 that speaks, the heart in the eye that weeps, the heart 
 in the hand that works, the heart in the foot that 
 walks. It is not so with the hypocrite ; he shows 
 another heart in his tongue, in his ways, than that 
 which is within him. He hath a heart, and a heart; 
 one in his tongue or life, and quite another in his 
 breast. His course speaks him another man than he 
 is. Thus "one heart" signifies a single or a plain 
 heart. 
 
 To sum up all together, this one heart is such as 
 fixes upon one end ; has but one thing to do ; and 
 does what it does. 
 
 Jlonvrn OppTiei, ft 
 
122 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 I. It fixes upon one end. God is its end. There 
 it wholly "bestows itself: " I am thine." Psa. 119 : 94. 
 And there only it takes up its rest. "And now, 
 Lord, what wait I for ? my hope is in thee." Psalm 
 39 : 7. God is both its work and its wages. To 
 please God, this is its whole business ; and to enjoy 
 God, this is its happiness. This is the mark it hath 
 in its eye, this is the scope of all its motions, to honor 
 and enjoy God. This it wills, this it loves, this it 
 desires, designs, hopes, labors for, that the Lord may 
 possess, and be the possession of it. Particularly, it 
 gives God both the place and the power of its chief 
 end. 
 
 1. The place of its chief end. God is its first and 
 last. He is first in the eye, and it looks no further. 
 It makes him not only its chief, but in a sense its 
 only aim. It will have no other God, and therefore 
 no other end but the Lord. It makes all things else 
 not only to stoop and stand by, but to serve him. Get 
 you hence, stand off, is its language to all that stands 
 up in his room or stands in his way. Evil men, what- 
 ever regard they pretend to have for the Lord, do but 
 make him a servant to their other gods. Religion they 
 will take up, but it is only to serve their own turns, 
 to bring about their carnal ends : " They serve not our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies," saith the 
 apostle, Rom. 16 : 18 ; Phil. 3 : 19. Nay, they make 
 the Lord their fellow-servant ; they serve, and their 
 religion must serve their sensual appetites. He that 
 will have so much religion only as he may live upon, 
 which is the measure of most men, makes the Lord 
 
ONE HEART. 123 
 
 no longer his God, but his servant. A sincere Chris- 
 tian will set God upon the throne, and make all things 
 else his servants or his footstool. Whatever will not 
 be serviceable must be trodden in the dust. Nothing 
 will be loved and embraced but what will set God 
 higher, or bring God nearer to his heart. 
 
 2. The power of the end. The end hath a four- 
 fold power : it draws ; it directs ; it governs : and it 
 rewards. 
 
 (1.) It draws the heart to it; God, who is a Chris- 
 tian's end, is also his beginning. Our first step heaven- 
 ward we owe to the influence of heaven upon us : 
 " Draw me, we will run after thee." Sol. Song 1 : 4. 
 " No man can come unto me, unless the Father, which 
 hath sent me, draw him." Nothing but God will so 
 do it that nothing will draw the soul another way. 
 The pleasures of sin, the wages of unrighteousness, 
 are poor and low baits to entice a soul away from 
 God, that is, so far as it is renewed ; so it is nothing 
 but God that draws the soul away from these to him, 
 and he will do it. God draws the soul not by an act 
 of power only, but by the proper attractive influence 
 of the end. Not by efficiency only, but by sym- 
 pathy ; as by the water the thirsty soul is drawn to 
 the water-brooks. 
 
 It is God who draws hearts after him : there are 
 instruments, as his word and ministers ; and there 
 are arguments by which God draws ; but whatever 
 the instruments or arguments are, it is God who does 
 it. What is the work of either word or ministers, but 
 to set God before men? and this draws. Instruments 
 
124 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 can do nothing, unless God be the preacher by them ; 
 arguments can do nothing unless he be in and with 
 them : as it was said concerning the people's follow- 
 ing Saul, so much more concerning those who follow 
 the Lord, those only follow him "whose hearts God 
 hath touched." 1 Samuel, 10 : 26. It is not man's 
 touching, but God's touching the heart, that draws it 
 heavenward. The tongue of man may touch the ear, 
 it is G-od only that touches the heart. And when he 
 touches, then the heart will follow ; as you know the 
 needle when it is touched with a loadstone, then turns 
 after it. The loadstone is not more naturally attract- 
 ive of the needle, than God is of that heart which he 
 hath touched. " My beloved put in his hand by the 
 hole of the door, and my bowels were moved in me." 
 Sol. Song 5 : 4. He did* but touch the door, and her 
 heart felt him and moved towards him. 
 
 Christians, when you have been waiting upon 
 God in prayer, hearing the gospel, or any other spir- 
 itual duty or ordinance, consider, " Hath my heart 
 been touched this day ? My tongue has been touched, 
 mine ear has been touched, my heart has been treated 
 with ; but has the Lord touched it ? Has there virtue 
 come forth from him, which has enticed and drawn 
 my soul after him ?" Sometimes by a message or 
 visit from heaven, the Lord has drawn a good word 
 from the lip, a tear from the eye ; but 0, for touches 
 upon souls, for the flowing out of hearts after the 
 Lord, he is the only loadstone that prevails on gra- 
 cious souls. 
 
 Others who have many hearts, have many at- 
 
ONE HEART. 125 
 
 tractives ; every heart has its peculiar god ; twenty- 
 gods, it may be, in one man, because so many hearts. 
 Their pleasures are their gods, their profits their gods, 
 their belly their god ; their wives or their children 
 their gods ; and so many gods, so many ends. And 
 every end is a loadstone to draw them after it. Every 
 heart will go after its god. A Christian that has but 
 one heart, has but one God, and this is he that draws 
 it on its way. Thou sayest the Lord is thy God, thou 
 acknowledges!:, thou ownest, thou hast chosen him for 
 thine ; but what does thy God, whom thou hast cho- 
 sen, do upon thy heart? What will the sight of God, 
 or thy love to God, or thy hope in God, do upon thee? 
 How far will it carry thee ? Which way runs thy heart ? 
 Which way dost thou bend thy course ? Dost thou feel 
 thy God drawing thee, and is thy heart running after 
 him ? Running denotes motion, and a swift or violent 
 motion. 
 
 The Scripture uses divers expressions to note the 
 running of those hearts after God whom he has 
 drawn. 
 
 The desiring- of the soul after God. " The desire 
 of our soul is to thy name. With my soul have I 
 desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within 
 me will I seek thee early." Isa. 26:8, 9. Desiiv is 
 the soul in motion God- wards. Towards him are their 
 desires, and they come from the bottom of the heart. 
 "With my soul have I desired thee, with my spirit 
 within me will I seek thee." "Lord, all my desire is 
 before thee." Psalm 38 : 9. It is not, all my desires, 
 but "my desire ;" thou seest all, and it is all but one 
 
126 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 desire. He desires pardon, he desires peace, he de- 
 sires help, and the healing of his wounds ; but all this 
 is but one desire, (rod is all. "One thing have I 
 desired." Psalm 27 : 4. 
 
 The thirsting of the soul. "My soul thirsteth 
 for G-od, for the living God." Psalm 42 : 2. Thirst- 
 ing is the extremity of desire ; hunger and thirst are 
 the appetite of desire heightened — violent and painful 
 appetites : my soul thirsteth, and is in pain till it be 
 satisfied. 
 
 The longing of the soul. "0 God, thou art my 
 God ; early will I seek thee : my flesh longeth for thee 
 in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is." Psalm 
 63 : 1. Longing causeth languishing and pain, if it 
 be not satisfied. "My soul breaketh for the longing 
 that it hath unto thy judgments." Psalm 119 : 20. 
 "My heart panteth, my strength faileth ; as for the light 
 of mine eyes, it also is gone from me." Psa. 38 : 10. 
 
 Calling after God. "Hear me when I call, 
 God of my righteousness." Psa. 4 : 1. Calling upon 
 God, is the voice of desire. The desiring soul will 
 not keep silence ; the tongue, the eyes, the ears, the 
 hands, the knees, must all be orators, when the flame 
 is once kindled within. 
 
 Crying after the Lord. This is an expression 
 answering the thirsting of the soul. Crying is a pas- 
 sionate and importunate praying. "I cried with my 
 whole heart; hear me, Lord." Psalm 119 : 145. 
 
 Crying out after God. This is the manner of the 
 longing soul. Crying out denotes more than bare 
 crying — loud cries, strong cries, forced out by a par- 
 
ONE HEART. 127 
 
 oxysm of love, or an agony the soul is in : " My soul 
 longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord ; 
 my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." 
 Psalm 84 : 2. 
 
 Fqllowing hard after the Lord. "My soul fol- 
 loweth hard after thee." Psalm 63 : 8. This expres- 
 sion is more comprehensive ; it denotes both all the 
 workings and breakings and breathings of the soul 
 within, and its diligent use of all outward means, and 
 pressing on after the Lord ; all those laborings and 
 watchings and runnings, all that holy violence, where- 
 with a saint presses into the kingdom of God. 
 
 Put all this together, and you will see the power 
 and influence the Lord hath on holy souls, to draw 
 them after him ; they are in motion heavenward, de- 
 siring, thirsting, longing, calling, crying, crying out, 
 following hard after him. "What aileth these souls ; 
 what is the matter with them ; what would they have ? 
 "What aileth thee?" said the Danites once to Micah, 
 " that thou comest thus after us ?" What aileth thee ? 
 Why, you have taken away my gods, and "what have 
 I more?" Judges 18 : 23. What aileth these crying, 
 longing, running souls ? Why, it is after their God 
 they cry, it is after their God they run. Go back, 
 Elisha, said once the prophet to him, when he had 
 cast his mantle on him: "Go back again; for what 
 have I done to thee?" 1 Kings, 19 : 20. What hast 
 thou done ? Enough to hold me from going back. 
 There went virtue with the mantle ; the mantle fell 
 on his heart as well as his back, and drew it after the 
 prophet. Should you say thus to the believer, Go 
 
128 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 back, soul, go back from following thy God; for what 
 hath he done unto thee? 0, he hath gotten my 
 heart, he replies ; no, no, I cannot go back, he is my 
 God, and what have I more ? 
 
 (2.) The end guides and directs to means. "Whith- 
 er shall I go from thee? thou hast the words of eter- 
 nal life." 
 
 (3.) The end governs. I shall put both these to- 
 gether. What is it that governs sinners but their ulti- 
 mate end ? this points them out their work, and their 
 way ; this holds them t© their work, and keeps them in 
 their way : whatever fetters and chains their lusts are 
 to them, it is their carnal ends to which they are in 
 bondage. These are they that lord it over them, and 
 therefore it is impossible to persuade a sinner to make 
 a thorough change of his way, till he hath changed 
 his ends. Herein consists the conversion of a sinner, 
 in the changing of his ends. When he ceases to be 
 any longer to himself, to his flesh, to the world, and 
 for a worldly happiness, and is brought about to fix 
 upon God as his portion and happiness, to whom he 
 devotes and dedicates himself, there is conversion. 
 Sin is our turning away, and conversion is turning 
 back to our God. Beloved, consider not barely how, 
 but to what you live ; not only what you do, but 
 what you would have ; and never count yourselves 
 truly godly, whatever of God be in your way, till God 
 be in your* heart and eye. He that has first chosen 
 God, and therefore a godly life, whose godliness of life 
 springs forth as the fruit of his choice of the Lord, 
 that is a godly man. 
 
ONE HEART. 129 
 
 God governs as our king, and as our end ; as our 
 king, by his sovereignty ; as our end, by his excellence, 
 worthiness, and goodness : as our king, by laws ; as 
 our end, by love. Love will find out our way, will 
 tell all our wanderings, will check us for our sins. 
 sweeten our labors, quicken us on our course, cut our 
 way through dangers and difficulties, and keep us in 
 our way till we come to the fruition of our end. 
 Therefore it is said by the apostle, "The law is not 
 made for a righteous man." 1 Tim. 1 : 9. Love will 
 save the law a labor. "The law is not made for a 
 righteous man;" not so much, at least, as for sinners; 
 not as to the coercion of it, though still as to its obli- 
 gation : the constraint of love will much supersede the 
 coercion of laws. 
 
 (4.) The end rewards. " They have their reward," 
 Matt. 6 ; that is, they have their end. The reputa- 
 tion o£ being devout and charitable men was the end 
 of their devotion and charity: they prayed, and fasted, 
 and gave alms for no other end ; and the obtaining 
 that reputation was their reward. "Verily I say unto 
 you, They have their reward." 
 
 God is the reward of his saints : "I am thy ex- 
 ceeding great reward." Gen. 15 : 1. " My judgment 
 is with the Lord, and my reward with my God." Isa. 
 49 : 4. God is the reward they shall receive, and the 
 reward they look to receive. Moses "had respect unto 
 the recompense of the reward." Heb. 11 : 26. 
 
 And therefore the argument was weighty which 
 Christ used to dissuade his disciples from being in 
 their devotions and alms-deeds as the Pharisees and 
 
130 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 hypocrites were, who disfigured their countenances in 
 their fasts, and sounded a trumpet to proclaim their 
 alms : "Be ye not like them, for they have their 
 reward." The argument was strong to the disciples, 
 who being men of another spirit, could not be satis- 
 fied with such a reward. 
 
 In these two things saints greatly differ from the 
 men of this world. They are not willing to defer 
 their duties till hereafter ; and they dread to have 
 their reward here : they would dispatch their work, 
 and are willing to go upon trust for their wages. Sin- 
 ners would have their wages in hand, and be trusted 
 for their work till hereafter ; they would be happy 
 here, a"nd can be content to stay for holiness till here- 
 after : " It is soon enough to be saints in heaven." 
 But Oh, it would be a dreadful word to saints, 
 "Here are thy good things, take them, these are thy 
 reward." These are not their end, and therefore they 
 cannot take them for their reward. 
 
 Poor foolish worldlings, how are you disjointed ; 
 how are your weary hearts scattered through the 
 ends of the earth ; how many masters do you serve ; 
 how many matters have you to mind : you weary 
 yourselves in the greatness of your way, and what 
 is your reward? What the fields can give, you 
 have ; what your sheep or your oxen can give, you 
 have ; what your beds, or your tables, or your 
 houses, or your clothes can give, you have ; here a 
 little and there a little : your beds give you ease, 
 your houses shelter, your sports and companions 
 pleasure, your parasites honor, and the little you can 
 
ONE HEART. 131 
 
 pick up here and there, this is your reward. Verily 
 I say unto you, you have your reward : unhappy souls, 
 you are troubled and careful about many things for 
 nothing ; one thing is needful ; and if yet ye will be 
 wise, choose that good part which shall not be taken 
 from you. 
 
 II. This one heart hath but one thing to do. " This 
 one thing I do." Phil. 3 : 13. There are all things 
 in that one thing ; all things needful. How many 
 things soever his hand findeth to do, all is but one. 
 He intends in all, God. A renewed heart designs 
 God, and is making God- wards in all he docs. What- 
 ever journey he goes, God is his home ; whatever 
 race he runs, God is his mark and prize ; whatever 
 battle he fights against flesh and blood, against prin- 
 cipalities and powers, it is that he may cut his way 
 through all to his God : whatever he does, he does for 
 God ; whatever he suffers, he suffers for God. When 
 he hears, or fasts, or prays, it is all for God. When 
 ye fasted, did ye at all fast to me ? " Yes, to thee," 
 a Christian is able to say: he hath many things to 
 pray for and fast for ; he hath bread, and clothes, and 
 friends, and health, and safety, and liberty to pray for; 
 but in all, he prays for God : he entitles God to all 
 he has and marks it for him, and he sees and enjoys 
 God in all he has. He will not own that for a mercy 
 which has not God in it, and which is not a foot or wins 
 to carry him on towards him. And therefore what- 
 ever he begs for himself, it is that he may have it for 
 God. What he gives, he gives to God ; whom he for- 
 gives, it is for the Lord's sake ; whether he eats, or 
 
132 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 drinks, or works, or buys, or sells, or whatever else he 
 does, he does it all to the glory of God. 1 Cor. 10 : 31. 
 For him he prays, for him he waits, for him he labors, 
 for him he suffers, for him he lives, to him he dies. 
 " To me to live is Christ." Phil. 1 : 21. " According 
 to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in noth- 
 ing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as 
 always, so now also Christ may be magnified in my 
 body, whether it be by life or by death." This is the 
 one thing he intends, this is the one thing he seeks in 
 all, take his whole course together ; he can say with the 
 apostle, " This one thing I do, forgetting those things 
 which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things 
 which are before, I press towards the mark for the 
 prize of the high calling of Grod in Christ Jesus." 
 
 III. This one heart does avhat it does ; and that 
 not feignedly, but really — not faintly, but heartily. 
 
 1. Really. It pursues this end in a plain and 
 honest way. He that has this one heart, has but 
 one way. Heart and life go hand in hand; he makes 
 straight steps for his heart, and his heart makes 
 straight steps for his feet. As he looks straight on, so 
 he walks straight on to his mark. He does riot look 
 one way and row another. He is like Jacob, a plain 
 man, a plain-dealing man ; a Nathanael, in whom is 
 no guile ; he turns his inside outward ; his life is not 
 a cloak, but a commentary on his heart, the expositor 
 of his inward man. His end is in his heart, and his 
 heart is in his face, in his tongue, in his duties, and 
 all his ways. He is no politic dealer in fleshly wis- 
 dom, 2 Cor. 1 : 12 ; his religion is not a blind or a 
 
ONE HEART. 133 
 
 device to delude the simple ; he is downright and in 
 earnest in all he does. He does the same thing he 
 seems to do ; his praying is praying indeed ; his fast- 
 ing and alms are such indeed ; his very profession is 
 practice ; he would not believe, nor make others be- 
 lieve, but that he is what he is. He seeks not com- 
 mendation from men, but approbation with God. His 
 design is not inordinately to commend himself to the 
 good opinion of others, though he would be made 
 manifest in their consciences. He would not be a lie 
 or a cheat. He abhors all lying, but most of all a 
 religious lie. He would not lie for God, much less 
 against him ; such a lie is as blasphemy to him. He 
 loves not images ; he would have a soul in all his prac- 
 tices. A prayer without a soul, a saerifiee without a 
 heart, a religious carcass, is an abomination to him. 
 He would not make such a noble medium as religion 
 serve so base an end as the serving of the flesh. 
 
 He has other work to do than to serve times or 
 tables, to please himself or men, to serve wills, or hu- 
 mors, or lusts ; he has a soul, a conscience, a God to 
 look after ; he has but one business to do, but one Mas- 
 ter to serve. If he be a magistrate, he rules for God ; 
 if he be a minister, he preaches for God ; if he be a 
 parent, he educates for God; if he be a master, he 
 governs for God ; to him he dedicates himself and his 
 house ; he writes on his doors, This is Bethel, this is 
 none other but the house of God. If he be a child or 
 a servant, he obeys in the Lord and for the Lord. He 
 knows he has to do with God in all he does : when he 
 is dealing with men, with his friends, with his family, 
 
134 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 in his calling, in his recreations, in all his doings, he 
 has to do with God ; and he can take comfort in noth- 
 ing but what God will take pleasure in. " Thou hast 
 no pleasure in iniquity. Thou lovest truth in the 
 inward parts." And there is no truth in the inward 
 parts, but when there is truth also in the outward 
 parts, when the heart and tongue and ways agree. 
 It is in vain to say, " My heart is good," when the 
 ways are evil. A false tongue, deceitful ways, will 
 give the lie to the heart. He cannot subsist longer 
 than he hath smiles from heaven. Communion with 
 God is his life, his all is in God. His heart dies when 
 that fountain is stopped. If he cannot have clearness 
 and boldness in the presence of God, he can no longer 
 look himself in the face, but blushes and hangs his 
 head with shame. He values neither the applause 
 nor the scorn of men, so that he may have a wit- 
 ness of his acceptance with God. Lord, dost thou 
 regard, wilt thou accept of me ? It is enough. Let 
 all the world call me, " Thou fool, thou Pharisee, 
 thou hypocrite," if the Lord will say, "My child," it 
 is well. "It is falsely spoken, it is foolishly, it is 
 weakly done ; it is pride, it is singularity, it is scrupu- 
 losity:" thus the world cry. Let them alone, my 
 soul, I will hearken what the Lord God, what con- 
 science will say: if he says, " Thou hast been faith- 
 ful," if conscience says, "Well done," let all else say 
 what they please ; this is my rejoicing, my only rejoic- 
 ing, the testimony of my conscience that in simplicity 
 and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but by the 
 grace of God, I had my conversation in the world. 
 
ONE HEART. 135 
 
 2. Heartily. Whatever he does for God, he does 
 it with a good will. He hath cast all his business 
 into one, and he is intent upon it. He works right- 
 eousness, as sinners work wickedness, " with both 
 hands earnestly." Micah 7 : 3. He is religious in 
 good earnest, he prays in good earnest, he hears in 
 good earnest, he runs in good earnest : the powers of 
 his soul being all united in one channel, run more 
 strongly; his many springs falling all into one stream, 
 make a river that bears down all before it. The 
 psalmist prays, <; Unite my heart to fear thy name." 
 Psa. 86: 11. Unite my heart to thee, and unite my 
 heart in itself, that it may all run towards thee. Unite 
 my heart to fear, and so unite my heart to love thy 
 name ; unite my heart to serve and follow and live to 
 thee. As if he had said, " my God, my heart is 
 divided and discomposed, scattered up and down I 
 know not where ; my pleasures have a part, my estate 
 has a part, my friends have a part, my family has a 
 part, there is little or none left for God. I have too 
 many tilings to fear, too many things to love and care 
 for, too many things to serve and follow, to follow the 
 Lord with any strength or intention of mind. Call in 
 all, Lord, all my parts, all my powers ; command their 
 joint and united attendance upon thee." "Gird up 
 the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end," 
 in the original, hope perfectly, " for the grace that 
 is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus 
 Christ : as obedient children, not fashioning your- 
 selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance ; 
 but as he which hath called you is- holy, so be ye holy 
 
13(i HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 in all manner of conversation." 1 Peter, 1 : 13-15. 
 Grird up the loins of your minds. Grird and be sober, 
 gird and hope perfectly, gird and be obedient, gird and 
 be holy. Here it is true, ungirt and unblest, ungirt 
 and unholy ; the girding is the gathering in the 
 strength of the heart to its work. " Stand, therefore, 
 having your loins girt." Eph. 6 : 14. Stand, do not 
 gird and ungird, stand always girt ; call in your 
 hearts and hold them in; be always in a readiness 
 to every duty, in a readiness against every tempta- 
 tion. 
 
 Oh, how loose are we. "What loose praying, and 
 loose hearing, and loose meditation, and loose walk- 
 ings do we satisfy ourselves with. Our hearts are to 
 seek, our thoughts and affections are gadding abroad, 
 we know not where to find them, and our work is not 
 done. We excuse our non-proficiency in religion by 
 our many hinderances, by the difficulties of our work; 
 but the great hinderance lies here, our loins are un- 
 girded, our hearts are not united in our work nor in- 
 tent upon it. "When Gfod and the things of eternity 
 get so deep into the heart ; when there is such a deep 
 sense of the weight and importance of the things that 
 are eternal abiding upon us, as overpowers carnal 
 objects and loosens the heart from them ; when we 
 feel the evidence and the consequence of these things 
 commanding our whole souls after them, then there is 
 religion in earnest ; then we go on and prosper. And 
 thus it is with this " one heart ;" there are not some 
 light touches only upon it, Grod is deep in it, eternity 
 is deep in it. This is all, it says, this is all I have to 
 
 
ONE HEART. 137 
 
 mind or do. My hope, my comforts, my life, my soul, 
 all hang upon this one thing ; if I speed well here, I 
 am made for ever. What have I to do in the way of 
 Egypt, or to drink of the waters of Sihor ; what have 
 I to do in the way of Assyria ; what have I to do in the 
 way of pleasure ; what have I to do in the way of the 
 world ? To huild tahernacles for myself here helow, or 
 to drink the waters of my broken cisterns ? How little 
 am I concerned in the interest of this flesh. What mat- 
 ters it what becomes of it, or which way it goes ? My 
 Grod, my Grod, my soul, my soul, there lies my con- 
 cern ; of these let my only care be. Get thee behind 
 me, Satan; hold thy peace, sinful flesh; beep silence, 
 worldly cares ; hinder me not, speak no more to me 
 of hearkening to you, away from me, ye evil-doers. 
 I will keep the commandments of my Grod. Let 
 others do what they will, run whither they please, 
 choose whom they will serve, what they will follow 
 after ; come, my soul, follow thou the Lord, gird up 
 thy loins and come away ; for the other world, for the 
 other world ; make haste, linger not ; let others loiter 
 as they will, escape for thy life, lool^ not behind thee, 
 get thee up to the mountain and live. 
 
 Objection. One heart ! why, it is evermore two ; 
 two men, a new man and an old ; two nations, two 
 selfs ; there are twins in the womb of every saint ; the 
 ungodly seem more one than they, all for sin and for 
 hell ; all dark, all hard, all but one stone. 
 
 Answer. Yet it is true, the saints, and they only, 
 have this one heart ; for the old heart that cleaves to 
 them is not the heart, the old self is not the self ; tins 
 
1LJ8 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 old man is not the man, this is not he : that is the 
 heart which has got the dominion and the rule in the 
 man. The new heart has the dominion ; though sin, 
 as Esau, be the first-born, yet the elder must now 
 serve the younger ; the old man is but a dead man. 
 Col. 3:3. " Ye are dead," that is, your old man is 
 dead, your sin is slain and crucified with Christ, and 
 when it is dead, you may say it exists not. 
 
 The meaning plainly is, I will give them one 
 heart; that is, a single, sincere, upright heart; they 
 shall be no longer a hypocritical people. If there be 
 something of hypocrisy in them, yet hypocrites they 
 shall no longer be ; their hearts shall be upright be- 
 fore me. Sincerity consists in choosing, and giving 
 up our hearts to God, as our chief good and final end. 
 When Grod is our all, there is perfection ; and when 
 God is our chief, there is sincerity. I say, when God 
 is our all, when the world has nothing left in us to 
 entice or draw out our souls after it, but God carries 
 them wholly, without any liking or lusting after sin- 
 ful objects, there is perfection. This is not attainable 
 here ; the heart cannot be thus perfectly one, till cor- 
 ruption hath put on incorruption. But though it be 
 not perfectly one, it may be sincerely one ; and it is 
 so, when, however the flesh has too great an interest 
 in it and influence upon it, and often pulls it aside 
 and puts it back, yet it still bends its course heaven- 
 wards. And the way the stream and strength of the 
 soul is running, the flesh will be putting in for a part — 
 it would have all, it would not take its turns with 
 God. God will not take his turns with the flesh ; he 
 
ONE HEART. 139 
 
 will have all, or none. And the flesh would not take 
 its turns with him ; it is not contented with now and 
 then, it would not be served in the fields, or in the 
 shop, or at the table, or in the bed only, but in the 
 church, in the chamber, in the closet ; it would carry- 
 away all from God : but if it cannot have all, it will 
 divide with God; wherever God is served, the flesh 
 will be putting in for its share. The best of Chris- 
 tians feel too great a truth in this ; their frequent 
 humblings, and mournings, and breakings, and self- 
 shamings before the Lord, are mostly upon this ac- 
 count. This is the voice of their deepest groanings 
 and bitterest tears, the burden of their most mournful 
 groans: "I cannot do the things that I would: when 
 1 would do good, evil is present with me ; with my 
 mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh the 
 law of sin. Woe is me, my soul, how am I strait- 
 ened, how am I divided ! Whither am I hurried ? 
 Wherewithal do I come before the Lord ? Oh, with 
 what halting and heartless and distracted duties do I 
 serve my God. This 'flesh' eats up the fat, and the 
 best ; and only the lame and the lean and the sick are 
 left for a sacrifice to the Lord. Woe is me, my 
 leanness, my leanness ! my God, my God, how art 
 thou served ; how art thou robbed of thy due ! These 
 strangers are gotten into thy sanctuary, and eat up 
 all thy pleasant tilings ; and what have they left for 
 thee?" 
 
 Such are their complaints; and their very com- 
 plaints are their comfort and the witness of their 
 sincerity, while they can with openness of heart make 
 
140 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 their approach and appeal to G-od : " Yet thou art my 
 Lord, thou art my Grod, and I will serve thee. I have 
 chosen thee as my heritage for ever, and I will wait 
 for thy salvation. Hear the sighing of thy prisoner, 
 deliver thy captive : my heart is with thee ; let not 
 this flesh entrench upon thy right, let sin no longer 
 reign in my mortal hody; let me have no more to do 
 with the throne of iniquity, untie the cords, loose the 
 fetters, bring my soul out of prison. Search me, 
 Lord, and know my heart; prove me, and know my 
 thoughts. Is there any way of wickedness in me ? 
 Do I willingly go after sin's commandments ? Do I 
 regard iniquity in my heart ? Here it lies, it is true; 
 it wars, and raises tumults and insurrections against 
 thee ; but do I resign up myself to it ? Is it a pleas- 
 ure to me ? Am I at peace with it ? Lord, thou 
 knowest. I cannot get rid of it, I cannot do the things 
 that I would, I cannot pray as I would, nor hear as I 
 would, nor think, nor speak, nor live as I would : 
 whither I go, sin goes with me ; where I lodge, it 
 lodges-; if I sit still, it abides with me ; if I run from 
 it, it follows me ; I can neither rest nor work, I can 
 do nothing, so sorely does it beset me ; and yet, 
 blessed be thy name, this one thing I do — what I can- 
 not attain, I follow after ; I cannot conquer, yet I 
 fight against it ; I wrestle with it, though it so often 
 give me the fall. I trust it not, though it flatter me ; 
 I love it not, though it feed me : my heart is with 
 thee, Lord, my foot is making after thee ; I groan, I 
 travail in pain, waiting for thy redemption : till I die, 
 I will not give over. I will die fighting, I will die 
 
 
ONE HEART. 141 
 
 hoping, I will die praying. Save me, Lord ; make 
 no long tarrying, my God." 
 
 And thus you have the description of this "one 
 heart." It fixes upon one end, and God is that end. 
 It gives him the place of the end ; he is its first and 
 last. It gives him the power of the end : this one 
 thing, the obtaining of God to he theirs, draws them 
 on, guides, governs them in their whole course, and 
 is accepted by them as their only and exceeding great 
 reward. This instructs them, this rules and encour- 
 ages them, calls them off from sin, calls them on to 
 duty, carries them out in suffering ; all their powers 
 are united in this one business, all their arguments 
 are resolved into this one argument, all their rewards 
 are summed up in this one reward: "God shall be 
 glorified, and therein my soul shall be satisfied ; God 
 shall be mine, and glory shall be his." 
 
 In all this we see what this "one heart" means; 
 but Oh, how little of this grace have we received ! 
 How many hearts have we ; how many gods have 
 we, to divide these hearts between them. How small 
 a corner, how low a place, must the Lord take up 
 with us, if he will have any at all. How often is he 
 made to stand aside, or to stoop to a lust. God made 
 to give place to the devil ! Is God our all indeed ? 
 Have we none else to please, have we none else to 
 serve ? Have we no portion, no inheritance, no other 
 God but the Lord ? Is he our alpha and omega, our 
 first and our last, our spring and our ocean, our sum 
 and our scope, the rise and the rest of all our motions ? 
 Whatever our tongues speak, do our hearts also and 
 
142 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 our lives say, "To me, to live is Christ: none but 
 God, none but Christ, nothing but heaven and glory?" 
 When we are driving so hard for our flesh, for our 
 pride, for our ease, for our gain ; when we are so 
 busy this way, and so hearty and so zealous that way ; 
 when these must have so great a share in our religion, 
 is this still our voice, "To me, to live is Christ?" 0, 
 how little power has the Lord with us ! How far is 
 it that the single interest of God will carry our souls ? 
 How little is done purely for God ! We have often 
 many strings to our bow. There are some services 
 wherein there is something coming to the flesh, as 
 well as to the name of God — some credit or honor, 
 some outward advantage to be got by religion ; but 
 when all the other strings crack but this one, when 
 there is nothing to move us but God, how weak do 
 our motions grow. The flesh often goes partner with 
 God : there is a double trade driving in the same 
 actions — a trade for heaven and a trade for earth to- 
 gether. There is something to be got by our religion 
 besides what is coming to God: there are fields and 
 vineyards and olive-yards, friends and honors and 
 preferments. Thus it sometimes falls out, when god- 
 liness is in the rising side ; and when it is thus, we 
 go smoothly and vigorously on: "Come, see the zeal 
 that I have for the Lord of hosts." But when the 
 interests of God and the flesh divide and part asunder ; 
 when the flesh is likely to be a loser by our religion ; 
 when God puts us on such duties as will spend upon 
 the flesh, and eat out and devour its interest ; when our 
 hearts tell us, as Deborah did Barak, "This shall not 
 
ONE HEART. 143 
 
 "be for thine honor," Judges 4:9; or this will not be 
 for thine ease, or thy safety; then what becomes of 
 our zeal ? Oh, how heavily do we then drive on ! 
 How seldom is it that this word, "Yet God shall he 
 glorified," will balance all the prejudices, and confute 
 all the cross reasonings of the flesh, and carry us on 
 our way without and against it. 
 
 How little has the Lord of the government of us ! 
 If he doth govern as a king, yet how little does he as 
 our end. How little does goodness govern us ; how 
 little can love do with us ! We must have rigor and 
 severity ; we must have spurs, and goads, and rods, 
 and stripes, and scorpions too ; and all little enough 
 to drive us back from those other gods which we have 
 chosen, and to bring us on after the Lord. If the 
 law be not made for the righteous, if they need not a 
 law, then what are we, for whom the law will not 
 suffice ? If commands, threatenings, terrors, penal- 
 ties, judgments, can do no more upon us ; if we are 
 yet so loose, and so carnal, and so earthly, and so 
 froward, and so false, and so formal, under the severest 
 discipline ; if we will not be whipped into more hu- 
 mility, spirituality, self-denial, watchfulness, care, 
 activity, zeal ; but are such drones and such sleepers, 
 such earthworms and such sensualists still, under all 
 the corrections and compulsions of the law — what 
 should we be without a law, were there nothing but 
 love to restrain us from sin and constrain and quicken 
 us to duty ? 
 
 Christians, have we but one thing to do in all we 
 do ? Sometimes we are busy in doing nothing. Though 
 
144 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 there be a prayer in our mouths, the praises of God 
 in our mouths, Christ, heaven, holiness, glory, a new 
 heart, a new life upon our tongues, there is nothing 
 within : no prayer, no praise, no Christ, nor heaven. 
 What have we been doing in the closet, in the family, 
 in the congregation, many times, when we seemed to 
 have been praying? Nothing, nothing, but sowing 
 wind and good words. Sometimes we have too many 
 things in our hearts ; what a world of carnal devices 
 and fleshly projects have we wrapt up in the garment 
 of our religion ! Peter's sheet had not a more hetero- 
 geneous miscellany of creatures, "four-footed beasts, 
 wild beasts, creeping things, and fowls of the air," than 
 our religious duties have of designs and ends. We 
 have men to please ; our pride, our appetites, to offer 
 sacrifice to ; we bring our farms and our oxen and 
 our trades before the Lord. Are not our hearts, which 
 should be the houses of prayer, the houses of mer- 
 chandise ? Are we not taking, or pursuing, or in a 
 journey, or asleep, or driving bargains? Christians, 
 if we were privy to one another's hearts as God is 
 privy to them, what abominations should we see 
 brought into the holy places ! What monsters would 
 our most sacred services appear, which, while the 
 outside only is viewed, are applauded and admired. 
 Is this our singleness of heart? for shame and 
 blushing and confusion of face. for a veil to 
 hide such hearts from the jealous eye of the holy 
 God : a varnish, a fair outside, hides all from men ; 
 but nothing but a dark veil of shame and sorrow and 
 tears and repentance — a veil dipped in blood, in the 
 
ONE HEART. 145 
 
 blood of Christ, will hide them from the eyes of the 
 Lord. 
 
 Oh, how little plainness and singleness of heart is 
 there in our ordinary course, in our dealings and con- 
 versings in the world ! How little faith or truth is 
 there in us ! How little trust is to he put in us ! 
 What doubling, what deceitful dealing, defrauding, 
 overreaching, undermining, are we guilty of! How 
 false are we in our promises ; how insignificant are 
 our words ; what an uncertain sound do they give ! 
 Our yea may often stand for nay, and our nay for 
 yea. " They speak vanity every one with his neigh- 
 bor ; with flattering lips and with a double heart do 
 they speak." Psa. 12:2. Trust ye not in a friend, 
 put not confidence in a guide. 
 
 Blessed be God, the Lord hath a generation on 
 whom this cannot be charged, children that will not 
 lie nor deceive. Though Satan and this evil world bind 
 up all in a bundle, "They are all naught; they are 
 all false, vain boasters, and deceitful workers ; there 
 is none upright, no, not one;" yet, thanks be to God, 
 Satan is a liar — the accuser of the brethren is a false 
 accuser. God hath his children that will not lie. 
 But woe be to those professors, by reason of whom 
 the offence cometh. 
 
 Christians, hath God promised to give you "one 
 heart ?" Let it be once said, " This day is the Scrip- 
 ture fulfilled." may you be the accomplishment 
 of this good word. Hath God promised to give you 
 one heart ? Do not say, But I will not take it ; 
 two are better than one : I have found so much the 
 
146 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 sweet of deceit, that there is no life like it. Hath 
 God said, "I will give one heart?" let not any one 
 among you say, But I fear he will not. Make not 
 the promise of (rod of none effect, either by your im- 
 piety or unbelief. Doth God promise to give this one 
 heart ? he that promised it, doth also require it. Be 
 thyself, Christian. Let it be said thou art what thou 
 art ; be true, be but one, have but one heart, and let 
 thy one heart have but one tongue, but one face, and 
 but one thing to do. Beware of hypocrisy, beware of 
 carnal policy ; make not thy God to serve thy flesh ; 
 call not the serving of thy flesh a serving of God, and 
 make not thy serving of God to be a serving of the 
 flesh. Be not divided between God and the world. 
 Oh, how easy would our lives be, did we find our 
 whole souls running one way ; taking up with God as 
 the adequate object of all our powers, the mark of all 
 our motions, and the reward of all our labors ; did all 
 our streams empty themselves into this ocean, and all 
 our lines meet in this one centre ; did God alone 
 draw and allure our hearts, and the sincerity of our 
 hearts give motion to all our wheels, guide our eyes, 
 govern our tongues, order our steps, animate our 
 duties, direct and quicken us in all our goings. Oh, 
 how sweet, Oh, how beautiful, were such a life ! in 
 sympathy between our hearts and our end, there is 
 sweetness ; in the harmony of our hearts and ways, 
 there is beauty. Oh, how sweet are the drawings of 
 love. The free and full closing of our spirits with God, 
 dissolving themselves into his will, acquiescing and 
 resting satisfied in his goodness, is a sweetness which 
 
ONE HEART. 147 
 
 no man knows but he who tastes it ; the harmony of 
 the powers of the soul within itself, of its motions 
 and actions in the life, has a beauty which will eclipse 
 the glory of the world. Christian, be it thus with 
 thee, and thou hast the blessing — that covenant bless- 
 ing which the Lord has promised, in saying, "I will 
 give them one heart." 
 
 : 
 
148 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A HEART OF FLESH. 
 
 " I will take away the stony heart out of your 
 flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." Ezek. 
 36 : 26. The old heart is a stone, cold as a stone, 
 dead as a stone, hard as a stone ; hut I will take 
 away the stone, and give a heart of flesh. 
 
 A heart of flesh is a soft and- tender heart ; flesh 
 can feel ; any thing that is contrary to it puts it to 
 pain. Sin makes it smart ; it cannot kick but it is 
 against the pricks ; by its rebellion and resistance 
 against the Lord, it receives a wound ; it cannot hit 
 but it hurts itself. A soft hand gets nothing by strik- 
 ing a hedge of thorns. A soft heart, when it hath 
 been meddling with sin, is sure to smart for it. It 
 can neither escape the pain, nor yet endure it ; and 
 what it cannot bear, it will take warning to avoid. 
 
 Flesh will bleed. A soft heart will mourn and, 
 melt and grieve when hard hearts are moved at noth- 
 ing. Flesh will yield. It is apt to receive impres- 
 sions. The power of (rod will awe it ; his justice 
 alarm it ; his mercy melt it ; his holiness humble it, 
 and leave his stamp and image upon it. And as the 
 attributes, so the word and works of Grod will make 
 sign upon it. Who sets a seal upon a stone ; or what 
 print will it receive ? upon the wax, the print will 
 
A HEART OF FLESH. 140 
 
 abide. God speaks once and twice, "but man, hard- 
 ened man will not regard it. Neither his word nor 
 his rod, neither his speaking nor his smiting will make 
 any impression on such hearts. It is the heart of flesh 
 that hears and yields. And with such hearts the Lord 
 delights to he dealing. " The heart of this people is 
 waxed gross," Acts 28 : 27 ; they will not hear, they 
 will not understand ; and the next word is, Away to 
 the Gentiles, they will hear. He will no more write 
 his law on tables of stone : he will write in flesh ; 
 there the impression will take, and go the deeper ; 
 and therefore, wherever he intends to write, he pre- 
 pares his tablet — makes this stone flesh, and then 
 engraves upon it. Particularly this tenderness admits 
 of a double distinction. 
 
 I. Respecting the object of it. There is a ten- 
 derness as to sin, duty, and suffering. 
 
 1. As to sin. And this discovers itself both before 
 the commission, and after the commission of it. 
 
 Before the commission. While it is under a temp- 
 tation, or feels the first impulse to sin. A tender heart 
 startles, starts back at the sight of a sin, as at the sight 
 of a devil: " How can I do this great wickedness, and 
 sin against God ?" Genesis 39 : 9. This manner of 
 speech presents Joseph as a man in a fright, startled 
 at the ugliness of the sin. So David when he had an 
 opportunity and a temptation to slay Saul, rejects it 
 with a « God forbid." " The Lord forbid that I should 
 stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointed." 
 1 Sam. 26 : 11. And the tender conscience not only 
 shrinks at the higher and greater sins, but it resists 
 
150 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 the little ones, the smallest of sins. Is it not a little 
 one ? is no plea with it. Little or great, it is a sin, 
 and that is enough. 
 
 There is also a tenderness as to sin after its com- 
 mission ; if it has been brought on by an act of sin, 
 yet it cannot cease with it. The skirt of Saul's gar- 
 ment was too heavy for David's heart to bear. His 
 heart smote him at once. 1 Sam. 24 : 5. Sin in the 
 review looks dreadful. Its pleasant flowers quickly 
 turn to thorns ; it pricks the heart, how much soever 
 it pleased the eye. It ordinarily enters by the eye, 
 and often runs out the same way it came in — runs 
 out in tears. " "When he thought thereon, he wept." 
 At least, it warns one and makes him more watchful 
 afterwards. Thou seest what it is, take heed ; take 
 it for a warning, and do so no more. The pain of sin, 
 if it do not force a tear, will set a watch. 
 
 2. As to duty. A tender heart will neither slight a 
 sin, nor neglect a duty. It is loath to grieve and offend, 
 and careful to serve and please the Lord. It would 
 not that he should suffer by it, nor so much as lose 
 his due. It watches against sin, and unto duty. It 
 cares how to please the Lord, and its care is tender. 
 It would not displease by its neglects or performances ; 
 all must be done that ought, and as it ought to be 
 done. It will neither withhold its offering, nor will it 
 offer an unclean thing. It considers not only what, 
 but how. Both matter and manner, substance and 
 circumstance, all must be right, or it is not at ease. 
 It is not satisfied that it prays sometimes ; it would 
 never lose a praying time, (rod will not, and it can- 
 
A HEART OF FLESH- 151 
 
 not lose a duty. It would neither lose by non-per- 
 formance, nor lose what is performed. It would 
 neither leave undone, nor do amiss ; any failing, not 
 only in the matter, but in the principle, end, affec- 
 tion, tender affection — any failing pains it. 
 
 There is a tenderness in point of suffering. A 
 tender heart will not be careful what or how much, 
 but why and upon what account he suffers ; -will 
 neither sinfully shun the cross, nor run upon it unwar- 
 rantably. He Waits for a call, and then follows. He 
 is patient under the hand of the Lord, but not insen- 
 sible ; can be touched with an affliction, though not 
 offended at it : " The hand of the Lord hath toii> 
 me." He sutlers mere than his own sufferings. His 
 brethrens' burdens all lie on his shoulders. He weeps 
 in their sorrows, bleeds in their wounds, his heart is 
 bound in their chains. As the care, so the trouble of 
 all the churches comes daily upon him : " Who is weak, 
 and I am not weak; who is offended, and I burn not?" 
 he espouses all the sufferings of Christ as his own. In 
 all His afflictions, he is afflicted. 
 
 II. Tenderness may be distinguished in respect to 
 the subject of it. There is a tenderness of the con- 
 science, the will, the affections. 
 
 1. Tenderness of conscience consists in these three 
 things: clearness of judgment, quickness of sight, and 
 uprightness or faithfulness. 
 
 Clearness of judgment, when it is well instructed, 
 and understands the rule, and can thence discern be- 
 tween good and evil. Heb. 5 : 14. There is a ten- 
 derness that proceeds from cloudiness; a scrupulosity 
 
152 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 that fears every thing, stumbles at straws, starts at. 
 shadows ; makes sins ; picks quarrels at duties ; and 
 so sometimes dares not please God, for fear of offend- 
 ing him. This is the sickness or soreness of con- 
 science, not its soundness. It is the sound conscience 
 that is truly tender. 
 
 Such a conscience has quickness of sight and 
 watchfulness. " I sleep, tmt my heart waketh." It 
 can espy the least sins and smallest duties. It can 
 see sin in the very temptation ; it can discover the 
 least sin under the fairest face, and the least duty 
 under the foulest mask. Call it singularity, nicety, 
 cloud it with reproaches, yet conscience can discover 
 light shining through all the clouds ; and sees duty 
 within, with whatsoever unhandsome face it be pre- 
 sented. Clearness of judgment consists in conscience's 
 understanding the rule ; quickness of sight in apply- 
 ing the rule to cases and distinguishing them. The 
 truly tender hath his eyes in his head, and his eyes 
 open to discover and discern all that comes, be it good 
 or evil, little or great. If but a thought comes in, 
 What comes there ? says conscience ; what art thou, 
 a friend or an enemy ? whence art thou ; from God 
 or from beneath ? It will examine whatever knocks, 
 before any free admission. 0, what a crowd of evils 
 do thrust themselves into loose and careless hearts ; 
 the devil comes in in the crowd, and is never dis- 
 covered. If the eye be either dim or asleep, there is 
 entrance for any thing. Little do we think ofttimes 
 who hath been with us, and what losses and mis- 
 chiefs we have sustained while our hearts have been 
 
A. HEART OF FLESH. 153 
 
 asleep, which, had they been wakeful and watchful, 
 might have been prevented. 
 
 A tender conscience is also marked by upright' 
 ness and faithfulness, which discovers itself, 
 
 In giving charge concerning duly. Look to it, 
 soul, there is a duty before thee which God calls thee 
 to ; do not say, It is no great hurt to let it alone, it is 
 no great hurt to do it, it is questionable whether it be 
 a duty or not ; many wiser than I think otherwise. 
 Do not say, It is a nicety, it is but a punctilio, it is 
 mere folly and preciseness, and there will be no end 
 of standing upon such small matters. See to it, it is 
 thy duty, beware thou neglect it not ; the balking of 
 the least duty is the neglecting of the great God of 
 glory. 
 
 In giving warning of sin. Take heed to thy- 
 self, sin lies at the door, thou art under a tempta- 
 tion, the devil is entering upon thee. Do not say, 
 It is but a little sin : little as it is, there is death and 
 hell in it ; look to it, it is sin, have thou nothing to do 
 with it, keep thyself pure, and though it run upon 
 thee, shake it off. 
 
 After the commission of sin, it gives a rebuke for 
 it ; reproving, judging, and lashing the soul for it. 
 "Where hast thou been, Gehazi ? say not thou hast 
 been nowhere. Went not this heart with thee, and 
 saw thee running after thy covetousness, gadding 
 after thy pleasures, feeding thy pride, dandling thy 
 lusts, playing the hypocrite, playing the harlot from 
 thy God, pampering thy flesh, pleasing thine appe- 
 tite? and where hast thou been? What hast thou 
 
154 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 done, soul ? think not to excuse or mince the matter, 
 it cannot be excused ; thou hast sinned against thy 
 God, and now bear thy shame." This is our heart 
 smiting us, 2 Sam. 24 : 10 ; our heart condemning us : 
 " If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our 
 heart, and knoweth all things." 1 John, 3 : 20. 
 
 2. Tenderness of the will consists in its flexible- 
 ness and pliableness to the will of God. And this is 
 that tenderness wherein chiefly lies the blessing of a 
 soft heart : a hard heart is stubborn and obstinate. 
 Thy neck is as an iron sinew, and thy brow brass. 
 Thou wilt not be ruled, there is no bending thee or 
 turning thee out of thy course, thine iron is too hard 
 for the fire, it will not be melted ; and for the ham- 
 mer, it will not be broken ; there is no dealing with 
 thee, thou art an untractable piece, thou wilt neither 
 be led nor driven ; thy heart is set in thee to do evil, 
 thy will is set upon sin, and thou, art set upon thine 
 own will. Thou say est, " The word that thou hast 
 spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not 
 do ; but we will do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of 
 our own mouth." Jer. 44 : 16, 17. " Who is lord over 
 us ?" Psa. 12 : 4 ; Jer. 2 : 25. Thou sayest, " There 
 is no hope ; no, for I have loved strangers, and after 
 them I will go, come what will of it, say what thou 
 wilt against it ; be silent, Scriptures ; hold thy peace, 
 conscience ; it is to no purpose to speak more, there 
 is no hope of prevailing; we are resolved, we will 
 take our own course." These are hard hearts, stub- 
 born, obstinate hearts. 
 
 "When the iron sinew is broken, when the rebellion 
 
A HEART OF FLESH. 155 
 
 and stubbornness of the spirit is subdued and tamed, 
 and made gentle and pliable, then it becomes a tra- 
 der heart. 
 
 There may be some tenderness in the conscience, 
 and yet the will be a very stone ; and as long as the 
 will stands out, there is no broken heart. Conscience 
 may be scared and frighted. Conscience may fly 
 upon the sinner with, " What dost thou mean, soul; 
 whither are thy rebellions carrying thee? look to thy- 
 self, hearken, or thou wilt be lost ere thou art aware.'' 
 But however God has conscience on his side, yet the 
 devil still rides the will ; and there sin Takes up its 
 rest. There is a twofold resting of sin in the soul: 
 in peace and in power. 
 
 In peace : when it dwells and rules in the soul 
 without disturbance or contradiction ; when it carries 
 all smoothly before it. When God lets it alone, and 
 conscience speaks not a word against it ; when not- 
 withstanding those armies of lusts fighting against 
 the soul, there is not so much as one weapon lifted up 
 against them ; not a prayer, not a tear, nor a wish 
 for freedom, nor the least fear concerning the issue : 
 this is the most dreadful hardness. 
 
 In power : when, though it can have no peace, 
 yet it hath still a place in the heart. Though it can 
 have no quiet, but conscience is ever quarrelling with 
 it and warning it away, yet it still holds its power 
 over the will ; the master of the house is content to 
 be its servant. Oh, how many persons are there, 
 even among the professors of religion, who cannot sin 
 in quiet : they are proud, or passionate, or intemper- 
 
156 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 ate, or covetous, or false in their words and dealings ; 
 they are formal and hypocritical, and slight in their 
 duties, but they cannot go on thus with any quiet. 
 Conscience smites them for it, they feel many a pang 
 and deadly twinge in their heart, insomuch that some- 
 times they cry and groan and roar in their spirits, 
 for redemption, for deliverance from this false, 
 this proud, this covetous and wicked heart. And 
 yet, after all this the will remains a captive still, sin 
 holds its power there, though it cannot reign in peace; 
 though it cannot he proud, or play the hypocrite, or 
 be covetous, or an oppressor, without some galls and 
 gripes in the soul, yet on it goes, the same trade is 
 kept up, the same course is held on. God com- 
 mands, " Cast ye out, cast ye out, come off from all 
 your wickedness and evil ways, and I will receive 
 you." But no, though conscience would, the will 
 cannot come ; whatever rendings and tearings, what- 
 ever terrors and torments and worryings such souls 
 are at any time under ; whatever stings and plagues 
 and fires they find their sins to be in their souls and 
 bones ; whatever wishings they wring forth that they 
 were well rid of these plagues, while the will is still 
 wrong there is a hard heart, desperately hard; there 
 is none of this heart of flesh. But when the will is 
 once broken loose from sin, when it will be content to 
 let all go, and give up itself to the dominion of the 
 Lord, there is a broken heart. " Now speak, Lord, 
 and I will hear. Now call, Lord, and I will answer. 
 Now command me, impose on me what thou wilt, I 
 will submit. None but the Lord, none but Christ, 
 
A HEART OF FLESH. 157 
 
 no other Lord nor lover. I am thine. Lord, thine 
 own; do with thine own, demand of thine own, what- 
 ever thou pleasest. What God will have me be, what 
 God will have me do, that will I do and be. No 
 longer what I will, but the will of the Lord be done." 
 When it is come to this, there is a tender heart, there 
 is the blessing of a broken spirit ; the stone he has 
 taken away, he has given a heart of flesh. 
 
 Christians, never trust to tears, never talk of ter- 
 rors, of trouble of conscience, of the passionate work- 
 ings and meltings which at any time you feel within 
 your spirits : though there be something in these, as you 
 shall see more by and by. ye1 those are not the things 
 you are to look at. A subdued, tractable, willing, 
 obedient heart, that is the tender heart. "If ye be 
 willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land ; 
 but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with 
 the sword ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
 Isa. 1 : 19. 
 
 3. Tenderness of the affections. Of these I shall 
 instance only three — love, fear, sorrow. 
 
 (1.) The tenderness of love is seen in its benevo- 
 lence and in its jealousy. 
 
 In its benevolence. Our goodness extends not to 
 the Lord, but our good-will does. Our love can add 
 nothing to him : " Can a man be profitable unto God ?" 
 Job 22 : 2. "If thou be righteous, what givest thou 
 to him ?" Job 35 : 7. Yet though it can add noth- 
 ing, it would not that any thing be detracted from 
 him ; while he can have no more, it would that he 
 should have his own, all that is due, his due praise, 
 
158 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 his due honor and homage and worship and subjec- 
 tion, from every creature ; it would have no abate- 
 ment, not the least spot or stain upon all his glory. 
 "What is an affront to God, is an offence to love. " Love 
 beareth all things," saith the apostle, 1 Cor. 13 : 7 — 
 all things from God, all things from men. And yet 
 there are two things which love to God cannot bear — 
 his dishonor and his displeasure. 
 
 The benevolent heart cannot bear God's dishonor. 
 Love would have Grod to be God, to live in the glory 
 of his majesty, in the hearts and eyes of all the world. 
 His reproach is grievous to him that loves, for this is 
 the cloud that takes God out of sight. He loves and 
 honors, and would that God should be loved and hon- 
 ored of all ; he fears, and would that the whole world 
 should fear him. He would receive in his own breast 
 every arrow that is shot against his Maker ; he would 
 that his own name and soul might stand between his 
 God and all reproach and dishonor. He would be 
 vile, if so the Lord may be glorious : that God may 
 increase, he is content to decrease. He is not so ten- 
 der of his own heart and life, as of the holiness of his 
 God. He would suffer and die, and be nothing, rather 
 than that God should not be all in all. He would 
 rather never think, nor speak, nor be, than not be, in 
 word and thought and life, holiness to the Lord. But 
 what or where would he not be, rather than his own 
 hand should be lifted up against Jehovah ! 
 
 To see the Lord robbed of his holiness, wronged in 
 his wisdom, or his truth, or his sovereignty ; to see sin, 
 to see the world, set up in the throne, and the God of 
 
A HEART OF FLESH. 159 
 
 glory made to stand aside as insignificant ; to hear that 
 blasphemy, "God is not worth this lust, or not wor- 
 thy this labor" — and what less is said in every sin? — 
 is a sword in his breast. "The reproaches of them 
 that reproached thee are fallen upon me." Love has 
 tasted of God, it has fed on his fulness, it has its 
 nourishment from his sweetness, it has been warmed 
 in his bosom, all his goodness has passed before it ; 
 upon this it lives and feeds; and having found and 
 felt what the Lord is, it is impatient that his good- 
 ness should be clouded or belied. Love kindled from 
 heaven is keen, and the keen edge is a tender edge — 
 the least touch of what offends will turn it. " I am 
 in distress, my bowels are troubled, my heart is turned 
 within me, for I have grievously rebelled." Lam. 
 1 : 20. " My tears have been my meat day and night, 
 while they continually say unto me, "Where is thy 
 God?" Psa. 42:3. Where is that care, that help, 
 and that salvation of thy God thou trustedst in ? Thy 
 God is not such a one as thou boasted st him to be. 
 When I remember, when I hear such things, my soul 
 is poured out within me. Love is large ; lie that 
 loves has a large heart, he can neve* receive or do too 
 much ; he would have all he can, and he would give 
 all he hath to the Lord. He is tender how any thing 
 be withheld that is due, how any thing be wasted 
 elsewhere that might be useful to the Lord. 
 
 Nor can love bear his displeasure. The displeas- 
 ure of men it bears, and rejoices ; the wrath and rage 
 of Satan it bears, and triumphs ; though all the world 
 be displeased and provoked, if God smiles, it is well 
 
160 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 enough. Lord, lift thou up the light of thy counte- 
 nance upon me, and my heart shall be glad. Psa. 4. 
 " Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled." Psa. 
 30 : 7. Let him correct me, but Oh, not in fury ; let 
 him smite, but not frown ; let him kill me, so he will 
 but love me. And though he smite, though he kill me, 
 yet will I love and trust in him. my God, let me 
 rather die in thy love, than live in thy displeasure : 
 there is life in that death, this life ,is death to me. 
 Let me not be dead while alive ; turn away thine 
 anger which kills my heart." 
 
 It is impatient of divine displeasure, and thence it 
 is grievous to it that it does itself displease him ; 
 thence it opposes sin, and condemns itself for it. Is 
 this thy kindness to thy friend ? Love^t thou God, 
 soul ? What, and yet provokest him thus daily ; love, 
 and yet neglect to seek and follow thy God ; love, 
 and yet so lame and so slow, and so heavy and so 
 sparing in thy services to him ? Is this all thy love 
 will do ? Not deny thine ease, or thy pleasure, or 
 thy liberty, or thine appetite, or thy companion, for 
 the sake of the Lord ; choose rather to please thy 
 friend, or thy flesh, than to please God ? Is this thy 
 love ? Is this thy kindness to thy friend ? false 
 heart, unworthy, unworthy spirit, how canst thou 
 look thy God in the face? How canst thou say, "I 
 love thee," when thy heart is no more with him ? 
 
 The tenderness of love is also seen in its jealousy. 
 He that loves the Lord is jealous, and jealousy hath 
 a tender edge ; he is jealous, not of, but for the Lord — 
 not of his God, but of himself, lest any thing should 
 
A HEART OF FLESH. 161 
 
 steal away his heart from God. Love would he 
 chaste, would not bestow itself elsewhere ; and yet is 
 in great jealousy lest it he enticed and drawn away. 
 He that loves the Lord, has not any thing, whether 
 wife, or child, or friend, or estate, or esteem, that 
 gets near his heart, hut he is jealous of them, lest 
 they steal it away. " Get you down," he says, " keep 
 you lower; this heart is neither yours nor mine: 
 my God, it is thine ; it is thine, Lord, take it wholly 
 to thee, keep it to thyself, let no other lovers be sharers 
 with thee." 
 
 (2.) There is a tenderness of fear. The tender 
 heart is a trembling heart, and manifests the tender- 
 ness of fear in its suspicion and its caution. 
 
 In its suspicion. The fearful are suspicious ; they 
 look further than they see ; he that is in dread, will 
 be in doubt what may befall him, he suspects a sur- 
 prisal ; every bush is a thief, every bait he fears may 
 have a hook under it. There is a foolish and cause- 
 less fear ; and there is a prudent and holy fear : this 
 fear is a principle of wisdom. Psalm 111 : 10. "A 
 prudent man foreseeth the evil," Prov. 22 : 3, but 
 fools go on ; the snare is never nearer than to the se- 
 cure; bold, venturous sinners never want for woe, the 
 devil may spare his cunning when he has to do with 
 such. Nothing that looks like sin offers itself to a 
 tender heart, but he presently suspects it ; every pleas- 
 ant morsel, every pleasant cup, every pleasant com- 
 panion that comes, any thing that tickles and gratifies 
 the flesh, he looks through it ere he will touch it, lest 
 it betray his soul from God. " There may be a 
 
162 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 snare in the dish, a snare in my cup, a snare in 
 my company ; and what if there should !" He fewds 
 himself with fear, dwells, walks, converses, works, 
 recreates himself with a trembling heart and jealous 
 eye. 
 
 His fear also appears in his caution. Pear is 
 wary : some commanders have set their scout-watches 
 unarmed, that fear might make them watchful. A 
 fearful Christian will take heed what and whom he 
 trusts ; he dares not trust himself in such company 
 as may he a snare unto him. He dares not trust his 
 heart among temptations, he will keep the devil at a 
 distance, he will not come near where his nets do lie. 
 Blessed is he that thus feareth always. the un- 
 speakable mischief, the multitudes of sins, that 
 we run upon through, our secure hearts ! "I never 
 thought of it, I never dreamed of any such danger. 
 Oh, I am undermined, I am overreached, I am sur- 
 prised ; my foot is in the snare, the gin hath taken 
 me by the heel, my soul is among lions, sin hath got- 
 ten hold on me, my heart is gone ere I was aware, 
 the enemy has come in and carried it away, has giv- 
 en it to lust, to the world, to pleasure, to divide it 
 among themselves ; my faith has failed, my conscience 
 is denied, my love is grown cold, my grace withered, 
 my comforts wasted, my peace broken; and my God, 
 Oh, where is he gone ? Woe is me, the evil that I 
 feared not is come upon me ; had I feared, I had not 
 fallen. that I had been wise, had kept my watch, 
 had stood upon my guard; had I thought, had I 
 thought, I had escaped all tliis danger." Christians, 
 
A HEART OF FLESH. 163 
 
 be wise in season, and take heed of the fool's too late, 
 "Had I known it" 
 
 (3.) There is a tenderness of sorrow. Sorrow is 
 the melting of the heart, the stone dissolved ; sorrow 
 is the wound of the heart : a wound is tender, love is 
 tender, and therefore so is godly sorrow, which is the 
 sorrow of love ; you may call it a love-sickness. Love 
 is both the pain and pleasure of a mourning heart, it 
 is love that wounds, and love that heals; it is both 
 the weapon and the oil ; this sorrow hath its joy, the 
 melted is the most joyful heart ; it is love that makes 
 it sad ; it weeps because it loves : and it is Love that 
 makes it glad too ; it therefore joys because in its sor- 
 rows it sees that it loves. It is love that makes the, 
 wound, the occasion of this sorrow being love abused. 
 What hast thou done, soul? Whom hast thou de- 
 spised ? Against whom hast thou lifted up thyself? 
 Thou hast sinned, thou hast sinned, and hast thereby 
 smitten and grieved thy God that loves thee, and 
 whom thou lovest. Thou hast but one friend in heav- 
 en and earth, and him thou hast abused; to please 
 thy lust, thou hast pierced thy Lord, thou hast trans- 
 gressed his commandments, trampled upon his com- 
 passions, and broken his bonds: his greatness and his 
 goodness, his law and his very love have been despised 
 by thee ; him who loved thee hast thou smitten. Is 
 this thy kindness to thy friend ? vile, ungracious, 
 unkind, unthankful, unnatural heart, what hast thou 
 done ? 
 
 Put all this now together, and you have the heart 
 of flesh which the covenant promises, a tender heart, 
 
164 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 a heart that is tender of sin and duty, that carefully 
 shuns sin, or is sure to smart for it ; that neither 
 slights sin nor duty, that says not of the one or he 
 other, It is but a little one ; that can feel sufferings, 
 but not fret at them : a tender conscience, that will 
 neither wink at sin nor excuse the sinner, that will 
 not hold the sinner guiltless nor say unto the wicked 
 Thou art righteous, that will not be smitten but it 
 will smite again, that will give due warning and due 
 correction : a flexible, tractable heart, that will not 
 resist and rebel ; that says unto the Lord, What wilt 
 thou have me to do ? and will not say of any thing 
 God wills, Any thing but this : a willing, ductile heart, 
 stiff against nothing but sin, that a word from heav- 
 en will lead to any thing : a heart of love, that bears 
 good-will to the Lord and all that he does or requires, 
 in which good- will lies radically every good work ; 
 that says not of any duties or sufferings, This is too 
 great, or of any sin, This is nothing ; that would be 
 any thing or nothing, so (rod may be all ; that would 
 rather be displeased than displease ; that is not dis- 
 pleased when God is pleased : a trembling heart, that 
 fears more than it sees, and flies from what it fears ; 
 whom fear makes to beware : a melting heart, a 
 mourning heart, that wounds itself in the wounds it 
 hath given to the Lord and his name ; that can 
 grieve in love, and can love and grieve where it can- 
 not weep. In sum, it is a heart that can feel, that 
 can bleed, that can weep ; or at least that can yield 
 and stoop where it cannot weep, nor feel but little ; 
 that will easily be commanded where it is not sen- 
 
A HEART OF FLESH. 165 
 
 sibly melted : this is a soft heart, this is the heart of 
 flesh: "I will take away the stone, and give them a 
 heart of flesh." 
 
 Oh, what a blessing is such a heart ; what a 
 plague is a hard heart ! Oh, what prisoners are the 
 men of this world : in prison under Satan, in prison 
 under sin, bound under a curse, shut up under unbe- 
 lief and impenitence : the hard heart is the iron gate 
 that shuts them in that they cannot go out. Romans 
 2 : 5. Oh, what a hospital is this world become of 
 blind and lame and sick and crippled and wounded 
 creatures. Whence are all the calamities and dis- 
 tresses that befall them, but from the hardness of 
 their hearts? The stone in their hearts breeds all 
 their diseases, brings all their calamities ; hath blinded 
 their eyes, and broken their bones, and wasted their 
 estates : there is not one misery that befalls them, but 
 they may write over it, This is the hardness of my 
 heart. Oh, what a Sodom is this world become, for 
 wickedness as well as for wrath ; what drunkenness, 
 what adulteries, what oaths, what blasphemies, and 
 all sorts of monstrous sins do everywhere abound: 
 whence is all this, but from the hardness of men's 
 hearts? If you say, " It is from other causes; it is 
 from unbelief, from ignorance, from impotence, from 
 temptations," let it be granted ; yet still it is from 
 hardness of heart. They are wilfully ignorant, wil- 
 fully weak, wilfully run into temptations ; they shut 
 their eyes and stop their ears, they will not see, they 
 will not believe. Oh, what losses do they sustain : 
 how many Sabbaths are lost ; how many sermons are 
 
166 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 lost ; how many reproofs, counsels, corrections, are 
 lost ; a gospel lost, and souls thereby likely to he lost 
 for ever. Oh, what prodigies are they become, under 
 all this sin and misery ! and yet merry, jolly, laugh- 
 ing, and singing and sporting and feasting and brav- 
 ing it out, as if nothing ailed them. Feeling nothing 
 of all that is come upon them, and fearing nothing of 
 all that is coining. Warn them, reprove them, be- 
 seech them, it is all but preaching to a stone. It may 
 be you have sometimes wondered to see a company of 
 thieves in prison, drinking and carousing and making 
 merry, when they know that in a few days they must 
 be brought out and hanged. "When thou wonderest 
 at these, wonder at thyself. What bitter complaints 
 do we sometimes hear, even from the best of saints. 
 " this hard heart ; this stubborn spirit. I can- 
 not mourn, I cannot stoop, I cannot submit. ' Why hast 
 thou hardened our heart from thy fear ?' Isa. 63 : 17. 
 Or why hast thou left us, or given us up to a hard heart ? 
 Why hast thou not softened and humbled and broken 
 us ? Thou hast humbled us, and we are not hum- 
 bled — broken us, and we are not broken ; thou hast 
 broken our land, broken our peace, broken our backs, 
 but the stone is not yet broken. for one breach 
 more, Lord ; our hearts, our hearts, let these be once 
 broken ; our streets mourn, the cities of our solemni- 
 ties mourn, the ways of Zion mourn. Oh, when wilt 
 thou give us a mourning spirit ?" 
 
 what sorrow-bitten souls are the saints for their 
 want of sorrow. " I mourn, Lord, I lament, I weep; 
 but it is because I cannot mourn or lament as I should : 
 
A HEART OF FLESH. 167 
 
 if I could mourn as I ought, I could be comforted ; if 
 I could weep, I could rejoice ; if I could sigh, I could 
 sing ; if I could lament, I could live ; I die, I die, my 
 heart dies within me, because I cannot cry; I cry, 
 Lord, but not for sin, but for tears for sin ; I cry, 
 Lord, my calamities cry, my bones cry, my soul cries, 
 my sins cry, 'Lord, for a broken heart,' and behold, 
 yet I am not broken. The rocks rend, the earth 
 quakes, the heavens drop, the clouds weep, the sun 
 will blush, the moon be ashamed, the foundations of 
 the earth will tremble at the presence of the Lord, but 
 this heart will neither break nor tremble. for ;i 
 broken heart ! If this were once done, might my soul 
 have this wish, thenceforth my God might have his 
 will : what would be hard, if my heart were tender ? 
 Labor would be easy, pains would be a pleasure, bur- 
 dens would be light. Neither the command nor the 
 cross would be any longer grievous, nothing would bo 
 hard but sin. Fear, where art thou? come and plough 
 up this rock. Love, where art thou ? come and thaw 
 this ice, come and warm this dead lump, come and 
 enlarge this straitened spirit, then shall I run the way 
 of his commandments." 
 
 brethren, how little, how very little of this ten- 
 derness is there to be found in most Christians ! The 
 sacrifice of God is a broken heart ; Oh, how far must 
 the Lord go to find himself such a sacrifice ! We do 
 but cast stones up to heaven when we lift up our 
 hearts : it is a wonder that such hearts as we carry 
 do not break, that our marble weeps not ; that if noth- 
 ing else will do it, our hardness doth not make us 
 
168 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 relent ; that we should so labor under, and complain 
 of, and yet not be sick of the stone. 
 
 Broken hearts, yielding and relenting spirits, ten- 
 der consciences, Oh, where are they? afraid of sin, 
 tender of transgressing, or mourning under it ? when 
 shall it once he ? Our lusts no more broken ; our 
 pride, our passion, our envy, our earthliness, no more 
 broken ; so venturous on temptation, so bold on sin, 
 such liberty taken to transgress, such mincing and 
 palliating, and excusing of sin as we find — is this our 
 brokenness ? We are tender, it is true ; but of what? 
 Of dishonoring Grod, of abusing grace, of neglecting 
 -duty, of defiling conscience, of wounding our souls ? 
 No, it is of our flesh that we are so tender — tender of 
 labor, tender of trouble, tender of our credit, of our 
 name and reputation : a tender shoulder we have, a 
 tender hand, a tender foot ; they can bear nothing, and 
 do nothing ; nothing can touch our flesh, nothing can 
 touch our idols, our ease, or our estates, but we shrink 
 and smart, and are put to pain. God may be smitten, 
 and we feel it not; the gospel may be smitten, the 
 church may be smitten, conscience may be smitten, 
 and it moves us not. We can fear an affliction, fear a 
 reproach ; that we so much feared a temptation or a 
 sin ! We cannot lack bread but we feel the want ; we 
 cannot want clothes, or a house, or a friend, but we feel 
 it ; we cannot want our sleep, our quiet, our pleasure, 
 our respect from men, but we feel it; any thing that 
 pinches our flesh pierces our heart. We cannot pine, 
 or languish in our bodies, but we feel it ; a fever or an 
 ague, a consumption, dropsy, or any bodily sickness, 
 
A HEART OF FLESH. 169 
 
 0, it makes us sick at heart ; a froward yoke-fellow, 
 an unthrifty servant, an ill neighbor, a scoff, a slight 
 cannot be borne ; but 0, how much sin can be borne! 
 While our flesh will hear nothing, how much can 
 conscience bear, and never complain ! 
 
 Christians, consider. "When our flesh must be thus 
 caressed, whatever come of it — must be tenderly fed, 
 must have soft raiment, soft lodging, soft usage — be 
 dealt gently with, though to maintain it conscience 
 must be racked, and racked, and wasted; when our 
 wills cannot be crossed, our appetites camiot be de- 
 nied, but a tumult follows, the soul is in an uproar, 
 and conscience meanwhile must be denied, and sent 
 away in silence ; when the word works no more, 
 when the prints of it are not received, the power of 
 it is resisted ; when the rod works no more, when 
 our stripes make no sign, when the lashes on our 
 backs touch not our hearts ; when we remain so 
 vain and so wanton, so wilful, carnal, and earthly, 
 after the Lord hath been preaching and chastising us 
 into a better frame ; when we stand upon our terms, 
 keep our distances, our animosities, our heats and 
 heights of spirit, our censurings, our quarrellings one 
 with another, Christian with Christian, professor with 
 professor, after the Lord hath been beating us together 
 to make us friends, and all to teach us more humility 
 and charity — is this our brokenness ? Is this our ten- 
 derness, when upon any of the Lord's rougher deal- 
 ing with us, smiting our faces, throwing us on our 
 backs, trampling us in the dirt, we are yet no more 
 brought on our knees ? Is this our brokenness, when 
 
 Efertfen Opm»<). R 
 
170 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 the Lord hath been awakening us out of sleep, putting 
 his spurs and goads in our sides to quicken us on our 
 way; calling to us, "Arise, sleepers, stir up your spir- 
 its, sluggards, mend your pace : I will not be put off 
 as I have been ; no more such loitering and idling and 
 trifling and halting as hath been ; I must have another 
 manner of service, of praying and hearing and walking 
 and working, than hath been : be zealous and amend ; 
 more labor, more care, more watchfulness, more ac- 
 tivity, more of the spirit and soul of what you pro- 
 fess ?" "When the Lord hath been thus goading and 
 spurring us on, and though our flesh feels, yet our 
 hearts will not feel, nor answer the goad or spur, is 
 this an evidence of tenderness ? 
 
 When great duties are little, and lesser are none ; 
 when great sins are infirmities, and little ones are 
 nothing ; when lying and defrauding, when false 
 weights, false wares, and false dealings, when de- 
 faming, backbiting, talebearing, railing, reviling, do 
 stand for little more than ciphers ; when fellowship 
 and familiarity with evil men in their sins, and 
 compliance with or connivance at their wickedness ; 
 when sinful courtings and complimentings of such, to 
 the hardening them in their ways, do pass for virtues 
 and civilities ; when frothy, wanton discourse and 
 communication, when scoffing and making a sport 
 at the sins or infirmities of others, when sinful, vain 
 jesting, wherein rather conscience than wit must be 
 denied — when all these pass for our ornaments rather 
 than our evils, where is our tenderness ? 
 
 When upon auditing our accounts, examining our 
 
A HEART OF FLESH. 171 
 
 books, and reckoning up our scores, where a talent is 
 owing, we bid conscience, "Take thy bill, and write 
 down a shekel ;" where twenty or a hundred sins are 
 to be reckoned for, " Take thy bill, and write down 
 ten, or but one, and that a little one :" when we are 
 so free in multiplying and so false in numbering our 
 iniquities, where is our tenderness ? 
 
 Well, Christians, the Lord hath promised a tender 
 heart, to make these stones flesh ; and something pos- 
 sibly is done already upon you towards it. let this 
 sad sight now laid before you, this view of what is 
 wanting, have some influence upon you. Let sorrow 
 that no more is done, work what is yet undone ; let 
 your unbrokenness break your hearts ; let the stone 
 that yet remains make your flesh bleed. If you yet 
 feel no more, may you at least feel this — that you 
 feel not. 
 
J72 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 
 
 "The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, 
 and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, and with all thy soul." Deut. 30 : 6. 
 Love is the soul of the new creature ; the closing of 
 the soul with God. He that hath most of God, is 
 most a Christian ; and he that hath most of love, hath 
 most of God. God is love. 
 
 In treating of this love to God, we shall consider 
 its object, and its act. 
 
 I. Its object. The object of divine love is God. 
 God is good, and good is amiable. God is all good : 
 there is none good but one, that is God. God is es- 
 sentially good, goodness in the abstract ; he is infi- 
 nitely excellent, he is all perfection. In this one 
 attribute all the rest of the attributes of God are in- 
 cluded, and this in each of them. However the Scrip- 
 tures, speaking to our capacities, describe God and his 
 glorious attributes in several and distinct notions, yet 
 in each one all are included ; each one is infinite, and 
 infinite perfection is essentially all perfection. God is 
 originally good, the fountain and pattern of all that 
 moral good which is in his creatures; he is bountiful 
 and gracious, ready to do them good ; and he is the 
 felicitating end, or the final blessedness of the soul. 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 173 
 
 The goodness of God to his creatures has its different 
 and various appellations. As it is freely bestowed, it 
 is grace ; as it respects them as needy, it is bounty ; 
 as in misery, it is mercy and compassion ; as provok- 
 ing, it is patience ; as it intends their good, it is love ; 
 as it answers both their necessities and capacities, it 
 is all-sufficiency. All these, his bounty, mercy, com- 
 passion, patience, love, all-sufficiency, all these are in 
 one word his goodness, and goodness calls for love. 
 The object of this love is God : particularly, 1. God 
 in himself; 2. God in Christ ; 3. God in all the things 
 of God. 
 
 1. God in himself, as he is infinitely excellent, 
 and so worthy of all love. God is to be loved in 
 himself, and for himself, for his own worthiness; God 
 is good in himself, and therefore to be loved for him- 
 self. 
 
 2. God in Christ. In whom alone, considering 
 us as sinners, he can be said to be good to us. There 
 is a fourfold incentive of love — perception, proportion, 
 propriety, possession. 
 
 Perception, the apprehension or understanding of 
 the object to be loved. We must know before we 
 can love : now God cannot be seen by mortals ; he 
 dwelleth in light, but that light is to us invisible. 
 Christ is the glass, in which this glory may be seen. 
 We cannot see God but through a veil of flesh, in the 
 face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6. "No man hath 
 seen God at any time;" but "the Only Begotten of 
 the Father," who is in the bosom of the Father, he 
 hath revealed him. John 1 : 18. 
 
174 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 Proportion. And there is a double proportion 
 requisite ; in respect to quantity, there must be suffi- 
 ciency ; and in respect to quality, there must be suit- 
 ableness. God himself is proportioned to us, consid- 
 ered as rational creatures, and in our state of inno- 
 cency — he is both a sufficient and a suitable good ; 
 but God in Christ only is suited to us, considered as 
 lapsed creatures in a state of sin. God in Christ is a 
 God of pity and compassion to us ; a G od of patience, 
 a God of mercy, with whom is plenteous redemption. 
 A God pardoning iniquity, and passing by transgres- 
 sion ; loving us in our low estate, loving us and pity- 
 ing us, loving us and pardoning us, loving us and 
 washing us, loving us and saving us from our sins 
 and from the wrath to come. And such love is the 
 great flame that kindles love ; love breaking forth out 
 of a cloud of wrath and fury and displeasure ; abused 
 love, provoked love, and yet forgiving love : to whom 
 much is forgiven, they will love much. 
 
 Propriety, or interest. What is good, good for us, 
 and our own good, that carries our hearts. We must 
 love our own good, because we must love ourselves. 
 Our love to God is heightened by our due self-love. 
 There is a sinful self-love, when either we love that for 
 a self which is not ourself, when we love our flesh 
 and fleshly interest, or when we love ourselves inor- 
 dinately, more than God, and God only for ourselves ; 
 and there is a lawful self-love, when we love ourselves 
 in the Lord and for the Lord. And the more we thus 
 love ourselves, the more is the Lord loved by us ; and 
 the more he is our own, the more love he has from us. 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 175 
 
 Now in Christ the Lord is our God ; our own God, 
 even our own God. " Thou art my God, and I will 
 praise thee. Thou art my God, I will exalt thee." 
 Psa. 118:28. The Lord is God, and we therefore 
 love him; the Lord is good, gracious, merciful, and 
 we therefore love him, yea, and ought to love him, 
 whether he be ours or not ; but when both meet, he 
 is God, and our God; he is good and our good, gra- 
 cious, merciful, all-sufficient — and all this to us: hence 
 is our love made perfect in lis. 
 
 Possession. We can love a distant, an absent 
 good, a good that is only possible; there is love in 
 hope, but the nearer any good is to us that is really 
 good, the more attractive and acceptable it is. It is 
 most in our hearts when it is most in our hands. 
 Indeed, those things which are only fancied and finite 
 good, being overrated and judged to be better than 
 they are, are loved most at a distance, because when 
 they come to hand we see our mistakes. But that 
 which is what it seemed ; much more, that which is 
 above our thoughts, beyond our expectations, infinite 
 good, is ever the dearer to us the nearer it comes. 
 All worldly good is most valued, at least by carnal 
 hearts, at a distance ; they promise themselves more 
 enjoyment in it than it has to give them; their pos- 
 session is their disappointment. "While they lusted, 
 they idolized, they adored ; but when they have tasted 
 and eaten, it comes out at their nostrils. Or else they 
 sit down with the shame of the disappointed; they 
 are either surfeited, or hungry still. " Is this all — 
 all you can do for me ; all the pleasure and comfort 
 
176 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 I shall have of you ? Is all my expectation of delight 
 and satisfaction come to no more than this ? Misera- 
 ble comforters are you all." Possession and fruition 
 are the proof of all things. And vanity once tried is 
 the less loved. But God being an all-sufficient, in- 
 comprehensible good, the nearer to us he is, and the 
 more he is ours, the more we prize and love him; 
 because now we find that the half had not been 
 told us. 
 
 Now in Christ, we have not only a propriety in 
 God, but in some degree a present possession. " He 
 that hath the Son, hath the Father also." We see 
 his light, we feel his love, we taste his goodness, we 
 enjoy his presence, we have God with us, we have 
 God in us, we have fellowship with him, he dwelleth 
 in us and we in him ; and hence we love, and herein 
 we rejoice. 
 
 3. In all the things of God: in his word, ordi- 
 nances, sabbaths, saints, in graces, duties, in all his 
 ways; the saints love God, and love his word; it is 
 God in the word they love; they love God, and they 
 love ordinances, and sabbaths, and saints: it is God 
 in all these they love ; they love the ways, and works, 
 and all the dispensations of God, and it is God in them 
 all they love; they see God in every thing, and they 
 love God wherever they see him. They look on all 
 these things with another eye, and therefore embrace 
 them with another heart than other men. The saints' 
 love to the things of God, is their love to God ; for it 
 is God in them that they love; their love to them is 
 founded either on their participation of God, or rela- 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 1/7 
 
 tion to God. They love the things of God, because 
 they are the offspring, the images, and the chariots 
 of God. 
 
 The tilings of God are the offspring of God ; as 
 the saints are born from above, so all the things of 
 God come down from above, and therefore may also 
 be called, as the apostle styles them, things above : 
 "If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things that 
 are above, set your affection on things above./' Col. 
 3:1,2. Whatsoever is from God, and belongs to his 
 heavenly kingdom, is divine and heavenly; and he 
 that loveth him that begets, therefore loveth those 
 which are begotten, and whatsoever procecdeth from 
 him. 
 
 The word and the saints are the images of God, 
 the character and impress of God are upon them ; the 
 grace in the saints, and the holy truths in the word, 
 are the very face of Christ, who is full of grace and 
 truth; and this is their rule, Love God, and love his 
 image. 
 
 The things of God are the chariots of God. He 
 that makes the clouds his chariots, makes also his word, 
 and his ordinances, and his ministers his chariots, 
 wherein he rides down into those lower parts to give 
 the world a meeting. When ministers come, and the 
 word comes down, God comes down in them to visit 
 his people : as it was said of Paul, so it is true of 
 Apollos, and Cephas, and all the dispensers of the gos- 
 pel, they are chosen vessels to bear his name before 
 the sons of men ; and as they are the chariots in which 
 God comes down, so are they also the wagons which 
 
178 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 he has sent them, to fetch them up to himself. In 
 their duties, in their prayers, in their praises, the saints 
 send up their hearts unto God. Israel's heart leaped 
 when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent. 0, 
 what love does the psalmist express to the house and 
 courts of the Lord! "How amiable are thy taber- 
 nacles! I was glad when they said unto me, Let us 
 go into the house of the Lord." He was glad to go 
 thither, because thence he hoped to be carried higher, 
 from the mountain to the mansion — from mount Zion 
 here below, to Jerusalem which is above. 
 
 It is the duty and the delight of the saints to be 
 ascending heavenwards : they are dead with Christ, 
 they are risen with Christ ; and it is not as they would 
 with them, but when they are ascending up with 
 Christ: they are dead with Christ by repentance and 
 humiliation; they are risen with Christ by faith and 
 sanctification ; and they ascend with Christ by love 
 and holy affection : this is their chariot of fire, a 
 chariot within a chariot, that through duties and 
 ordinances rides up in its own flames to the God of 
 love. 
 
 Or, if you will, the ordinances of God are our 
 Jacob's ladder reaching from heaven to earth, by 
 which angels descend and souls ascend. God comes 
 down and hearts go up, praises go up and blessings 
 come down. Thou hast not proved what an ordi- 
 nance is, what prayer means, or preaching means, or 
 sacraments mean, who hast not seen God coming 
 down, nor felt thy heart ascending by them : he that 
 hath felt this will say, Here let me dwell ; let others 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 179 
 
 be where they will, among their flocks, among their 
 herds, upon their beds, at their cups, at their pleas- 
 ures, or in their houses ; it is good for me to be here. 
 
 No wonder, Christians, that carnal hearts are such 
 strangers to the word, can so well be absent from 
 divine Worship and ordinances; preaching and pray- 
 ing and sabbaths they can spare, and not feel their 
 want; what wonder? What is heaven to earth? 
 What is God to flesh? These chariots would carry 
 them away from their gods, carry them nut of their 
 own country into a strange Land, where they have 
 neither possession nor acquaintance. But 0, what a 
 sad wonder is it, that saints should go up m> often 
 into the chariots, and yet get no nearer home ; that 
 they should still be so much on the earth, that have 
 been so often mounted for heaven ; that their hearts 
 should still be on the dunghills, whose feet are so 
 often on the mountain of the Lord ; that the wagons 
 should be so often sent, down, and go up empty, scarce 
 a heart sent up in them ; yea, that they should be so 
 far from God, when God is among them. Where is 
 your love, Christians ? How is it that it is still below ? 
 What have you here ? Your city is above, your home, 
 is above, your God, your Jesus, your treasure is aboi e. 
 Oh, how is it, that where your treasure is, your hearts 
 are not also? Hear from God, and God not with the 
 messenger! send up to heaven your eyes, your hands, 
 your prayers, your complaints, your promises, and 
 still leave your hearts below! send up your hearts to 
 heaven, and let them return again down to this earth; 
 remain earth, and flesh, and filth, and vanity, after 
 
180 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 so much converse or pretence to it, with the holy God 
 of spirits ! Lovest thou God, when thou canst so often 
 go where he is, and not care to see him; or if thou 
 meet him, canst let him go without a blessing ; or if 
 he bless thee, canst go presently and exchange thy 
 Father's blessing for a mess of pottage ; canst lose a 
 duty in a dinner, the comforts and revivings of a ser- 
 mon, of a sacrament, of a sabbath, in an hour's car- 
 nal converse with the world? Did we love our God 
 more, certainly we should be more with him, and to 
 better purpose. His meetings would be more precious, 
 and the fruits of them more lasting. We should nei- 
 ther go away without his blessing, nor throw it away 
 when we had got it. Thus much for the object of love. 
 
 II. Its act. Love is a natural affection. The 
 love of God is the soul's clasping or closing with the 
 Lord. It is the expansion, or going out of the heart 
 in its strength after God — the uniting or knitting of 
 the soul with God, with a complacency and acqui- 
 escence in him. There are three things included in 
 this love. 
 
 1. The strength of the heart making out after God. 
 This is that which is commonly called our love of de- 
 sire, the breathing, or thirsting, or panting of the heart 
 after God, Psa. 42 : 1 ; the heart's working God-wards 
 with its whole might ; loving him above all things, 
 desiring him above all things, with the greatest vigor 
 and intentness, and as its complete and adequate 
 object. God is its all. "Whom have I in heaven 
 but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire 
 besides thee," 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 181 
 
 2. The uniting of the soul icitli God. Our cleav- 
 ing to him. By love heart cleaves to heart, soul 
 cleaves to soul. It is said of Shechem, Gen. 34 : 3, 
 that his heart clave unto Dinah. He loved her with 
 his heart, she was gotten into his heart, and there his 
 heart holds her. Barnabas exhorts the church, that 
 with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the 
 Lord. Acts 11 : 23. It is the knitting of the soul 
 with God. It is said, 1 Sam. 18 : 1, that the soul of 
 Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jona- 
 than loved him as his own soul. And of Jacob, Gen. 
 44 : 30, to express his tender love to Benjamin, it is 
 said, his life was bound up in the lad's life. Of the 
 multitude of believers we read, Acts 4 : 32, that they 
 were all of one heart and of one soul. Their love had 
 knit them into one. By love we are one with God, 
 and he with us. It is the soul's willing of God, if I 
 may so speak — willing of God to itself, and willing 
 itself and all to God. All praises, all honor, all bless- 
 edness to him. " Be thou mine, Lord ; nothing less, 
 nothing else. Be thou mine, I need no less, I desire 
 no more. Let me be thine, be to thee, be for thee, 
 thy servant, thy sacrifice, or what thou wilt ; and let 
 all mine be thine — my heart, and my hand, and my 
 tongue, and my time, and my interest. Let all thine 
 be to thee ; thy heavens and thy earth, with every 
 person and every creature in them. Let every heart, 
 every mouth, every limb, every creature, be a praise 
 to the Lord. Let the Lord live, and blessed be my 
 rock ; let the God of my salvation be exalted. Let 
 every knee bow, let every tongue confess unto God." 
 
182 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 This is our love of union, as it is called. And it is 
 the very essence of saving love, wherein are included 
 both our accepting God, with the surrender or resigna- 
 tion of ourselves unto him, and our wishing and will- 
 ing all glory, dominion, and blessedness to him. And 
 so here also is our love of benevolence. All these 
 may be included in that opening of the heart men- 
 tioned Acts 16 : 14. It is there said that the Lord 
 opened Lydia's heart. The heart is then savingly 
 opened, when it freely lets out itself upon God, all its 
 streams run in to the Lord, and when it takes God 
 into the depth of the soul. The heart thus opened to 
 the Lord, when God is come in, will close upon him. 
 ' ' Abide with me ; thou hast entered into thy habita- 
 tion. let this be thy dwelling for ever." Only this 
 must be further added, that with God it takes in all 
 things of God — his word, his ordinances, his ways, 
 and all his dispensations. With his love, his laws ; 
 with his comforts, his counsels ; with his counsels, 
 his corrections. "With thee," it says, "I accept of 
 all that is thine, both thy yoke and thy cross ; thy- 
 self, Lord, thy love, Lord, and whatever thou wilt 
 with thee." 
 
 3. The soul's taking pleasure, and taking up its 
 rest in him. This is called our love of complacency. 
 Where we love, there will be a delightful stay of the 
 mind upon God. The object dwells in the eye ; we 
 are still looking where we love. "When I awake, I 
 am still with thee ;" there our thoughts are, of him is 
 our meditation all the day long. 
 
 My meditation of him shall be sweet. He that 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 183 
 
 loves, dwelleth in God : "I will dwell in the house of 
 the Lord for ever." And why there ? Because there 
 our God dwells, and therefore there the soul takes up 
 its dwelling. There is also an acquiescence of the 
 heart in him. "Return unto thy rest, my soul." 
 But this is not felt till love hath obtained its object ; 
 till the soul feels itself to love, and to have what it 
 loves ; to love, and to be beloved ; to accept, and to 
 be accepted of God. When it comes to this, then I 
 have enough. "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved 
 is mine." And here is the sweetness of religion, the 
 marrow and fatness of godliness, the pleasure of love. 
 "When I love, I can rest ; when I can rest, I can re- 
 joice ; when I feel myself to love, I know I am be- 
 loved ; and then what is there wanting ? Where love 
 is a stranger, joy is not known ; we can never take 
 comfort in any thing but in that which we love. 
 When take we pleasure in eating but when we have 
 food that we love ? What is a friend, or a wife, or a 
 child, when we love them not ? What is society or 
 communion, where love has not first made a union ? 
 Can two walk together except they be agreed ? with 
 little comfort surely ; they would be better pleased, 
 were they parted asunder. It is love that is the pleas- 
 ure of our lives. It is love that makes heaven sweet ; 
 there we shall have our fill of joy, because there we 
 have our fill of love. Heaven would be no heaven, 
 God himself could not be the joy, if he were not the 
 love of his saints. What bitter draughts will love 
 sweeten ! Sin and lusts and all the filth of the flesh 
 are sweet morsels to carnal hearts ; it is the meat they 
 
184 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 love ; G-od is nothing, Christ is nothing to them. "What 
 is thy Beloved more than another ? Religion is a bond- 
 age to them, holiness a weariness ; to them not the 
 labors only, but the joys of the saints are empty and 
 unsavory. There are no true feasts but love-feasts. 
 Love will make any thing relish. When it puts such 
 a sweetness into sin that even death and hell will go 
 down with carnal hearts for its sake, what a feast 
 will love make of holiness and glory! Get love to 
 Christ, love to religion, and you will never demand, 
 Where is the blessedness, where is the sweetness of 
 religion ? 
 
 Love will sweeten both the comforts and the ex- 
 ercises of religion ; it will make duties sweet, yea, and 
 sufferings sweet : there are two things that are natu- 
 rally sweet to it — to please, and to praise. 
 
 (1.) He that loves, will please the one whom he 
 loves. How careful are such to watch themselves, 
 that they grieve not their friend ; what study does 
 love put them upon to find out what is grateful and 
 acceptable — acceptable looks, acceptable language, 
 acceptable entertainment. "What wilt thou, Lord? 
 what wilt thou have me to be ? a servant, a door- 
 keeper, a servant of servants for thee ? I will be 
 nothing but what thou wilt, any thing that thou wilt 
 ha-e me. What wilt thou have me to do, Lord ? let 
 me know thy will, appoint me my work. that my 
 ways were so directed that I might keep thy statutes. 
 What wilt thou have of me ? Wilt thou have mine 
 idols, mine ease, or my honor, or my pleasure, or my 
 house, or my estate ? Wilt thou have mine Isaacs ? 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 185 
 
 Is there any one thing clearer to me than another, that 
 might be an offering to the Lord ? Wilt thou have 
 my liberty or my life ? Behold, all is at thy feet : I 
 can keep back nothing thou callest for." 
 
 Hence, love is said to be the fulfilling of the law; 
 there is in this good-will radically every good work. 
 It would walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, 
 being fruitful in every good work. Love is generous, 
 it would do great things, noble things : What shall I 
 do for him whom my soul honors ? for a gift that 
 might be worthy of him ! but I have nothing, my 
 goodness extendeth not to thee. It would give more 
 than it owes ; but where it cannot do so, where it 
 cannot be generous, yet it would be just; it would 
 level all accounts, and pay all debts ; love would have 
 nothing but love owing. It would give to all their 
 due ; it would not die in the debt of a servant, of a 
 stranger ; much less would it take from the God of 
 glory. This is the daily charge of love, Pay what 
 thou owest. Its receipts and returns are a pleasure 
 to it ; any tlnng that comes down from heaven, and 
 every present it has to send thither, is a joy to love. 
 This is the message that both speak, Happy soul, thou 
 lovest and art beloved. It catches at all opportunities 
 to send up messages of love, and knows no fitter 
 messenger to send by, than the hand of duty ; every 
 duty is dispatched with this superscription, The trib- 
 ute of love. 
 
 Love is the spring that sets all our wheels a going, 
 the mould in which all our works are formed, the 
 fire in the heart that vents itself in our words and 
 
186 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 ways. " The fire burned ; then spake I with my 
 tongue." Love is to a saint what malice is to Satan, 
 that which gives force to all his actings. Satan's 
 temptations are called fiery darts ; and this, not only 
 because they are headed and barbed with fire — like 
 poisoned arrows, they burn where they hit ; they set 
 sin on fire, they set the soul on fire, burning with lust 
 and wickedness — but because they are winged with 
 fire, and forced with fire. The bullet is fired out of 
 the gun, and therefore it flies so fiercely. It is the 
 malice of Satan's heart that fires out all his darts. 
 What malice doth with Satan, that doth love with 
 saints. It sets the heart in a flame of holy zeal and 
 activity for God: "His word was in my heart as a 
 burning fire ; I was weary with forbearing." Jer. 
 20 : 9. A heart of love is weary, not of action, but of 
 idleness ; weary with forbearing, not with doing ; never 
 weary of doing much, ever weary of doing nothing. 
 "0 God, my heart is fixed, my heart is fixed," saith 
 the psalmist; "I will sing, and give thanks." Love 
 will add, God, my heart is fixed, my heart is 
 fixed ; there is a flame kindled ; my heart burnetii in 
 holy desires and zeal for thee. And where love hath 
 set the heart a burning, the heart will set the hand a 
 working and the feet a running. 
 
 (2.) He that loves, will praise him whom he loves. 
 Praise is comely, and praise is a pleasure to the up- 
 right in heart. It is the delight of love to be speaking 
 of the perfections, of the virtues, of the beauties, of 
 the excellences of its beloved. The spouse in the 
 book of Songs, whose language is all love, hath her 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 187 
 
 heart so full that her lips overflow with the mention 
 of the excellences of Christ : My Beloved is white 
 and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His 
 head is fine gold, his eyes dove's eyes, his cheeks a 
 bed of spices, his lips arc lilies, his hands arc gold 
 rings, his legs pillars of marble, his countenance ex- 
 cellent, his mouth sweet ; yea, he is altogether lovely : 
 this is my Beloved, and this is my Friend, daugh- 
 ters of Jerusalem. Sol. Song 5. " Who is a God like 
 unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing 
 wonders ? Great is the Lord, and greatly to be 
 praised in the city of our God. Thy mercy, Lord, 
 is in the heavens, thy faithfulness reacheth into the 
 clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great moun- 
 tains, thy judgments are a great deep. How excel- 
 lent is thy loving-kindness, Lord ! therefore the sons 
 of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. 
 I will speak of the glorious honor of thy majesty, and 
 of thy wondrous works. The Lord is gracious, full 
 of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy 
 The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are 
 over all his works. Let all thy works praise thee, 
 Lord ; let the saints bless thee ; let them speak of 
 the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power ; let 
 them abundantly utter the memory of thy goodness, 
 and sing of thy righteousness." my God, thou art 
 all love, all goodness, all grace, all glory. let thy 
 servant be all praise ! Let this heart be an altar, and 
 every service a sacrifice ; let this mouth be a trum- 
 pet, and every word a psalm ; let my breath be as 
 incense, and every member a censer. Let all that is 
 
188 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 within me, my soul, with all its powers — let all that 
 is without me, my body, with all its members, shout 
 for joy, and sing forth the high praises of God. This 
 is the voice of love. 
 
 And thus you have another excellence of the new 
 heart laid open to your view, love — a heart to love. 
 
 Christians, prize this precious grace, prize it, and 
 you will write down this word also among the great 
 and precious promises ; and if you would prize it 
 aright, take your estimate of it from its worth and 
 its want, as we prize jewels according to their excel- 
 lence and their rarity. 
 
 (l.j Prize it according to its worth and excellence. 
 "Why, what is the worth? " If a man would give all 
 the substance of his house for love, it would be con- 
 temned." The whole world is not of sufficient value 
 to be a price for love ; no, it must come by gift, it is 
 not to be bought for money ; love is worth as much 
 as a soul, and that is more than all the world. " What 
 shall it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose 
 his own soul ?" Love is as much worth as all religion ; 
 it is the soul and the substance of all religion ; all our 
 graces, duties, and exercises are only valued according 
 to the love that is in them. What is knowledge, faith, 
 hope, or patience, without love? What is prayer, fast- 
 ing, or alms, without charity ? They are worth noth- 
 ing, shall I say? nay, they are nothing; if I had all 
 knowledge and all faith, and were all prayer and all 
 labor and all suffering, and had not charity, I were 
 nothing. Love is worth as much as heaven is worth, 
 as Christ and God are worth to us. God is love, and 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 189 
 
 God is not in us, if love be not. Dost thou prize thy 
 substance? Is thy house, or thy money, or thy land, 
 any thing to thee ? Dost thou value thy soul ? Is 
 religion, is heaven, is Christ, is God himself of any 
 account to thee ? Then prize the love of God. Without 
 love, God is no God to thee, Christ is no Christ to thee, 
 heaven is no heaven for thee ; better thou hadst no 
 soul, no being, than no love. prize the love of God, 
 prize and seek, prize and pray; pray as for thy life, as 
 for thy soul, as for thine everlasting kingdom, "Lord, 
 let me love thee." Get love, and get all : love, and 
 thou wilt be holy; love, and thou wilt be humble; 
 love, and thou wilt be fruitful ; love, and thou wilt 
 please, praise, and enjoy thy God ; love, and thou wilt 
 fear, serve, suffer, and die for him ; love, and thou 
 shalt live. Prize love, prize it according to its worth. 
 (2.) Prize it also according to its rarity. Things 
 excellent are rated something the more for their scarc- 
 ity ; scarcity raises the market: "The word of the 
 Lord was precious in those days," 1 Sam. 3:1, that 
 is, when there was a famine of the word, when there- 
 was no open vision. were the love of God as pre- 
 cious as it is rare ! What a spiritless carcass is the 
 religion of many professors ! what has become of the 
 soul of it ? Oh, we freeze in our duties, we freeze in 
 our devotions, we are almost frozen out of them all ; 
 we have a sacrifice left, what fire is there to offer it 
 up? "The God that answereth by fire, let him be 
 God," saith Elijah ; the heart that asketh by fire, that 
 ascendeth in fire, let that be the heart for God : "Be- 
 hold the wood and the fire ; but where is the lamb for 
 
190 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 the sacrifice ?" We may say, " Behold the wood and 
 the sacrifice ; but where is the fire to offer it up ?" Our 
 spirits have taken a cold, the chill of them appears in 
 all our duties. Love, where dwellest thou ? Zeal of 
 God, where is thy abode ? How many houses must 
 we search, how many hearts must we walk through, 
 ere we find thy habitation ? The apostle tells the 
 Romans, that they have "a zeal of God, but not ac- 
 cording to knowledge." Rom. 10 : 2. We have the 
 knowledge of God, but 0, where is the zeal? "The 
 zeal of thy house," saith the psalmist, "hath eaten 
 me up ;" but is not that eater eaten ? The house has 
 burned up the fire, or if there be any fire left, is it 
 not strange fire ? Not the fire of love, but of lust, of 
 pride, or covetousness, or that wild-fire of envy and 
 contention that heats our spirits ? Jehu was also on 
 fire against the house of Ahab : " Come, see my zeal 
 for the Lord of hosts." That fire was fury, not love ; 
 or if it was love, it was self-love, not the love of God, 
 that made all that flame : such hearts are like the 
 evil tongue, "set on fire of hell." James 3 : 6. Such 
 heats are not from above, but are earthly, sensual, 
 devilish ; we freeze still, while we thus fry ; our pre- 
 ternatural heats have extinguished the supernatural. 
 how little kindly warmth do we find in our 
 spirits ! Do we feel our hearts working upwards, 
 ascending in our flames ? We all pretend to love ; 
 but consider, are our hearts going out in their 
 strength after God ? We wish well to his name and 
 interest, we wish he were ours, we wish ourselves 
 his : 0, if wishing were loving, what Christians should 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 191 
 
 we be ! But doth the kingdom of God suffer violence ? 
 Who are they that so run, as if they would take God 
 by force, take heaven by force ? The kingdom of 
 heaven may offer violence if it will, and take us by 
 force ; but how little violence does it suffer. "We say 
 we love God ; but is there not something else we love 
 more ? We desire to be holy ; but is there not some-' 
 thing else we desire more ? 
 
 how few hearty friends has Christ in the world, 
 and how little love from these few ; so little that we 
 ourselves cannot tell whether it be any thing or noth- 
 ing : how hard are we put to it. What a narrow 
 search must we make, how many arguments must 
 we consult, how many marks must we consider ere 
 wo can prove we love him, and yet at last arc still 
 in doubt whether we love him or not. 
 
 When we love our friends, our wives, our chil- 
 dren, we can feel that we love them; when we love 
 our ease, or our estates, or our liberties, we can feel 
 that we love them ; but our God, we cannot tell 
 whether we love him or not. How few of us can 
 boldly make our appeal to him, "Lord, thou knowest 
 that I love thee !" 
 
 0, how many wounds does Christ receive in the 
 house of his friends ; how many slights must he put 
 up with ; how often when he has sat down in his own 
 place in the highest room, have we said to him, " Give 
 this man place, give this friend or this business place," 
 and so made him take the lower room! 
 
 How hath he, when he has come to our doors — 
 his love has often brought him thither— how often has 
 
192 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 he stood, and knocked, and called, "Open to me, my 
 love, my sister;" and there been made to stand and 
 wait, when strangers have been brought in, and taken 
 up all the rooms ! The world can never come out of 
 season, but Christ must wait his seasons when he 
 can find us at leisure ; if there be any other guest 
 with us, our Lord must wait: "Go thy way for this 
 time ; when I have a convenient season, I will call for 
 thee." How often have we agreed and appointed to 
 meet the Lord at such an hour, in our chamber, in 
 our closet, to have converse and communion with him 
 in duty, and if any thing come in to carry us another 
 way, then we cry, "I pray thee, have me excused;" 
 or, if we do keep our time, and shut in ourselves with 
 the Lord, and sit down to duty, what a multitude of 
 thoughts presently fall a knocking at our doors ! and 
 away our hearts go presently with them to the ends 
 of the earth, and leave nothing but our bodies behind 
 with the Lord. were our love stronger, our cries 
 would be louder, and would drown the noise of these 
 knockings, that they would not be heard nor heeded ; it 
 would command silence to every impertinent thought : 
 " I charge you, daughters, that you stir not, that 
 you disturb not my Beloved and my soul." More love 
 would command our attendance upon the work of 
 the Lord, would gird up the loins of the mind, and 
 gather in all its scattered messengers, saying, " Come, 
 all ye powers of my soul, come and do your homage, 
 come and help in the service of my God." 
 
 0, at what distance are we content to live from 
 the Lord, sometimes for many days together ! Our 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 193 
 
 souls and our God are grown strange, and yet we can 
 be merry and quiet; we can be without the presence 
 of God, and yet never miss it ; not a smile from his 
 face, nor a look of love from us to him, and yet no 
 trouble follows. The sun may be eclipsed, or under 
 a cloud, and yet no darkness upon our spirits ; we do 
 not walk in darkness when we have no light ; sorrow 
 and sadness is as far from us, as God is from us; we 
 can warm ourselves at our own fires, and rejoice in 
 the light of our own sparks, as if these were the sun. 
 "We can do as well in a mist, as in the sunshine; day 
 and night are both alike to us. The children of the 
 bride-chamber do not fast, but can feast and make 
 merry when the bridegroom is taken from them ; their 
 carnal contentments they can make a shift with to 
 supply the room of their Lord. Can we not sometimes 
 go where our Lord feeds, and never find him — go to 
 pray, or go to hear, or go to a sacrament, and the 
 Lord never meet us there, and yet can return well 
 enough satisfied ? When we thus want communion 
 with God, and can want it, where is our love? what 
 love is that which can so well bear the absence of its 
 beloved? "Call me no more Naomi, pleasant, but 
 call me Marah, bitter; 'I went out full, but I return 
 empty' — fall of grace, full of joy, because full of the 
 Lord; but behold, all is gone, my husband is lost, my 
 God is departed from me. Call me no more Naomi, 
 but call me Marah, for the Almighty has dealt bit- 
 terly with me, has hid his face from me: for these 
 things I weep; mine eyes, mine eyes run down with 
 tears, because the Comforter that should relieve mv 
 
194 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 soul is far from me :" such are the tears of love for 
 her absent Lord. 
 
 0, how little conscience is there made of bestowing 
 that on the Lord which we have bestowed on him ! 
 "We give, and take back ; we pretend to have given 
 all to God, but are we not often taking away what 
 we have given, and bestowing it elsewhere ? Love 
 would have all running unto God ; but 0, what waste 
 is there made of our time and other talents, which, 
 were they well husbanded, would come to much, and 
 be given to the Lord ! AVhen so many days and hours 
 run away, and no account is taken of them on what or 
 on whom they are consumed ; when our eyes and our 
 ears and hands and tongues, which were made for 
 God, permit the devil and lust so often to have the 
 using of them ; when dress and appetite and friends 
 and companions must carry away what should be 
 spent on God and souls; when what should be allowed 
 for religion and charity must be at the disposal of 
 pride, prodigality, and gluttony; when our prayers, 
 our fasting, our preaching, hearing, and all our duties, 
 must become sacrifices to our lust; when our idols 
 are suffered to devour the sacrifices of the Lord ; when 
 our pride and fleshly ends must have the offering and 
 eating of our sacrifices, must make our prayers, and 
 preach our sermons, and keep our fasts, and give our 
 alms, and wear the credit and honor of them as its 
 own crown — when God is thus robbed, and we let the 
 thief run away with all, and he is never pursued or 
 questioned, where is our love? 
 
 0, how little pleasure do we take in the Lord! 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 195 
 
 What a weariness is it to us to wait upon him ; how- 
 glad are we when we come hack from the house of 
 the Lord ! When we rise from our knees, and come 
 out of our closets ; when the sabbaths are gone, and 
 the new moons are over, and we make our returns 
 from heaven to earth, how much work have we to 
 keep our hearts near the Lord, how do they slink 
 away ere we are aware. And while we arc in his 
 presence, how seldom do we rejoice in his pres- 
 ence ! What hungry meals, what meagre feasts do 
 we make before the Lord! We relish not his dain- 
 ties; his wine is but lees, his marrow and his fat 
 things are but leanness to our souls. A little love 
 would sweeten every drop, would season every morsel 
 that comes from his table — would make our very fasts 
 to be pleasant bread. We feed upon the dish or the 
 trencher, and not the meat; on the bone, and not the 
 marrow : ordinances, and the external exercises of 
 religion, are but the bone, or the shell, or the dish — it 
 is God that is the kernel, the marrow, and fatness. 
 How little communion have we with the Lord, in 
 our approaches to him ; and how little sweetness do 
 we find in the little we have ! Communion is the 
 pleasure of love, and love is the sweetness of com- 
 munion. " Now I am where I would be. 0, how 
 amiable are thy tabernacles ! Very^leasant art thou 
 to me, Lord;" this is the voice of love. Had we 
 more love, we should be more spiritual; and spiritual 
 things would be more grateful to spiritual hearts. 
 Divine love is like the fire, it rarities and changes 
 hearts into its own likeness, and then there is happi- 
 
19G HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 ness. 0, we are carnal, and that is enough to evi- 
 dence that there is little of the love of God abiding 
 in us. 
 
 Consider these things, and you will see that love 
 is a rarity — there is but little true love in the world. 
 prize the love of God ; let its want make it prized : 
 shall it be so rare, and yet so cheap? prize it, and 
 press on after it. 
 
 What do these hearts below? are they not still 
 below ? so cold, such clods of clay, and yet above ! 
 so carnal, so sensual, and yet in heaven ! so hungry, 
 and so greedy in sucking the juice of this earth, in 
 taking its pleasures ; so busy in digging out the 
 wealth of the earth, and searching for its treasures, 
 and yet not here ! How canst thou say I am walking 
 with the God of glory, when thou art still worship- 
 ping the gods of the earth? How canst thou say, 
 This heart is risen, it is not here ; when it may be 
 said to thee, "Behold the place where it lies?" it is 
 still in the field, in the ridges and furrows thereof; 
 it is still in the mines, in the heart of the earth : see 
 the place where it lies. We sow our hearts with our 
 seed ; we send them down to dig in the heart of the 
 earth. 
 
 But what do these hearts below? Get you up, 
 get you up ; leave nothing but the mantle here, your 
 bodies— earth to earth, dust to dust. Come, heave 
 these souls heavenward ; let them take wing and be 
 gone. that I had the wings of a dove, that I might 
 fly up, and be at rest ; be lower than ever by humil- 
 ity, but in love be on high. 
 
A HEART TO LOVE THE LORD. 197 
 
 Behold those cords of love that are let down in 
 every ordinance, in every providence ; there is a cord 
 let down to gather up hearts ; hearken to those calls 
 of love, Come up hither, come up hither. We come, 
 Lord, thou bidst us come: lend us thy hand, and 
 lift us up. 
 
 Come, Christians; come, let us be happy; if wo 
 love, we are happy: come, let us rejoice; if we love, 
 we joy: come, let us live; we die, we die, while we 
 linger on this earth: if we love, we live; let us live, 
 and let our life be love; let our works be labors 
 of love, our sufferings seals of love, our sorrows the 
 sorrows of love, our wounds love's scars, our prayers 
 the cries of love, our praises love songs to our Lord 
 and God. Let every duty, every exercise, let every 
 member, every power, let our bodies, let our souls be 
 love's sacrifices ; let the Lord see love in all our ways, 
 as we see it in all his. 
 
 Canst thou not love? look till thou canst; look 
 up to thy God, send up thy thoughts thither ; let thy 
 meditations be of him ; these will not be long before 
 the throne ere they fetch up thy heart. Look on thy 
 Jesus, behold his hands and his feet, come and put 
 thy finger into the print of the nails, and thrust thy 
 heart into his side, and there let it lie till thou feel it 
 warm. Look up to thy Jesus; lift up a prayer: 
 "Lord, let me love thee : if thou West, let me love 
 thee : I will seek, till I can see ; let me see, till I can 
 love. What have I here, Lord ? My all is with thee, 
 my help, my hope, my treasure, my life is hid with 
 Christ in God. And yet behold, this all is nothing to 
 
198 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 me, while my heart is no more with thee; take it, 
 Lord, take it up ; where my treasure is, there let my 
 heart he also." 
 
 Doubting Christian, who, hecause thou lovest so 
 little, fearest thou lovest not at all, cry for more, but 
 be thankful for what thou hast; be ashamed thou 
 lovest no more, but be not dismayed. Thou corn- 
 plainest thou canst not love Grod ; but dost thou love 
 his image, his saints, his word, his works, his ways ? 
 While thou sayest thou lovest not God, dost thou love 
 godliness ? If thou canst not love, canst thou grieve, 
 canst thou lament after him ? Hast thou chosen, dost 
 thou hang upon, and trust in the Lord ? If thou canst 
 not love, canst thou fear and follow the Lord ? If he 
 be not sensibly in thy affection, is he in thy thoughts, 
 in thy mouth, in thine eye ? Is he thine aim and thy 
 scope ? Does thy course bend towards him ? If so, 
 comfort thy heart in these things ; thou mayest see, 
 though thou canst not feel, that thou lovest. 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 199 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 
 
 " I will put my fear in their hearts, that they 
 shall not depart from me." Jer. 32 : 40. In unfold- 
 ing this topic, I shall proceed by these steps : I shall 
 show, 1. That the Lord G od is a dreadful God ; 
 2. That the Lord hath put the dread of himself upon 
 the hearts of all the earth ; 3. That yet by sin tho 
 heart of man is much hardened from the fear of the 
 Lord ; 4. That God will recover his honor, and again 
 put his fear into the hearts of his people ; and, 
 5. What this fear of the Lord is that he will put into 
 them. 
 
 I. The Lord God is a dreadful God : he is dread- 
 ful in the excellency and glory of his majesty. " Shall 
 not his excellency make you afraid, and his dread falL 
 upon you?" Job 13:11. His power is dreadful: 
 " Fear ye not me? saith the Lord. Will ye not trem- 
 ble at my presence, which have placed the sand for 
 the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it 
 cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss 
 themselves, yet can they not prevail ; though they 
 roar, yet can they not pass over it ?" Fear ye not me ? 
 saith the Lord. He that did this, what can he not 
 do? His wrath is a dreadful wrath: " At his wrath 
 the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be 
 
200 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 able to abide his indignation." Jer. 10 : 10. Yea, his 
 holiness is dreadful, his truth, his righteousness, and 
 all his name. " That thou mayest fear this glorious 
 and fearful name, the Lord thy God." Deut. 28 : 58. 
 The Lord God is a dreadful God. 
 
 II. The Lord God hath put the dread of himself 
 
 UPON THE HEARTS OF ALL THE EARTH. Not the best 
 
 only, but the worst of the sons of men. "I am a 
 great King, saith the Lord ; and my name is dreadful 
 among the heathen." This dread of the Lord breaks 
 forth upon them, . 
 
 1. From the impress of God upon the natures of 
 all men. As the law, so the being of God is written 
 in their hearts ; he has his witness in their con- 
 sciences. If the atheists of the earth could answer 
 all the arguments from without proving that there 
 is a God; yet they can never confute their own con- 
 sciences. If the works of God do not, their reins shall 
 instruct them ; if they will not see, whether they will 
 or not they shall feel, that there is a God ; and where- 
 ever God is felt, he is feared : even when their mouth 
 speaketh proud things, their heart shall meditate ter- 
 ror ; and when nothing else alarms them, they shall 
 be a terror to themselves. 
 
 2. It is increased by the great works of God, his 
 wonders that he doeth in the world — his thunder and 
 his hail, his wind and his waves ; his . earthquakes 
 make many an earthquake in hearts. 
 
 3. It is further heightened by his judgments, 
 which he executeth on the earth. The judgments of 
 God, are God revealing himself from heaven against 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 201 
 
 the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, and 
 strike most terror, 1. "When he smites suddenly, and 
 makes quick work with sinners : as when Herod was 
 smitten by an angel of God, Nadab and Abihu con- 
 sumed by fire from God, immediately upon their sin. 
 Sudden strokes shake secure hearts. 2. When he 
 executes strange judgments, and makes a new thing: 
 as in the case of Korah and his company, he made 
 the earth to open her mouth upon them, and swallow 
 them up; as he made the flies, and the frosrs. and the, 
 lice, to be the executioners of his wrath on Pharaoh. 
 
 3. When he executes great wrath for little sins. ;is 
 men account them ; as in the case of Uzzah, whom 
 he struck dead for but touching the ark when it shook. 
 
 4. When he exercises great severity on his own people, 
 on those that are near him. If he spareth not his sons, 
 what will he do with his enemies? " If these things be 
 done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" 
 
 4. Yet further, men's dread is increased by their 
 consciousness of guilt, and of their being bound over 
 to the judgment to come. The sin of Judah is writ- 
 ten with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond it 
 is graven upon the tables of their heart. The sin of 
 Judah is written ; yea, and the sin of the Gentiles 
 also: "Their conscience also bearing witness, and 
 their thoughts the meanwhile accusing." Rom. 2 : 15. 
 And where their sin is written, there their judgment 
 is written, which even nature itself will teach doth 
 inevitably follow upon sin ; and this is the great dread 
 that is come upon them. The very mention of judg- 
 ment to come, made Felix tremble at the face of a 
 
202 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 poor prisoner. This is the terror of the Lord mentioned 
 by the apostle : "We must all appear before the judg- 
 ment-seat. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, 
 we persuade men." 2 Cor. 5 : 10, 11. Death is said 
 to be the king of terrors ; and this is" the terror of 
 death, "After that the judgment." All these, the 
 impress of God upon their hearts, the wonders of God 
 in the world, the vengeance of God executed on sin. 
 the sense of guilt and of a judgment to come, do preach 
 to the consciences of sinners that "it is a fearful thing 
 to fall into the hands of the living God." 
 
 III. Yet by sin the heart of man is much hardened 
 from the fear of the Lord. Sin blinds the eye and 
 hardens the heart, brings into danger and puts out of 
 fear. Who in such danger, and yet who so bold as 
 the blind sinner ? When the understanding is dark- 
 ened, the next word we read is, "Past feeling." Eph 
 4 : 19. There is included in the very nature of sin a 
 slighting of God ; and by once slighting we learn to 
 slight him more. Slight the command, and you will 
 quickly slight the curse. Laugh at duty, and it will 
 not be long ere you laugh at fear. "And when sin 
 hath thus hardened, God will also harden ; he lets 
 the sinner alone, suspends his judgments, smites the 
 sinner with judicial blindness, and gives him up to a 
 reprobate mind. Rom. 1 : 28. And when once they 
 come to this, then hell is broke loose: for what fol- 
 lows? "Being filled with all unrighteousness, forni- 
 cation, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness," and 
 what not. Rom. 1 : 29. " The transgression of the 
 wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 203 
 
 of God before his eyes." Psa. 36 : 1. When Abraham 
 had such a thought, " Surely the fear of God is not 
 in this place," Gen. 20 : 11, what did he think was 
 there ? Murder, adultery, and all manner of villany. 
 " What sawest thou among us, that thou hast done 
 this thing ?" What hurt, what evil didst thou see 
 among us ? What evil ! Evil enough to make me 
 afraid : I thought the fear of God was not here, and 
 there needs no more to make me afraid. Say of any 
 person, The fear of God is not in this man, and you 
 therein say, The devil is in him ; here dwells sin, and 
 all manner of wickedness. Say of any place, The 
 fear of God is not in this place ; and if you find it an 
 Egypt or Sodom for abominations, you will not won- 
 der. " The fear of the Lord is clean," Psa. 19 : 9, 
 that is, it cleanseth. Where this is not, every unclean 
 thing may dwell. The reason why this world is such 
 a world as it is, such a wicked world, such a treach- 
 erous, deceitful, ungodly world — why there is so little 
 faith, or truth, or mercy, or charity, or sobriety, is, 
 because there is so little of the fear of God. Sin has 
 cast out fear, and this has brought forth sin in abun- 
 dance. The law is nothing, threatenings are nothing, 
 conscience is nothing, God is nothing to men, because 
 he is not their fear. Wickedness is as righteousness ; 
 villany, as honesty ; prodigality, debauchery, as tem- 
 perance and sobriety; yea, wickedness faces the 
 sun, it lifts up the head, it wears the garland ; it 
 paints itself virtue, generosity, gallantry, the beauty 
 and ornament of the world, wherever the fear of God 
 is departed. 
 
204 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 God may promise, threaten, command : "Hearken 
 to my voice, turn at my reproofs, cast away your 
 transgressions. Awake from your wine, be chaste, 
 sober, humble ; let your merriment be turned ir to 
 mourning, your jollity into heaviness. Remember 
 your Creator, remember your souls ; why will you 
 die ? turn and live." God may speak thus once, and 
 twice, and ten times, but is not regarded ; his words 
 have no weight, his counsels have no credit, his warn- 
 ings are of no value with hardened, fearless hearts. 
 If the devil speak but once, he is heard ; "if lust speak 
 but once, it is obeyed ; if a proud companion speak 
 but once, he is followed ; while the word of the God 
 of glory is made a reproach and a scorn. 0, the 
 intolerable contempt that is poured out upon the Most 
 High by men that fear not God ! " Make thy prom- 
 ises, and give thy gifts to whom thou wilt ; give grace, 
 and give glory where thou pleasest : the world for me ; 
 my pleasures, my honors, my liberty for me ; this 
 world for me, look after the other who will : let the 
 Lord threaten, let the day of the Lord come ; let it 
 hasten that we may see it ; let the Almighty do his 
 worst, I will not hearken nor turn." This is the blas- 
 phemy of hardened, fearless hearts. 
 
 IV. God will recover his honor in the hearts of 
 his people. He will put his fear in their hearts : 
 while others are hardened, they shall tremble ; while 
 others kick, they shall stoop ; whoever despise him, 
 of these will he be had in honor. 
 
 V. What this fear of the Lord is, that he will 
 put into their hearts. The fear of God is sometimes 
 
A HEART 1U FEAR THE LORD. 205 
 
 taken in Scripture as comprehending all religion. 
 Job was said, chap. 1, to be a man fearing God, that 
 is, a godly man ; but in this sense I shall not here 
 speak of it. Sometimes it is presented more strictly 
 as a distinct grace, distinguished from faith, love, 
 hope, and other graces of the Spirit. And being taken 
 in this sense, there are these two things included in it: 
 A reverence of God, and an abhorrence of evil for 
 God's sake. 
 
 1. A reverence of God. To fear God, is to have 
 the awe of God abiding upon the heart — to be under 
 a sense of the majesty and glory of the Lord, shining 
 forth in all his attributes, especially in his holiness 
 and omniscience : the glory of his holiness, and the 
 sense of such a holy eye upon the soul strikes it with 
 dread and consternation. This is expressed in Scrip- 
 ture by sanctifying the Lord in the heart. " I will 
 be sanctified in them that come nigh me." Lev. 10 : 3. 
 "Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be 
 your fear, and let him be your dread." Isaiah 8 : 13. 
 There is mention in Scripture of a sanctifying of God 
 and a justifying of God. As God doth justify and 
 sanctify his people, so they are to justify and sanctify 
 God. These two, the justifying and sanctifying of 
 God, though they be much the same, yet have some 
 difference between them. To sanctify God, is to rev- 
 erence him in our hearts, and to represent him in the 
 glory of his holiness before men. To justify God, 
 supposes a sinful judging and foolish charging of God 
 in the hearts of men, and is our vindicating him from 
 such charges. "Is God righteous?" say they ; "how 
 
206 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 is it then that he is so partial in his dealings with the 
 righteous and unrighteous ; that he deals worse with 
 those who fear him than with those who fear him 
 not ? Is God good ? How is it then that he is so hard 
 in imposing and inflicting such hard things upon his 
 own ? Is God true ? How is it then that he fails his 
 people so often, when he hath said, I will never leave 
 them nor forsake them? Our flesh hath failed, yea, 
 and our heart hath failed, yea, and our Grod hath often 
 failed us too ; we have often called, and have had no 
 answer ; we have often trusted, and have had no de- 
 liverer." Not so, we reply ; yet God is righteous, yet 
 God is good, yet God is true ; he has not been un- 
 righteous, he has not been a hard master, he has not 
 failed nor forsaken. This is to justify God. 
 
 Our justifying God hath some points of resem- 
 blance with God's justifying us. God's justification 
 of us consists in his not imputing sin to us, but ac- 
 cepting us as righteous; and our justifying of God, 
 consists in our not imputing evil to him, but acknow- 
 ledging him to be true, just, and good. God has jus- 
 tified me from my sins, and that is enough to pro- 
 claim him good and faithful, whatever his other deal- 
 ings be. Let him afflict me, let him chastise me, 
 since he will not judge me nor condemn me with the 
 world. God has justified himself in my conscience. 
 I have found that the Lord is gracious, I have found 
 that God is faithful; he has said he will not, and I 
 must say he does not, forsake me. He has not failed, 
 when he has most failed me ; when he has been far- 
 thest from me, he has even then been a present help 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 207 
 
 in trouble. He has answered, when he has been most 
 silent ; he has been most good, when he has been most 
 hard. I have never found more sweet, than in his 
 bitter eup. X must judge myself, not my God: I have 
 sinned, I have sinned against him, and therefore I 
 must justify him when he speaketh, and clear him 
 when he judgeth. Hold thy peace, querulous heart, 
 be silent all the earth before the Lord, for truly God 
 is good to Israel, even to them that are of a clean 
 heart. There arc few among the worst of sinners, 
 but, if conscience might be suffered to speak, would 
 justify God. It is lust that quarrels, not conscience. 
 " It is vain," says lust, "to serve the Lord, and what 
 profit is there to keep his ordinances ? His ways are 
 unequal and hard ; his promise fails, take one time 
 with another, oftener than it is made good. Who is 
 it that plagues and disappoints and crosses and vexes 
 us ? This evil is of the Lord : why should I wait on 
 the Lord any longer ? Nay, whom does he punish 
 more than those that are nearest him ? Who have 
 sorrow, who have trouble in the flesh, who are re- 
 proached, scorned, hunted up and down the world, 
 but these ? This they may thank God for, and their 
 following him. It is better being the servant of sin, 
 than the servant of Christ." Thus lust blasphemes. 
 But speak, conscience. Is God unrighteous ? Is God 
 false to his word? Are the pleasures of sin better 
 than the gain of godliness ? Have the children of 
 this world made a wiser choice than the children of 
 light? Speak, sinner, let thy conscience speak, wheth- 
 er it be thus or not. God has not left himself with- 
 
208 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 out witness in the hearts of sinners, much less in the 
 hearts of his saints ; when they do speak, their hearts 
 speak good of his name. But this by the way. 
 
 To return to the matter in hand. To sanctify 
 God, is especially to reverence him in the heart — to 
 have such a high and holy and honorable esteem of 
 him as commands an awe upon the heart ; and that, 
 
 (1.) At all times. "My son, be thou in the fear 
 of the Lord all the day long." "My son:" it is not 
 only for slaves, but for sons to fear. "Be thou in the 
 fear of the Lord :" it is not only, Let the fear of the 
 Lord be in thee, habitually in thy heart, but actuate 
 and stir up this holy fear, keep up a holy awe, a deep 
 sense of God always upon thee ; let the fear of the 
 Lord be before thine eyes; be possessed and swal- 
 lowed up of this fear "all the day long;" wherever 
 thou art, with whomsoever thou hast to do, remember 
 thou hast still to do with God. A Christian should 
 stand always as before the tribunal ; every day should 
 be as the last day, the day of judgment to him. "So 
 speak ye, and so do as those that shall be judged." 
 James 2 : 12. The Judge stands at the door, yea, and 
 thou mayest see him through every window, yea, 
 through every wall — every wall is a window through 
 which God may see and be seen. A Christian, when 
 he is as he should be, cannot wink God out of sight ; 
 can look nowhere but he sees that eye which strikes 
 an awe upon his spirit. 
 
 This abiding reverence of God, what an influence 
 will it have upon the whole course! "We shall then 
 serve God acceptably ; when we fear him, we shall 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 209 
 
 please him: "That we may serve God acceptably, 
 with reverence and godly fear." We shall then serve 
 God universally, in every thing. When we fear, we 
 shall watch unto every duty, against every sin. " This 
 do and live, for I fear God," Gen. 42 : 18, said Joseph 
 to his brethren ; as if he had said, Do not you fear to 
 find falsehood or any evil-dealing from me, for I fear 
 God ; I dare not be false to you ; you may trust me, 
 you may take my word, for I fear God. "We shall 
 then walk before the Lord steadily. "When we fear, 
 we shall be firm, and hold fast in an even frame and 
 course. Fear will be our ballast ; while love fills our 
 sails, fear will ballast our vessel. How are slight 
 and frothy spirits tossed up and down — whither do 
 they not wander ! How many hearts and faces and 
 frames have they every day! "What contradictions 
 are they to themselves! The reverence of God upon 
 them would fix them and hold them in a more even 
 and equal poise. We should then serve the Lord 
 more honorably. When we fear, we shall show forth 
 the character of God before the world ; the more we 
 have of the reverence of God, the more have we of his 
 holiness. The presence of a Christian walking in the 
 fear of the Lord, is as the presence of God ; the rev- 
 erence of God upon his heart casts a beam of divine 
 majesty into his face, and oftentimes begets an awe 
 and reverence of him in the hearts of the worst of 
 sinners ; they reverence, even while they revile and 
 persecute him. 
 
 Of John the Baptist, who was a man of a just, 
 holy, and austere life, it is said that Herod feared 
 
210 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 him and observed him. Mark 6 : 20. The austerity 
 and holiness of his life commanded respect from a 
 Herod's heart. Such Christians' ways are a convic- 
 tion, and their very countenances are a rebuke to the 
 wanton world ; they speak with authority, they ex- 
 hort with authority, they reprove with authority ; and 
 sin often hides itself from them, even as from the face 
 of God. 
 
 (2.) Especially is this awe seen in our drawing 
 nigh to God: "God is greatly to be feared in the 
 assembly of the saints,- and to be had in reverence of 
 all them that are about him." Psa. 89 : 7. "I will 
 be sanctified in them that come nigh me." Lev. 10 : 3. 
 He that fears God, trembles at the word of God ; and 
 God loves he should. " To this man will I look, even 
 to him that trembleth at my word." Isa. 66 : 2. That 
 which makes him tremble is, that he sees the word 
 carrying upon it the holiness and the authority of 
 God. 
 
 He reads the word as the epistle of God sent 
 down to the world — his epistle commendatory, that 
 sets forth the excellence ,and the glory of God, and 
 his letters mandatory, that charge subjection and obe- 
 dience upon him : he takes every word as coming 
 from the mouth of the Holy One of Israel ; he lies 
 prostrate before the Lord ; his soul bows the knee, 
 his heart falls down at the feet of the Almighty. The 
 more the word is considered as the word of God, the 
 more awe it works upon him. Every look he casts 
 upon his Bible, is a looking into heaven. He that 
 fears God, fears when he comes to worship, reverences 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 211 
 
 his sanctuary : " In thy fear will I worship." Psa. 5 : 7. 
 That which works this fear is, that he looks upon the 
 duties and ordinances of worship as the institutions 
 of God and his application unto God. 
 
 " This," he says, " is that which the Lord hath 
 sanctified : behold his image and superscription ; here 
 he has directed me to wait for him ; here he has 
 appointed to meet my soul; now I am going up to 
 the mount of God; the mount of God is everywhere 
 where the worship of God is. My soul, where art 
 thou ? I am before the Lord of the whole earth. Tut 
 off thy shoes from thy feet, the place whereon thou 
 standest is holy ground. I am before the high and 
 holy One, the God of all the earth; and upon trans- 
 actions of eternal consequence, to do my homage to 
 the everlasting King, to kneel before the Lord my 
 Maker, to kiss the golden sceptre, to beg my life at 
 his hands, to behold his goings in Ins sanctuary ; his 
 wisdom, and his mercy, and his goodness are all pass- 
 ing before me. How dreadful is this place ! This is 
 none other but the house of God and the gate of 
 heaven. How dreadful is this word ! This is none 
 other but the word of God. How dreadful is this 
 ordinance ! This is none other but the door of glory. 
 Tremble, thou heart, at the presence of the Lord, at 
 the presence of the God of Jacob." 
 
 2. Abhorrence of evil for the Lord's sake, is tho 
 other part of the fear of God. Here we shall con- 
 sider its object and its ground. 
 
 (1.) The object of this abhorrence in general is 
 evil: "Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which 
 
212 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 is good." Rom. 12 : 9. Good is the object of love, evil 
 of fear. Evil is twofold, present, or to come. The 
 former is the object of grief, the latter of fear. Par- 
 ticularly, the objects of this abhorrence are, the wrong 
 to God, the loss of God. 
 
 First, the wrong to God. The great and only 
 wrong to God is sin. Sin is the turning away of the 
 heart from God. The great thing in all the world 
 which God respects and requires as his own, is the 
 heart : " My son, give me thy heart. Keep thy heart 
 with all diligence." Prov. 4:23. Keep thy heart; 
 that is, keep it for me — keep it clean for God, and 
 keep it safe for God ; see that it be not defiled nor 
 carried away. When the heart is gone, all is gone 
 with it. If the world has got men's hearts, if Satan 
 has got their hearts, let them take all else, saith God ; 
 let me have their heart or nothing: they are sure to 
 have all, that have the heart. The heart, wherever it 
 goes, carries all with it. Where we bestow our hearts, 
 we bestow all that we have. Sin is the turning away 
 of the heart. This is the very nature of sin, the 
 heart's departing from the living God. Heb. 3 : 12. 
 And therefore this is the great wrong to God. There 
 is but one thing in the world that God regards ; and 
 this sin steals away. 
 
 Sin is the insurrection and rebellion of the heart 
 against God ; it turns from him, and turns against 
 him ; it runs over to the camp of the enemy, and 
 there takes up arms against God. Sin is a running 
 from God, and a fighting against God ; it would spoil 
 the Lord of all the jewels of his crown. It opposes 
 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 213 
 
 the sovereignty of God. A sinful heart would set up 
 itself in God's throne, it would be king in his stead, 
 and have the command of all. Sinners would be 
 their own gods : "Our lips are our own, who is Lord 
 over us ?" God shall not be God where sin is risen up 
 as lord. It assaults the wisdom of God. Vain man 
 would be wise, wiser than his Maker. It charges the 
 Lord with folly, and proclaims itself the only wise. 
 Sinners pretend to know how to choose for themselves, 
 and order things to their advantage, better than God. 
 " If God would let me alone to myself, to be at my 
 own ordering, it should quickly be better with me. 
 If every thing might be with me as I would have it, 
 my case would be well mended from what it is, now 
 that every thing must go as God will have it." All 
 our complainings at Providence, all our murmurings 
 and discontents at our lot, are our heart charging 
 the Lord with folly. It casts reproach on the holi- 
 ness of God, it disparages the goodness of God ; it 
 abuses his mercy, violates his justice, despises his 
 power. In sum, it disgraces the throne of his glory, 
 lays his honor in the dust, and sets the Almighty 
 below the lowest of his creatures. 
 
 Every companion shall be respected more than 
 God ; every pleasure shall be loved more than God ; 
 the devil shall be feared more than God. "Where is 
 his love ? Where is his fear ? Where is his honor ? 
 Nay, where were the Lord himself, might sin have its 
 way? Sin alone wrongs God, and this wrong is the 
 especial object of the saints' abhorrence. A gracious 
 heart would do no wrong, he would not wrong his 
 
214 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 neighbor, he would not wrong his servant, his enemy, 
 no, not his beast that he possesses. " But 0, should 
 I wrong my God ? Has he ever done me any wrong ? 
 Has he not been just to me ; yea, has he not heen 
 ever good to me ? Kind, pitiful, patient, bountiful ? 
 Who has fed me, clothed me, kept me, succored 
 me, comforted me ? What friend have I in all the 
 world, what father, what portion, what hope, but 
 the Lord ? What were I, what had I, but vanity, 
 woe, and misery, had I not a God ? I cannot wrong 
 my God but I wrong myself. ' He that sinneth 
 against me wrongeth his own soul.' Prov. 8 : 36. 
 But if I did not, if my arrows would not recoil, could 
 I go on with all this injury and suffer nothing by it : 
 yet, he is God whom I wrong ; he is holy, he is right- 
 eous, he is good, he is glorious, he is excellent ; he 
 only is God, and shall I be injurious to him ? He is 
 worthy of all that I have, of all the service I can do, 
 of all the respect I can give, of all the praise I can 
 offer up. If I had a thousand tongues, if I had a 
 thousand hands, if I had a thousand lives, if I had a 
 thousand souls, if I had all the earth for an offering 
 to the Lord, all would be nothing to show forth the 
 praise that is due unto his name, as he is God, and I 
 his creature. And when I owe so much, and have 
 nothing to pay, shall I steal from him ? shall I rise 
 up against him ? ' Wast thou not afraid to lift up 
 thy hand against the Lord's anointed ?' 2 Sam. 1 : 14. 
 Shall I not be afraid to lift up my hand against the 
 Lord himself? to kick against God? 0, the Lord 
 forbid! What art thou, my soul? What servest 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 215 
 
 thou for, if thou canst not tremble, if thou dost not 
 turn within me, if thou dost not start back at the 
 very thought of such great wickedness !" 
 
 Secondly, the loss of God. As was said before, 
 " He that sinneth against God wrongeth his own 
 soul." His loss is thy loss, and more thine than his; 
 though, no thanks to thee, the Lord will be no loser 
 at last : when sinners have done their worst, he can 
 bring his honor out of dishonor, he can recover his 
 spoils out of the ashes ; if he had lost all the world, 
 he had lost nothing; he is all things in himself. 
 "When earth and hell have spent all their malice, God 
 will be God, holy, wise, glorious, blessed for ever. 
 Though such be the malignity of sin, that it would 
 not give over till God cease to be God, yet God is 
 above, too high for sin to reach ; its darts fall short 
 of their mark. God cannot, God will not be a loser 
 by all that sin can do. 
 
 But what dost thou suffer, what dost thou lose, 
 who sinnest against God ! The carnal world under- 
 stand it not, nor would make much reckoning of 
 it, did they understand it. The loss of two pence 
 often troubles them more than the loss of God. But 
 now a Christian knows no other fear, fears no other 
 loss — let God be secure, and all is well. Sin will be 
 a wrong to God, and the loss of God ; it may be a 
 total and eternal loss, for aught he knows : God lost, 
 the soul is lost, the kingdom lost ; this is hell, the losa 
 of God. Better have no being — better be a dog or 
 toad, than a man without a God. Or if he be not 
 utterly lost, yet to his present sense it will be all one 
 
216 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 as if he had no God ; his peace is lost, his comfort is 
 lost, and his soul is often given up for lost, from 
 whom God is departed, though hut for a season ; he 
 can take pleasure in nothing, he can find rest no- 
 where, whose God is out of sight. He knows not 
 what a God means, who can do without him till death 
 or judgment. A Christian cannot live a day without 
 him ; it is night, it is all dark, he knows no day, 
 while the Sun is set upon him. How grievous do they 
 find this loss, who have proved what it is! "What 
 wilt thou do for me, while I go childless ?" What 
 can be done for me, while I go fatherless ? Here is my 
 house, here are my friends and my lands ; hut where 
 is my God ? "My God, my God, why hast thou for- 
 saken me ?" "Now I see what this earth is without 
 a heaven ; now I see what ease, pleasure, and carnal 
 friends are, and how little they can do for me. Yea, 
 what is prayer, what are sabbaths, what are sermons, 
 ordinances, promises, while God looks not down ? 
 I was wont to meet with God here ; these glasses 
 were my windows into heaven ; and then how pleas- 
 ant were they to me ! Sabbaths were a delight, the 
 word was a treasure, sacraments were the clusters of 
 Canaan. But now, now all is dark and dry; ordi- 
 nances are wells without water ; promises are breasts 
 without milk; ministers are stars without light: 
 the stars are but clods, while the sun is a. cloud to 
 me ; woe is me, I am pained, I am pained, my head 
 is sick, my heart is faint, my bowels are turned, my 
 liver is poured out, the light of mine eyes is gone 
 from me ; I am weary of my groanings, I am full of 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 217 
 
 tossings and turnings, there is no soundness in my 
 flesh, no rest in my bones, while my soul says daily 
 to me, Where is thy God?" And if the sense of this 
 loss worketh such grief, what wonder if the hazard of 
 it worketh fear ? Now sin divides, breaks the peace, 
 makes God and the soul two — sin alienates, produces 
 a distance and estrangement between God and the 
 soul. That soul can either not see him at all, or not 
 as a friend, whom sin has drawn away. Sin will 
 either cloud the face of God, or clothe him with fury; 
 will cause him either to turn his back upon the soul, 
 or set his face against it. He who knows what it is 
 to enjoy God will dread his loss ; he who has seen his 
 face will fear to see his back ; he loves, and therefore 
 would not lose. 
 
 (2.) The ground and reason of this abhorrence is 
 twofold — G-od's jealousy, and his people's ingenuous- 
 ness. 
 
 First, God's jealousy. "The Lord thy God is a 
 jealous God." Exodus 20 : 5. The same arguments 
 which the Lord uses to keep up and enforce his au- 
 thority upon the consciences of his people, the same 
 arguments they do and ought to make use of, to press 
 it upon themselves. " I am a jealous God," saith the 
 Lord. It is true, saith conscience, the Lord is jealous ; 
 and therefore take heed to thyself, soul, how thou 
 fallest into his hands. "It is a fearful thing to fall 
 into the hands of the living God." 
 
 The jealousy of the Lord includes in it his tender- 
 ness of his honor, and terribleness in case of dishonor. 
 
 His tenderness of his honor. The honor of God 
 
 Hea»en Opcntrt. 1 
 
218 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 is very tender to him, he will not lose a tittle of it : 
 " My glory will I not give to another, neither my 
 praise to graven images." Isa. 42 : 8. I will not, and 
 look you to it that you do not, give away my glory. 
 "What was the reason that God dealt so severely with 
 Eli and with Herod ? What was Eli's sin ? Why, 
 that he gave away the honor of God to his sons. 
 "Thou honorest thy sons above me." 1 Samuel, 
 2 : 29. He was so tender to his sons that, though 
 they were become sons of Belial, and dealt so wickedly 
 before the Lord, yet they must be dealt gently with : 
 "Nay, my sons, it is no good thing that I hear of you." 
 Such a slight reproof must serve in so dreadful a case; 
 he was afraid to displease his sons by a sharper re- 
 proof; this the Lord interprets as an honoring of his 
 sons above him. Indulgent parents, stand and trem- 
 ble, you that can see your children sin, and let them 
 go with a "Nay, my sons, it is not good," a slight or 
 cold reproof; this is no other but your honoring your 
 sons above your God. What was Herod's sin ? Acts 
 12 : 22, 23. That he gave not God the glory. He 
 made an eloquent oration, and the people thereupon 
 made him a god: "The voice of a god, and not of a 
 man;" and he accepted the applause; and thereupon 
 the angel of the Lord smote him, that he died. Eli 
 sinned in giving the honor of God to his sons, and 
 Herod in taking it to himself; but God taught them 
 both how dear his glory is to him. 
 
 The jealousy of the Lord also includes his terrible- 
 ness in case of his dishonor. The above-mentioned 
 instances speak him both tender and terrible : " The 
 

 A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 219 
 
 Lord thy. God is a consuming fire, even a jealous 
 God." Deut. 4 : 24. The jealousy of a man is the 
 rage of a man, Proverbs 6 : 34 ; and the jealousy of 
 God is the rage and fury of a God. "Our God is a 
 consuming fire," that is, the fire of his jealousy. The 
 wrath of a king is as the roaring of a lion ; when the 
 lion roareth, the beasts of the field tremble ; what 
 then are the terrors of the Lord ? The threatenings 
 of the Lord are terrible : "Consider this, ye that for- 
 get God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none 
 to deliver." Psalm 50 : 22. " I will tread them in 
 mine anger, and trample them in my fury." Isaiah 
 63 : 3. His judgments are terrible, and he doeth ter- 
 rible things in righteousness. Go to Jerusalem and 
 mount Zion, and behold the monuments of his fury 
 there. "Go to Shiloh," saith God, "and see what I 
 did to it." Jer. 7 : 12. But if you go down to Sodom, 
 or look down to Tophet, and behold the terrors of the 
 Lord there ; or if you look on particular persons, let 
 Nadab and Abiliu, Korah, Dathan and Abiram, Uz- 
 zah, Uzziah, Herod, Ananias and Sapphira, be instances 
 of his dreadfulness and severity. This jealous God, 
 this terrible God, is the God whom his people fear ; 
 and they fear him because he is such a jealous God. 
 Who would not fear thee, thou King of nations ? "Who 
 can stand before thee when thou art angry ? My flesh 
 trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judg- 
 ments. 
 
 Christians, let none say, " This fear is not the fear 
 of his children ; this be to his enemies and slaves, not 
 his children ; fear ye not their fear." But are not all 
 
220 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 these things written for our learning ? Is this written 
 only for their sakes ? Or saith he it not also for our 
 sakes ? For our sakes no doubt this is written, saith 
 the apostle in another case. Consider this scripture 
 full to this purpose: "Now these things were our 
 examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil 
 things, as they also lusted ; neither be ye idolaters, 
 as were some of them ; as it is written, The people 
 sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Nei- 
 ther let us commit fornication, as some of them com- 
 mitted, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 
 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also 
 tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither 
 murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and 
 were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these 
 things happened unto them for ensamples ; and they 
 are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends 
 of the world are come. Wherefore let him that think- 
 eth he stand eth, take heed lest he fall." 1 Corin- 
 thians, 10 : 6-12. 
 
 Mark, these things are our examples. Are they 
 examples to us, and not warnings too ? Are they 
 warnings to us, and must we not by them learn to 
 fear and beware ? " Let him that thinketh he stand- 
 eth, take heed lest he fall." My soul standeth in a 
 sure place, my mountain is so strong that I shall 
 never be moved ; I am safe enough ; I am in Christ, 
 and shall not come into condemnation. But what- 
 ever thou thinkest, as sure as thou thinkest thou 
 standest, take heed, take heed lest thou fall ; that is, 
 not only into the same sins, but into the same con- 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 221 
 
 demnation ; that is the sense of the place. " Be- 
 cause of unbelief they were broken off, and thou stand- 
 est by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear." Rom. 
 11:20. 
 
 No need of fear ! No need of threatenings ! What, 
 may we burn half our Bible ? Can we spare so great 
 a part of what is written ? Have we outgrown the 
 use of judgment, as soon as ever we are partakers of 
 mercy? Have we outgrown the use of the scourge, 
 as soon as ever we are entered into Christ's school? 
 Do we find all too little, mercies, threatenings, judg- 
 ments, to keep our hearts in order ? And yet, is it 
 more than is needful? There arc two parties in us: 
 we are flesh, as well as spirit ; and must not the flesh 
 be frightened ? Will love prevail with lust ? Surely 
 this slave, this son of the bondwoman, must be kept 
 in awe. Has God no disobedient children, no rebel- 
 lious children ; and must these have no other discipline 
 but strokings and dandlings ? 
 
 Believe it, Christians, God will not have his ter- 
 rors lost, nor lost to you ; God will sometimes make 
 his children feel that he is a terrible God. He is ter- 
 rible out of his holy place. Beware you be not pre- 
 sumptuous children. There is a threefold presump- 
 tion. 1. A presumption upon temptation, in confi- 
 dence of strength. Some unwary souls, not knowing 
 what spirit they are of, supposing themselves too hard 
 for the devil, will be venturing within his reach, as 
 if they would dare him to try his skill and power ; 
 who, having forgotten this prayer, "Lead us not into 
 temptation," put themselves into the tempter's hand: 
 
222 HEAVEN OPLNED. 
 
 the falls of such will teach them to understand their 
 folly. 2. Presumption on sin, in confidence of mercy. 
 And that either in confidence of mercy already ob- 
 tained — "I am in Christ, and my sin shall not sepa- 
 rate me from him ; whatever I do, I have a pardon 
 in my hand:" or in hope of mercy at last — "I have 
 to do with a merciful God, and therefore may ven- 
 ture on a little further ; hereafter I will repent, and 
 then I need not doubt of remission." 3. Presump- 
 tion on sin, in contempt of mercy and justice: "I 
 will have my sin, though I never find mercy ; I will 
 have my will and my way, and run the hazard of 
 what follows ; I will take my course, come on me 
 what will." 
 
 This last sort presume to sin in contempt of mer- 
 cy and judgment ; they are so drunken with their 
 sensual delights, and so given over to the hardness of 
 their hearts, that they neither value mercy nor fear 
 wrath. "What do you talk to me of mercy and 
 judgment to come ? Give me my pleasures, and my 
 liberties, and my mirth, and my money : think not to 
 make me such a fool, to let go the pleasure and com- 
 fort of my life for I know not what uncertain fears 
 or hopes." Such as these have one foot already in 
 hell. If it be not yet thus with thee, thou darest not 
 contemn either mercy or judgment ; also beware thou 
 be not presumptuous in the former sense. Be not 
 bold upon temptations ; think not that thou art strong 
 to overcome a temptation, when thou art so weak as 
 not to fear it ; he that fears not a temptation, under- 
 stands not it, or himself. But especially beware thou 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 22o 
 
 presume not upon sin, in consequence of mercy. Grow 
 not overbold upon love or patience. Say not, "God 
 loves me, therefore I may be bold to take the more 
 liberty, the less care, the less watchfulness, the less 
 fear, because so much love." Spit in thy Father's 
 face, because he weeps over thy neck ! Smite him 
 on the face, because thou hopest he will not strike 
 again ! Tear his bowels, because they are so tender 
 towards thee ! Be froward, stubborn, wanton, and 
 idle, because thou hast found him so indulgent ! 
 
 Christians, consider whether such wickedness hath 
 not sometimes been found in some of our hearts. But 
 take heed ; you will find , though he be a tender, yet 
 he will not be a weak, fond father ; where he loves, 
 he will be feared. Some as bold and as confident as 
 you, have felt to their cost what it is to abuse pa- 
 tience and kindness ; his arrows in their hearts, his 
 terrors in their souls, have made them know that the 
 God of love is a terrible God. And look to it ; if thou 
 yet wilt adventure, wilt be a wanton still, froward, or 
 idle, or heedless still, he will either lash thee into a 
 better frame, or cast thee out as no child of his, but a 
 bastard and rebel. If thou wilt not take warning by 
 others, take heed lest he make thee a warning to them 
 which shall come after. 
 
 Christians know, that though God be tender of his 
 saints, yet he is jealous for his name ; he regards them 
 as the apple of his eye, but not above the least tittle 
 of his honor. As God will have us love our neighbor, 
 so he will love his child but as himself : first himself, 
 and then his child. He will not abate an iota of his 
 
224 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 glory to save a world. As little offences done to his 
 little ones, so little sins allowed by them, are as mill- 
 stones about the neck. If they allow it in themselves, 
 yet heaven and earth shall pass away and fall to noth- 
 ing, ere he allow it in them. God will not, and there- 
 fore his children dare not indulge themselves in little 
 sins. They therefore fear, because he whom they 
 serve is a jealous God. 
 
 The other ground of Christians' abhorrence of evil 
 is their own ingenuousness. This fear is from love, 
 and is most properly the fear of children. Children 
 may fear because God is jealous, and so do slaves ; 
 but only children because God is good. Children 
 fear because they love ; slaves fear, although they 
 hate. Children fear to be unworthy ; slaves, only to be 
 unhappy and miserable. There is nothing more con- 
 trary to an ingenuous nature, than to abuse goodness 
 and kindness ; to abuse goodness hath as black an as- 
 pect with such a nature, as to provoke wrath. They 
 "shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter 
 days." Hosea 3 : 5. But how can goodness be the 
 object of fear? "We fear evil, and not good. The 
 meaning is, they shall fear to wrong or abuse good- 
 ness. They shall fear to wrong the Lord, because he 
 is good, "in the latter days." These latter days that 
 this promise refers to, shall be days of more grace ; 
 wherein there shall be not only a more clear revela- 
 tion of the goodness of God — they shall know the Lord 
 and his goodness — but a more plentiful communica- 
 tion and diffusion of the goodness of God : they shall 
 love the Lord and his goodness. They shall both see 
 
A HEART TO FEAR THE LORD. 225 
 
 themselves more obliged by goodness, and shall feel 
 themselves more seasoned with goodness. Religion 
 doth not make morose, but more generous, free, and 
 ingenuous. There is nothing more abhorrent to an 
 ingenuous spirit, than to be base and unworthy. 
 Abuse of goodness is an unworthiness, which an in- 
 genuous nature abhors as death to be guilty of; it 
 is its destruction, it is disingenuousness. The abuse 
 of the goodness of God is great unthankful ness ; and 
 unthankfulness is great disingenuousness. 
 
 Call me unthankful, and you call me all that is 
 bad. Call me any thing else but unthankful. In- 
 deed, were I all thanks, I should still be unthankful ; 
 I should still be behindhand with the goodness of the 
 Lord : my debt is greater than I can pay, yea, greater 
 than I can acknowledge ; but shall I return evil for 
 good ? If I cannot pay, should I deny my debt ? 
 He that is unthankful, whatever God requires of him, 
 says wickedly, This is more than I owe to thee ; God, 
 I owe thee nothing, I care not for thee. Oh, this is 
 dreadful to a gracious heart. 
 
 If this be in sin — for all sin is unthankfulness — if 
 this be sin, if this be the signification of all my neg- 
 lects of God and my duty to him, then the Lord for- 
 bid, whatever I suffer, that I should yield to sin. How 
 shall I do this wickedness ? How shall I neglect this 
 duty, and sin against God ? How shall I look my 
 God or my own soul in the face, should I be so un- 
 worthy ? For thy sake, Lord, let me not sin against 
 thee ; thou art good, thou art kind, thou art gracious, 
 thou art holy ; let me not be a devil : what heart, 
 10* 
 
226 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 where a devil is not, but such goodness will charm it 
 into love ? Shall I sin ? Shall I rebel ? For thy 
 sake, Lord, I will not do it; I will not for my own 
 sake ; for where then shall I appear ? In sinning 
 against God, I sin against my own soul ; I dare not 
 for my life ; sin and death, sin and hell are linked 
 together ; but were it not so, might I sin and escape, 
 sin and not die, yet for thy sake, Lord, I will not do 
 it. Thou art good, good in thyself, good to me : thou 
 art my G-od, thou art my Father ; love, care, tender- 
 ness, compassion, kindness, is all that is in thy heart 
 towards me: what I am, what I have, what I hope 
 for, that I breathe, that I live, all is thy goodness, thy 
 bounty to me. let me not rise up against the womb 
 that bare me, and the paps that gave me suck. I 
 would not to my child, to my servant, to my friend — 
 but 0, let me never to my Father, to my God — return 
 "evil for good, and hatred for his good-will." Let 
 not this evil which I fear, ever come upon me ; put 
 thy fear into my heart, Lord, that I may not sin 
 against thee. 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 227 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AN OBEDIENT HEART. 
 
 "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you 
 to walk in my statutes ; and ye shall keep my judg- 
 ments and do them." Ezek. 36 : 27. Obedience is of 
 the heart or of the life. In this scripture, God under- 
 takes for both. 
 
 I. For the obedience of the heart, he under- 
 takes in the former words, I will put my Spirit in your 
 heart. Where Satan dwells, he rules ; and where the 
 Spirit of the Lord dwells, there God rules. The Spir- 
 it in the heart is the law of the heart. Those two 
 promises, " I will put my Spirit in your hearts," and 
 "I will write my law in your hearts," signify the 
 same thing. The law in the heart, is the will of man 
 melted into the will of God. The law of God may be 
 in the mouth, and the heart a rebel ; its reception into 
 the heart denotes the heart's subjection to it. This 
 obedience of the heart includes, 
 
 The opening of the heart to the word. What wilt 
 thou have me to do, Lord ? That is the voice of an 
 obedient heart. Speak, Lord, command, Lord ; what 
 wilt thou ? And when he speaks, whatever it be, the 
 word is embraced and accepted by the heart. " Let 
 my counsel be acceptable to thee." Dan. 4 : 27. The 
 acceptance of the word in the heart is signified by its 
 
228 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 hearkening to it. To hearken is more than to hear ; 
 though they sometimes denote the same thing, yet 
 ordinarily, hearing is of the ear, hearkening of the 
 heart. "My people would not hearken to my voice, 
 and Israel would none of me." Psalm 81 : 11. They 
 heard what the Lord spoke, but they would not heark- 
 en ; that is, as it is there interpreted, they would none 
 of the Lord. They rejected the word of the Lord 
 which he spoke unto them. When the word is suf- 
 fered to come in with authority, to rule in the soul — 
 when the heart gives up itself unto it, then it is ac- 
 cepted ; there is its hearkening to it. 
 
 This obedience likewise includes the resolution of 
 the heart for the work of the Lord. " I have sworn, 
 and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous 
 judgments." Psalm 119 : 106. I have vowed, and I 
 will perform ; I have covenanted, and I am deter- 
 mined to keep thy statutes. "The word which thou 
 hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will 
 not do;" that is the rebellious heart: "Whatsoever 
 the Lord shall speak, we will do ;" that is the obedient 
 heart. 
 
 Where the heart is thus resolved to obey, this is 
 that obedience which shall be accepted unto salva- 
 tion. Where this resolution is, as there is opportu- 
 nity there will be practice ; and where there is not 
 opportunity, in Grod's account this obedient heart will 
 be accepted. This is praying, this is hearing, this is 
 giving and feeding and clothing and visiting; this is 
 walking circumspectly, working righteousness, show- 
 ing mercy, exercising faith and patience and repent- 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 229 
 
 ance ; this is keeping the commandments of God. and 
 walking in his statutes. A heart to obey, is our 
 obeying ; a heart to do, is our doing ; a heart to suffer 
 on God's account, is our suffering for his name. 
 
 But here it must be carefully noted, that though 
 sincere resolution for obedience be obedience, yet every 
 resolution is not that resolution. Resolution for obe- 
 dience is sincere where it flows from an inward and 
 rooted inclination; is founded on a firm belief of scrip- 
 ture revelation ; is built on the highest and weightiest 
 reasons ; and is the result of the most mature and 
 deep deliberation. 
 
 1. A sincere resolution flows from an inward 
 rooted inclination : "I have inclined my heart to 
 perform thy statutes alway." Psalm 119: 112. Our 
 new purpose is from our new nature; It is not pro- 
 duced by some sudden fright, or sense of danger ; or 
 merely by a present force of argument ; but by a 
 divine power working the heart to the will and ways 
 of God, and an habitual inclination thereto. Resolu- 
 tion for holiness, without a holy inclination, is a blade 
 without a root ; fresh and green as it looks, it will 
 wither and come to nothing — no root, no fruit, nor 
 lasting. The heart is the root of action, and grace is 
 the life of the root. When our resolutions are the 
 blade sprouting forth of this living root, then they will 
 abide, and bring forth the ear and a harvest. 
 
 2. A sincere resolution is founded on a firm assent 
 to the truth of scripture revelation. A Christian 
 resolves for godliness because he believes God, that 
 he is as he hath said, the rewarder of them that dili- 
 
230 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 gently seek him. He is built on the Scriptures ; as 
 his hopes, so his purposes have the foundation of the 
 prophets and apostles, on which they stand. What- 
 ever resolution has not this foundation is but as a house 
 upon the sands. 
 
 3. A sincere resolution is founded on the highest 
 reason. "Where we resolve without reason, we quickly 
 find a reason to change. "Where we resolve we know 
 not why, we shall change we know not how soon. 
 To resolve we know not why, and to resolve on we 
 know not what, will be alike unstable. Though there 
 be reason for religion, yet religion may be taken up 
 without reason. Whatever reason there be for it, yet 
 if it be not understood or considered, it is all one as 
 if there were no reason at all. And if there seem 
 some reason for it, yet if it be not the highest reason, 
 when a stronger than it comes we quickly change our 
 purpose. 
 
 The reasons we have for serving and following 
 God are the highest of all reasons, and that whether 
 we respect ,it as our duty or our happiness ; for, 
 
 There is none can lay such claims to us as God. 
 Whose am I? Who hath made me? Who hath 
 bought me ? " Glorify God in your body and in your 
 spirit, which are God's." 1 Cor. 6 : 20. "Serve the 
 Lord with gladness. Know ye that the Lord he is 
 God ; it is he that hath made us, and not we our- 
 selves ; we are his people, and the sheep of his pas- 
 ture." Psalm 100 : 2, 3. What reason have you to 
 serve men, or to serve sin, or the world ? Men think 
 they have reason for it; but what reason? Are any 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 231 
 
 of these God ? Are men your God ? Is sin or the 
 world God ? Do you owe yourselves to them ? It is 
 he that hath made us, and his we are. As the apos- 
 tle saith concerning obedience to parents, much more 
 may it be said here, Children, obey your God ; for 
 this is right; this is his due, and your duty: if any 
 one can lay as good a claim to you, let him carry you 
 away for servants. 
 
 There is none can be better to us than God. 
 None can requite, none can reward our obedience as 
 he. Where can you be better than with God ? He 
 will require no more than that you serve him till 
 you can find a better master. He that says, It is 
 best to serve sin and the world, is a fool, and has 
 said in his heart, There is no God. If God be God, 
 he is the chief, yea, the only good. If any thing 
 in the world, upon what account soever, be thought 
 better than the Lord, that is set up for a god in his 
 room. 
 
 Whomsoever we serve, it is God must pay us our 
 ivages at last. God is judge ; he is the rewarder both 
 of the evil and the good — both of those who serve him 
 and those who serve him not. If you serve the Lord, 
 he will be your reward ; if you serve him not, he will 
 reward you: but what reward have you? "Those, 
 mine enemies, which would not have me reign over 
 them, bring them, and slay them before me ;" there 
 is their reward. Sin has its rewards ; but what are 
 they but vanity and vexation ? Or if they were better, 
 how long will they last? But when sin has paid the 
 most it can, what a reward is there behind, that 
 
232 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 God has to pay you! "This shall ye have of my 
 hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow." 
 
 The wages which God will give shall certainly be 
 blessed or dreadful, according to our obedience or 
 disobedience. The reward that God has to give is an 
 eternal reward : eternal salvation to them that obey 
 him ; everlasting destruction to him that serveth him 
 not. "I have a soul ; this body is the least part of me ; 
 there is another world, a world to come ; a few years 
 is the most I have to spend in this ; I must abide 
 eternally, eternally in the other world. Of how little 
 consequence is it what I have here, whether little or 
 more, better or worse ; in a short time that will come 
 all to one. But 0, my eternity! what is that like to 
 be ? Why, it is God that must determine it, and he 
 will certainly reward every man according to his 
 works. ' Who will render to every man according to 
 his deeds : to them who by patient continuance in 
 well-doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, 
 eternal life ; but unto them that are contentious, and 
 do not obey the truth, tribulation and anguish.' Rom. 
 2 : 6-9. There is glory and shame, mercy and wrath, 
 life and death, set before me ; there is no third state ; 
 one of the two must be my lot; and this it is that 
 determines which — if I obey I live, if I disobey I die 
 for ever." 
 
 Now then, my resolution is founded on such rea- 
 sons as these, than which none can be imagined 
 higher and more weighty, till eternity become of less 
 regard than time, and an immortal soul be set below 
 a perishing body. The question being put, Shall I 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 233 
 
 follow God or not ? God or the world ? God or my 
 lust? speak, soul, give in thy answer; this is the 
 answer it gives: "Why, there is none can lay such 
 claim to me as God; there is none can be good to 
 me as God : whomsoever I serve, it is God must be 
 my rewarder; my everlasting blessedness, or eternal 
 ruin, depends on him, and must be infallibly deter- 
 mined according to my obedience or disobedience. 
 This is the plain case — obey, and live ; obey, or die for 
 ever. And therefore what can I say, less or more, 
 but that I am the Lord's, and will be his servant. 
 Let others choose whom they will serve ; as for me, 
 my soul, serve thou the Lord." This resolution, 
 thus founded, is like to stand. 
 
 4. A sincere resolution is the fruit of mature de- 
 liberation. Deliberation gives reason its full weight, 
 makes the strength of it appear ; it lays all things in 
 the balance; it is the comparing of reasons for and 
 against, the weighing of arguments and objections, 
 encouragements and discouragements ; counting the 
 cost, as well as the gain, particularly. In this delib- 
 eration there must be a considering, 1. What there is 
 in this obedience ; 2. What it is attended ivith, that 
 may encourage. 
 
 There must be a considering what there is in 
 this obedience ; or otherwise we resolve upon we know 
 not what. Now there are five things in this obedi- 
 ence : 1. Subjection; 2. Activity and industry ; 3. In- 
 tegrity; 4. Circumspection; 5. Spirituality. 
 
 (1.) Subjection. Servants must be subject, must 
 not be at their own wills, but at the will of another. 
 
234 HEAVEN "OPENED. 
 
 The heart of man naturally affects dominion ; that is 
 the great controversy of sinners with God. "Who shall 
 be Lord ? " We are lords" — at least we would be — " we 
 will come no more unto thee." Jer. 2 : 31. Obedience 
 yields that Grod should be Lord; yea, and all others 
 also whom he has made lords over us. The servants 
 of Christ must not be, and yet must be, the servants 
 of men ; they must not serve the lusts of rulers, but 
 must be subject to their righteous laws and com- 
 mands. God must be obeyed, and magistrates, min- 
 isters, masters, parents must be obeyed in the Lord, 
 and for the Lord ; yea, and they must be, when Gfod 
 will have it so, the servant of servants. 
 
 While they must not serve the humors of the 
 greatest, they must serve the necessities of the mean- 
 est, must stoop to the lowest of offices, even to the 
 washing of the feet of the least disciple. All this the 
 Lord expects of them, and they must be subject. 
 They must not dispute, but do his will; only it must 
 be considered that there is a double questioning as to 
 the will of God. There is a questioning whether that 
 which is pretended to be the will of God, be so or not; 
 this ought to be done. And there is a questioning as to 
 that which is granted to be the will of God, whether it 
 be fit to be done, or safe to be done. "Is it not better 
 to let it alone ? What advantage is there in it ? What 
 reason is there for it ?" No, they must not thus dispute ; 
 this is reason enough, "God will have it so." God's 
 will is ever reason, and it must be our reason. It is 
 enough for thee to say, This is that which the Lord 
 hath commanded, and I must be subject. This is 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 235 
 
 one thing that must be considered, I will obey, and 
 must be subject to God. 
 
 (2.) Activity and industry. The servants of the 
 Lord must be active and industrious. Whom he sends 
 into the vineyard he sends to work, and not to sleep. 
 The life of a Christian is laborious : while others are 
 in their beds, he must be on his knees ; while others 
 take their pleasure, ho must take pains; while others 
 take their times, now a little and then a little, he 
 must be ever about his Master's business. An active 
 spirit is an excellent spirit, and necessary in a Chris- 
 tian ; sluggards are the refuse of the earth. 
 
 But here it must be considered that there is a 
 double activity, gracious and natural. Natural ac- 
 tivity arises from an innate vigor and vivacity of 
 some men's spirits. There needs not industry in such 
 to bring forth action; it is but leaving nature to its 
 course, and that will fly high enough of itself. It 
 requires more industry to regulate, and sometimes to 
 restrain them, than to put them forth into action. It 
 is more labor for them to rest than to be doing. Gra- 
 cious activity is either natural activity managed and 
 improved for God, turned into a right course, running 
 in a right channel; or a naturally inactive spirit, 
 raised and quickened by grace and religious industry. 
 This gracious, this holy activity, this is the excellency ; 
 it is the extract of the spirits and life of all our gifts 
 and graces; and will go further, and do more high 
 honor, and more abundant service to God and his 
 gospel, than is done by a thousand others. 
 
 An active sinner is the worst of men ; how much 
 
236 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 service for the devil will lie dispatch in a little time ! 
 An active sinner is life and death met together. He 
 is all life, and yet dead; and he has more of death, 
 because so much of life : like poison in wine, he de- 
 stroys the more effectually. Yet the evil is not in his 
 activity, hut in the matter wherein he is employed : 
 the good metal, as giving keenness to a weapon, is its 
 excellency ; hut in a madman's hand, better a wooden 
 than a steel sword. An active spirit is so excellent, 
 that it is a pity that ever sin should have the using 
 of it; it were well for religion if the devil were a 
 drone, and had no other servants but the sluggards of 
 the earth. But activity, when set right, is of great 
 price in the sight of God, because it sets a great price 
 upon God. Slothfulness puts a slight upon Grod — 
 when the Scriptures have set forth the great things, 
 and the deep things of God ; when the Lord Jesus is 
 evidently set forth as crucified before our eyes, as the 
 propitiation for sin ; when the preciousness of his 
 blood, the tenderness of his compassion, the riches of 
 his grace, the sufficiency of his righteousness, his 
 satisfaction and pardon, are all held forth in open 
 sight ; when the beauties of holiness, the joys of the 
 Spirit, that peace which passeth all understanding, 
 are laid forth to view ; when the most glorious things 
 are spoken of the city of God, Jerusalem which is 
 above; when God in his word calls to us, Awake, 
 sleepers, arise, sluggards, see what is before you — 
 all this may be yours if you will: slothfulness puts 
 this slight upon all, Tush ! all this is not worth break- 
 ing my sleep for; it is not all worth my labor to seek 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 237 
 
 after; my ease is better to me than God and all his 
 glory. 
 
 We may best understand the value we put on 
 things, by the pains and the cost we are content to 
 be at to purchase them. When sinners bestow them- 
 selves so upon the world, will bear such labor and 
 travail, are so constantly, so indefatigably industrious 
 in the pursuit of it, and withal run such hazards and 
 dangers for it, they make it evident enough what esti- 
 mate they put upon it. He whose time and strength, 
 whose days and nights, yea, whose soul and hopes, 
 must all be laid out in a purchase, must all go for a 
 piece of land, or a little money or pleasure, need give 
 us no other proof what a bargain he thinks this world 
 to be. "I care not much for this world : it is a vanity, 
 a shadow, the fashion of it passeth away ; I hope it is 
 far enough off my heart, however I am charged with 
 greediness after it." But what then mean all the 
 ' expenses of thy time, of thy strength, of thy spirits, 
 that thou daily layest out upon it ? What means so 
 much hunting after, and heaping it up for thyself? 
 What, hast thou been hunting all this while after 
 shadows, heaping up vanities? No, no, thou mis- 
 takest thyself, these shadows are thy substance — these 
 vanities are the god whom thou adorest ; if thou 
 didst not prize, thou wouldst not venture so deeply 
 for them. 
 
 And so on the other side, when so little is done 
 for God — when any thing must suffice to be spent on 
 souls or eternity, what cheap things do we count 
 them ! " I love God above all, with all my heart, with 
 
238 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 all my soul; he is all my hope, and all my desire. 
 What a miserable creature were I, if it were not for 
 my hope in God ! What would all the world be to 
 me, should I lose my soul?" But dost thou speak in 
 earnest ? Dost thou think what thou speakest ? What, 
 and such a very drone in seeking God? What, and 
 so indifferent, so cold, and so spiritless in thy inquiries 
 after him, in thy motions towards him ; so sparing of 
 thy labor, so negligent of duty, so seldom at it, so soon 
 weary, so many delays, so many excuses? How many 
 times has God called thee after him, and all thine 
 answer has been an excuse : an excuse instead of an 
 ordinance, an excuse instead of a prayer, an excuse 
 instead of action, an excuse instead of alms, an excuse 
 instead of an admonition or a reproof; if he will be 
 served with excuses, he shall have service enough, but 
 little besides. " I am weary," or "it is too late," or "it 
 is cold;" and so a short and hasty prayer must serve, 
 or none at all. " I have much business upon me, a ' 
 family, a farm, and the cares and troubles of it, that 
 I cannot have so much time nor freedom to attend 
 upon God as others have ;" and so a sermon lost, an 
 ordinance lost. ' ' I live among ill neighbors ; if I should 
 be so forward and so active for God, so zealous, and 
 so spiritual in my discourse, in my way, I should be 
 but a scoff and a reproach, and it may be a prey to 
 evil men. I want ability to speak to the edification 
 of others, I have not the boldness others have, to 
 reprove or admonish ; I pray thee have me excused." 
 Wise men indeed ! an excuse instead of a duty ! 
 It is all one, as if when the Lord calls to thee, Come 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 239 
 
 to me and be saved, thy answer should be, I pray thee 
 excuse me, I must to the devil and be damned. 
 
 But is this thy love, is this thy zeal, is this thy val- 
 uing of God above all ? Tremble, sluggard ; whatever 
 excuses thou findest to substitute in the room of duty, 
 this is that thou canst never excuse nor acquit thyself 
 of — a slighting of God. Thy very excuses will accuse 
 thee as a slothful servant, and thy sloth as a slighter 
 of God. "While the apostle says, "I reckon that the 
 sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared 
 with the glory that shall be revealed," thou sayest, 
 But I reckon that all the glory to come is not worthy 
 to be compared with the present labor. 
 
 But now activity and industry put a great value 
 upon God; this is written upon all our labors, He is 
 worthy for whom I do all this. Some of the most 
 humble, watchful, laborious Christians do sometimes 
 complain, "Oh, I fear I love not God; his favor, his 
 honor, is little set by of me." But whence then is thy 
 care to please God? Whence are all thy labors of 
 love ? Dost thou watch and pray and work and run ? 
 Canst thou spend and be spent for God, and yet not 
 love him ? Dost thou live to God, canst thou die for 
 God, and yet not prize him ? What greater proof canst 
 thou give of love, than such labor ? 
 
 Activity is also necessary. It is vain to think of 
 making any thing of religion without it ; the work of 
 it is too great to be done by lying still — the comforts 
 of it lie too deep to be got out by a wish. There is 
 many a poor man in this world, that would be the 
 richest man in the country if riches might be gotten 
 
210 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 by a wish : he may as soon wish himself into wealth, 
 as thou into grace and comfort. This one thing, 
 men's not being able to bear the labor of religion, is a 
 lock on which many a soul hath split and suffered an 
 eternal wreck. 
 
 He that has some love to holiness, and yet not so 
 much as to carry him through the work of holiness, 
 is short of sincerity; and short of sincerity, short of 
 salvation. He that sticks not at labor, will not stick 
 at suffering: he that shrinks from doing, will shrink 
 from suffering. Say not, There is a lion in the streets. 
 Overcome the lion, and you will not fear the bear. 
 Pass the first, and thou wilt be the more bold to ven- 
 ture the latter. Holy activity will be a witness to thy 
 sincerity; carry this witness in thy heart, and then 
 which way soever the world may go, and what storms 
 soever may fall, thou wilt have this to uphold thee — 
 Integrity and uprightness shall preserve me, and eter- 
 nity reward me. Where sincerity is the root, and 
 holy activity the blossom, an eternal weight of glory 
 shall be the fruit. Lie idle, and all will be lost. 
 Take heed of, "Soul, take thine ease," lest the next 
 word thou hear be, "This night shall thy soul be 
 required of thee." This is the second thing included 
 in obedience, which must be considered. I will obey ; 
 but can I labor? 
 
 (3.) Integrity. The obedience which (rod ex- 
 pects must be entire obedience ; not only the obedience 
 of the whole man, but to the whole will of Grod. 
 "Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect 
 to all thy commandments." Psa. 119 : 6. "As obe- 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 241 
 
 dient children, be ye" holy in all manner of conversa- 
 tion." 1 Pet. 1 : 14, 15. ''Teaching them to observe 
 all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Matt. 
 28 : 20. But of this having spoken more largely else- 
 where, it shall suffice to give some short hints of one 
 comprehensive duty, wherein all the rest are included, 
 and on which they depend ; and that is, the holding 
 up and maintaining GocPs authority in the soul. As 
 God has set up his authority over the soul, that is, 
 his word, which is to have the government of it ; so 
 has he set up an authority in the soul, the, understand- 
 ing, and the conscience. As these powers are under 
 the authority of the word, so they are set in authority 
 over the subordinate and inferior faculties, the will, 
 and the passions or affections. But sin now has made 
 a mutiny and insurrection: the will rises against rea- 
 son, and will not be guided ; the passions rebel against 
 conscience, and will not be governed ; nay, they do 
 not only resist, but take upon them to command and 
 impose upon conscience. What the will would have, 
 conscience must say it is reason it should have — must 
 be put to work to find out arguments to prove will to 
 be reason, and to determine that what the will would 
 have done, ought to be done. We easily bring our 
 opinion to our affection — bring ourselves to believe 
 that to be right, which we are unreasonably willing 
 to have to be right. But if it cannot prevail so far 
 as to gain conscience to say that is right which it 
 would have to be right, then it will strive hard to 
 carry it, whether it be right or wrong. And this 
 rebellion of the will and the passions against con- 
 
 11 
 
242 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 science, is the great cause of the soul's rebellion 
 against God. 
 
 When conscience has lost its authority, God's 
 authority is gone. While the understanding and the 
 conscience are maintained in their due authority, 
 where the will and affections are held in their due 
 subjection, there the Lord reigns. While conscience 
 rightly informed has its due, God shall have his due; 
 where the will and the passions have no more than 
 their due, He shall have his own. God shall be 
 willed the more, where nothing else is willed too 
 much. God shall be loved the more and feared the 
 more, where nothing else is loved and feared too 
 much. The more anger, the more hatred, the more 
 grief will be spent upon sin, if it be not inordinately 
 spent elsewhere. how much service might be 
 done, and how much quiet would be enjoyed in the 
 heart, were this authority and subjection maintained 
 and held up ! 
 
 We may say of our affections, as men say of fire 
 and water, They are the worst masters, but the best 
 servants. How much would the Lord have of us, 
 were these only the executioners of his will ! If con- 
 science be commanded by the word, and the will and 
 affections would be commanded by conscience, what 
 would there then be wanting ? We should then not 
 only be abundantly serviceable, but all would be se- 
 rene and sweet and comfortable within us. If nothing 
 were willed but what should be willed, we should 
 ever have our will. If nothing were desired but 
 what should be desired, and no more than it should 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 243 
 
 be loved or desired, we should ever have what we 
 love. If we were not angry, or grieved, or afraid, 
 but where we ought, and no more than we ought, 
 what a calm would there be upon our spirits, even in 
 cases wherein the spirits of others arc like a troubled 
 pea, that cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and 
 dirt. But where there is such disorder, such rebellion 
 of the inferior against the superior faculties, there we 
 are at a perpetual loss, both in point of duty and 
 comfort. This therefore is necessary, if we will be 
 obedient ; and those who have made trial what there 
 is in it, do understand that this is hard work. 
 
 I shall instance some few particular duties that 
 are harder than others. He that will be entirely 
 obedient, must stick at nothing that God will have. 
 There is scarcely any thing that God requires, but 
 lust will be quarrelling at it as too hard ; but there are 
 some duties harder than others. It shall suffice only 
 to name them : The denial of ourselves ; disobliging 
 our nearest friends ; loving our enemies ; disobeying 
 all the world in their unrighteous commands ; obey- 
 ing God rather than men ; returning good for evil ; 
 reproving men for sin, especially if they be superiors, 
 or men on whom we have some dependence ; and the 
 sacrificing our Isaac, yea, parting with all that we 
 have. This then must be considered. You will obey ; 
 but are you for any thing, for every thing the Lord 
 requires ? 
 
 (4.) Circumspection and care : " See that ye walk 
 circumspectly." Eph. 5 : 15. A little labor will go 
 far with care, but will be nothing without it. It is 
 
244 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 not he that is hot and busy and active at all adven- 
 tures, hut he that keeps to his line and his rule, who 
 is the obedient Christian. It is not so much action as 
 regular action, wherein the life of Christianity lies. 
 He that lives by rule, peace be on him, and mercy. 
 Activity without discretion is extravagance ; it is 
 watchfulness that keeps within compass. He that is 
 all action, has the more need of caution. A Christian 
 must have his eyes in his head, as well as a soul in 
 his body. He that resolves well in generals, and comes 
 not off well in particulars, does but build castles in 
 the air. What we ordinarily are in particulars will 
 best prove what we are. He that is for any thing but 
 this, any time but now, is for nothing. 
 
 Circumspection includes two things — taking no- 
 tice, and taking heed. He that will be circumspect, 
 must eye and observe what is before him ; must have 
 his eye upon his end, his rule, and his goings ; must 
 eye duty and sin, opportunities and temptations, his 
 times and seasons : he must take heed, as well as take 
 notice ; must keep a strict eye on himself, and hold a 
 strict hand on himself, that he leap not over a duty, 
 nor turn aside to iniquity; must set a guard upon 
 himself, upon his tongue, upon his eyes, upon his ap- 
 petite, upon his company, upon his habits, upon his 
 thoughts, upon his passions, upon all the motions of 
 his soul and the actions of his body. 
 
 This will require something. " What, not a word 
 but must be weighed ? Not a look but must be at- 
 tended to? Not a thought but must be examined? 
 Not a sin to be allowed ? Not a duty to be abated ? 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART 245 
 
 • 
 
 Not a circumstance to be neglected ? Must all be in 
 weight and in measure, by line and by rule, and this 
 always too ? If something' might serve, if sometime* 
 might suffice, it might be borne ; but to keep the 
 engagement in every point, and that every day, this 
 is a hard saying indeed." But thus it must be : to 
 live as a Christian, and to walk exactly, accurately, 
 precisely, is the same thing. Though duty and sin be 
 as far distant as heaven and hell, yet there is but a 
 hair between them. The least latitude is a trans- 
 gression; either all this — that is, as to the purpose of 
 the heart — either all this or nothing. This also must 
 be considered. You will be obedient, but will you be 
 circumspect ? 
 
 (5.) Spiritually. This must be the obedience of 
 faith. Romans 16:26. It is the very life of Jesus 
 made manifest in our mortal flesh: "I live, yet not 
 I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I now 
 live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of 
 God." Christians' obedience is their walking in 
 Christ, Col. 2:6; all the acts of it are exercised and 
 performed in the strength of Christ. I will go in the 
 strength of the Lord : without him they can do noth- 
 ing, but can do all things through Christ, which 
 strengtheneth them. "I live, yet not I, but Christ 
 liveth in me." I work, I wrestle, I run, yet not I, 
 but Christ in me ; as the apostle speaks of his sins, 
 "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in 
 me." It is sin that, sins ; so may it be said of duty. 
 It is no more I that do it, but Christ that dwelleth in 
 me. Though both be the act of the person, both the 
 
246 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 sin and the duty, yet the principle of the one is lust, 
 the power of the other is of Christ. Christians cannot 
 go through a duty, and they dare not enter upon one, 
 without looking up to Christ and leaning upon him 
 for assistance. They cannot go through, and there- 
 fore they will not set forth, but in the strength of the 
 Lord. All their acts of obedience are exhibited, and 
 offered up in the name of Christ. Their services are 
 their sacrifices to God, and Christ is their altar. 
 What is a sacrifice without an altar? Christ is our 
 altar, which sanctifies our gift ; God looks on all, 
 and so do they, as nothing worth without Christ ; 
 God will not accept, and therefore they will not offer 
 other than the Lamb for their sacrifice. All their 
 acts of obedience are acknowledged to the praise of 
 Christ. It is no more I that do it, but the grace of 
 God which is with me. Grace does the work, and 
 grace shall carry away the praise. Christ is all in 
 the race, and therefore on his head the crown is 
 set: "Not unto us, not unto us, but to thy name 
 be the praise." Not of us, and therefore not unto 
 us ; of him, and therefore unto him. If I am any 
 thing that others are not, if I have done any thing 
 more than others, no thanks to me, and therefore no 
 praise. To Him be all, who is all in all to me. 
 Thus the obedience of Christians is their walking in 
 Christ. 
 
 The obedience of Christians is their walking in 
 the Spirit. They have received the Spirit, and they 
 walk in the Spirit. Gal. 5 : 16. They have not re- 
 ceived the spirit of this world, their spirit is not flesh, 
 

 AN OBEDIENT HEART. 247 
 
 but the Spirit which is of God. 1 Cor. 2 : 12. They 
 are dead to things carnal, the spirit of the world is 
 departed, they have given up this : it is the Spirit of 
 the living God who lives in them, and in this they 
 live and walk. They walk in the light of the Spirit, 
 in the power of the Spirit ; the Spirit of the Lord 
 steers their course and fills their sails — is their pilot 
 and their star, and their wind that carries them on. 
 When they pray, they pray in the Spirit ; when they 
 hear, they hear in the Spirit : through the Spirit they 
 mortify the flesh, are crucified to the world ; they 
 obey, they suffer, they fight, they overcome, through 
 the Spirit of the living God that is in them. They 
 live in fellowship with the Spirit, and by him with 
 the Father and the Son. They dwell in the invisible 
 world, their acquaintance and converse is in heaven ; 
 thither they have access, and there they have accept- 
 ance — thither they have their recourse, and thence 
 they have their returns. Duties and comforts are the 
 tokens that are passing between heaven and earth. 
 Their life is love and joy and praise ; these are the 
 most noble acts of their obedience, and these give 
 wings to their hearts, carry them on more swiftly and 
 more sweetly through all their course. 
 
 how heavily do we drive on, how slowly do our 
 wheels move, when the Spirit of the living God is 
 not in the wheels ! how dead are our duties, how 
 lame are our walkings ; what low and poor-spirited 
 creatures are we ! How weak are our hearts, how 
 unripe our fruits ; we but half do what we do, there 
 is no heart in our life, we are as bodies without souls, 
 
248 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 while our soul is without the Spirit. how sad it 
 is with many of us upon this account ! By our 
 estrangement from God we have even lost ourselves; 
 we are not what we are, because no more where he 
 is. By our distance from heaven we are even choked 
 with the damps of the earth. We are fit for little, 
 we prosper in nothing ; Grod takes no pleasure and 
 we take no comfort in any thing we do ; our spirits 
 are so chilled and benumbed within us that we make 
 neither speed in our work, nor progress in our way. 
 And what are we in society ? To how little profit do 
 we meet ! How little heat do we get ; yea, how 
 much do we lose at our brethren's fires. We serve 
 often but to damp and cool each other's spirits : as if 
 it might be no longer said, Woe to him that is alone ; 
 but, Woe be to him that is in company : alone he is 
 more warm. 
 
 Christians, I solemnly profess I am ashamed of 
 myself, and my heart is pained within me, to observe 
 how insipid, how spiritless, how carnal our converse is. 
 How often may we meet, how long may we sit, Chris- 
 tian with Christian, ere any thing that savors of the 
 spirit of a Christian comes from us ! how hard must 
 we labor for a few gracious words ; how few such do 
 come ; how heartless when they come ! How very 
 few of us are there, whose ordinary converse speaks 
 us to be men of another world, whose business and 
 whose deliglit lies above, and who are in good earnest 
 pressing on towards heaven! How seldom and how 
 short-breathed are our spiritual discourses ; how little 
 must suffice ; how quickly are we diverted to things 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 249 
 
 carnal and sensual! Sure it is our little communion 
 with God, that has thus debased the communion of 
 saints. 
 
 let us live more in the fellowship of the Spirit, 
 and \vc shall have fellowship one with another to bet- 
 ter purpose. Let us warm ourselves at the Sun, let 
 us dwell more in his beams, and we shall get and give 
 more light and heat. Thus must it be considered ere 
 we resolve what there is in this obedience. 
 
 Further, it must be considered what obedience 
 is likely to be attended with from without : what 
 suffering it may cost us, what scorn and contempt 
 and reproaches and persecutions of all sorts. It is 
 likely to set earth and hell upon our backs. If carnal 
 counsels and fleshly policies, if all the powers of dark- 
 ness, if might and malice can do it, this way will be 
 made too hot and too hard for thee ; tribulation, great 
 tribulation thou must expect, and canst not escape ; 
 and the more strict and circumspect, the hotter must 
 thou expect thine assaults will be. 
 
 Professors of religion who are not so strict to their 
 rule but that they can dispense with duty, nor so for- 
 ward in point of zeal and activity but that they can 
 remit and abate as occasion serves, escape this per- 
 secuting world the better ; but he that will be faith- 
 ful, whoever escape, is sure to be made a prey. This 
 also must be well considered. I will follow Christ; 
 but can I drink of the cup that he drank of? Can I 
 be baptized with the baptism that he was baptized 
 with ? 
 
 There are persons who sometimes take up the pro- 
 11* 
 
250 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 fession of religion, and resolve all of a sudden that 
 they will follow Christ, not understanding what there 
 is in it, or what Christianity may do for them, who, 
 by the time they have looked a little further, and find 
 it another manner of difficulty than at first they 
 imagined ; and withal, when they find the armies of 
 the aliens begin to fall on them, the dogs to tear, the 
 wolves to worry, the eagles and the vultures and all 
 the birds of prey to pitch upon them, and begin in 
 earnest to feel the smart of religion in those persecu- 
 tions that are raised against them for it, presently 
 make their retreat and go back. "Where am I? 
 "What have I chosen ? Is this to be a Christian ? Does 
 Christ look for all this from his followers, and will he 
 leave them to such violence and rapine, as the reward 
 of their faithfulness to his name ? I never thought it 
 had been such hot service ; and if I cannot be a saint 
 at a cheaper rate than this, follow Christ who will for 
 all me : let those who have nothing to lose, or can bear 
 so much labor and pain and violence, take it up if 
 they please; for my part, I must look to myself, I 
 must not be undone." 
 
 " Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou 
 goest," said the scribe. Matt. 8 : 19. " Man," says 
 Christ, "thou understandest not what thou say est. 
 Dost thou know whither I am going, where my dwell- 
 ing, where my lodging is ? The foxes have holes, and 
 the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man 
 hath not where to lay his head." And behold, there 
 is an end of the scribe's Christianity, we hear not one 
 word more about it. 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 251 
 
 Not so he who knows what it is to be a disciple, 
 who has looked through religion, through the length 
 and breadth of it, has duly weighed all that can be 
 said for or against his taking it up, has examined the 
 grounds and reasons he has for it, what weight there 
 is in them, has considered the objections, has cast up 
 the cost and charges of it, and as the issue and result 
 of the most serious debate, stands settled in his judg- 
 ment, that, all things considered, it is indisputably 
 the best and wisest and safest course he can take : 
 "It is, beyond all controversy, incomparably better 
 for me to hearken to the Lord in all that he shall re- 
 quire, and to run all hazards with him, and that pres- 
 ently, from this day forward to the end of my life." 
 He that stands thus settled in his judgment, there- 
 upon feels his soul fixing itself in this peremptory 
 resolution: "Well, through the grace of God, I will 
 be his servant; I give up myself to the government of 
 his will, to follow him in righteousness and holiness 
 all my days. I am sensible it is no light thing to bo 
 a Christian ; I see I must be subject, I see I must be 
 circumspect, I see I must be active, I must hold back 
 nothing that God will have. I see this flesh will be 
 pained, and will flinch and groan under so severe a 
 yoke. I see the devil and this evil world will be upon 
 me, laying on more load, to make my bargain as dear 
 as they can. But be there in it what there will, let 
 it cost me ever so dear, I am resolved, I will venture 
 nil upon it; the Lord is my God, and him will I fol- 
 low in all things that he shall speak ; I put myself 
 into the evcrlastins arms, T trust upon everlasting 
 
252 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 strength, I will go forth in the name of the Lord : and 
 now speak, Lord, for I will hear." 
 
 This sincere resolution, this will hold out: when 
 our holy inclinations are so rooted and strong, that 
 they hear down all fleshly inclinations ; when our 
 assent to scripture is so firm that it overbalances all 
 objections against it; when our reasons for religion are 
 so high and weighty that they weigh down the highest 
 pretences against it; when we have thoroughly con- 
 sidered what there is in it, and compared all that can 
 be said for or against our following the Lord, and upon 
 the whole matter we judge it our best course, and 
 accordingly resolve for it — this is sincere resolution, 
 this is the obedience of the heart. 
 
 II. Obedience of the life. This is the inclina- 
 tion and resolution springing up into action, and is a 
 necessary proof of the soundness of the resolution. 
 
 Though sincere resolution be obedience on God's 
 account, yet that resolution which, supposing there 
 be time and opportunity, does not break forth into act, 
 is undoubtedly unsound and deceitful. There are two 
 things infallibly included in spiritual life — a will, and 
 a power. Grace is the disposing and enabling the 
 heart for a holy life; and where there is both a will 
 and a power, performance will certainly follow. This 
 sincerity of actual obedience is that which the prayer 
 of the psalmist looks to: "Let my heart be sound in 
 thy statutes, that I be not ashamed." Psa. 119 : 80. 
 
 There is a soundness in the faith, and a sound- 
 ness in the statutes of the Lord. Faith denotes in 
 Scripture either the doctrine of faith, or the grace of 
 
AN OBEDIENT HEART. 253 
 
 faith. And accordingly, soundness in the faith signi- 
 fies both the receiving and entertaining sound doc- 
 trine, and the sound or sincere embracing that doc- 
 trine. Soundness in the statutes of the Lord denotes 
 especially the practice, the living or walking uprightly 
 under the power of that doctrine, under the govern- 
 ment and obedience of the statutes of the Lord. 
 What this obedience of life is, it is easy to gather 
 out of what has been spoken touching the obedience 
 of the heart; I shall only add, that this obedience is 
 sound and sincere — 
 
 1. In general, when the whole course of life is the 
 issue of the mentioned sincere resolution — when the 
 life is the birth of the purpose, the fruit growing up 
 out of that holy root. There may be actions mate- 
 rially good, that yet are not gracious actions because 
 they arise not from a right spring. When the soul 
 has devoted itself to God in Christ, and believingly, 
 understandingly, and deliberately determined in his 
 strength to keep his word, and this determination goes 
 into the performances of the life, and is the root and 
 soul of that holy course we walk in, there is sincerity. 
 
 Some persons may be found who have taken up 
 the profession and go far in the practice of godliness, 
 abstaining from gross sins, yea, and making attempts 
 upon the mortification of inward lusts — applying them- 
 selves to the duties of religion, praying, hearing, read- 
 ing, meditating, discoursing of God and the things of 
 G-od, exercising themselves in the works of righteous- 
 ness and mercy, being meek, temperate, patient; and 
 if all this arise only from the advantages of a good 
 
254 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 nature, good education, good society or acquaintance, 
 a powerful ministry, or the workings of natural con- 
 science, as possibly it may, and does not spring forth 
 from such a fixed, well-founded resolution, it is short 
 of sincerity. Whatever the blades be, they have no 
 root, and will certainly wither away. 
 
 2. In particular actions, when they are done in 
 simplicity and singleness of heart unto the Lord — 
 when, whatever sinful mixtures there may sometimes 
 be of carnal motives, that may have an influence to 
 bring them about, yet the great poise that moves the 
 wheels, the swaying motive that brings us on, is God, 
 and our respect to his will and honor. 
 
 Now for this also the Lord undertakes, promising 
 not only assistance, but success — sufficient grace, and 
 efficacious grace: "I will cause them to walk in my 
 statutes, and they shall keep my judgments and do 
 them." I will not only teach them my statutes ; I 
 will not only incline their hearts to my testimonies; 
 I will not only strengthen them for my work ; but I 
 will cause them to walk in my statutes. The event 
 shall be sure, they shall keep my judgments and do 
 them; my word shall fail, my promises be of none 
 effect, let me be accounted unfaithful, if I do not 
 make them faithful to me. 
 
AN ENDURING- COVENANT. 255 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AN ENDURING COVENANT. 
 
 " I will make an everlasting covenant with them, 
 that I will not turn away from them, to do them 
 good ; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they 
 shall not depart from me." Jer. 32 : 40. 
 
 The promise of eternal life is made to those who 
 endure to the end : " He that endureth unto the end 
 shall be saved." Overcome, and reign. "Be thou 
 faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of 
 life." Rev. 2 : 10. " If thou forsake him, he will cast 
 thee off for ever." 1 Chron. 28 : 9. " If any man 
 draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." 
 Heb. 10 : 38. Christians, beware of apostasy, beware 
 of presumption ; pass the time of your sojourning here 
 in fear. Let it not be said of you, Ye did run well. 
 He runs well, that does not give up, that sits not 
 down on this side the goal. " So run that ye may 
 obtain." There are also promises of enduring. The 
 covenant of G-od is an everlasting covenant. " He 
 hath commanded Ins covenant for ever." Psalm 
 111:9. 
 
 There are two things in the forementioned scrip- 
 ture, Jer. 32 : 40, secured to believers. 
 
 God icill not depart from them. " I will not 
 turn away from them." (rod is with me, but I fear 
 
256 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 I shall provoke him away : I shall weary him out by 
 my sins, and drive him from me. No, saith the Lord, 
 I will not turn away from them, to do them good ; I 
 will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 
 
 They shall not depart from him. It is true, the 
 Lord will be with me ; hut it is only while I am 
 with him : if I depart, he will depart ; if I forsake 
 him, he will cast me off for ever. Here is my great 
 fear, that I shall turn away from him ; there is in me 
 an evil heart of unbelief, that is ever departing from 
 the living God. this false and fickle heart, I dare 
 not trust it for an hour. My corruptions are strong, 
 my temptations are many, every day brings its temp- 
 tations ; and I am in great fear, that by one means 
 or other, one day or other, I shall fall before them, 
 and depart from the living God. No, says God, fear 
 not, thou shalt not depart: "I will put my fear in 
 their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." 
 They shall be kept by my almighty power, "through 
 faith unto salvation." My grace shall be with them, 
 and my grace shall be sufficient for them, and shall 
 preserve them to my heavenly kingdom. 
 
 As there is that within and without an impenitent 
 sinner to keep him from Christ, so there is that 
 within and without a true Christian to lead him to 
 Christ. 
 
 Impenitent sinners have that within them which 
 draws them away. Corrupt nature, the power of 
 unmortified lust, this it is that bears the sway in 
 their hearts ; and however, for the time, the stream 
 may be somewhat turned out of its course, or bayed 
 
AN ENDURING COVENANT. 257 
 
 up — however, by the impetus of some external mo- 
 tives or arguments, or the impulses of an awakened 
 conscience, or some sudden heat of affection, they are 
 carried on after and in some fair compliance with 
 the Lord Jesus ; yet, when the barrier is removed, 
 when the external force is spent, conscience laid to 
 sleep, the heat of affection allayed, which is often 
 almost as soon out as in, their very natures will bring 
 them back to their old course. "What is it that pulls 
 a stone or a lump of clay down again, that is thrown 
 into the air ? Why, when the power by which they 
 were forced up is spent, their nature, their inherent 
 gravity, will bring them down to their place. Sin- 
 ners need no other weights to pull them down to this 
 earth than their earthly hearts. 
 
 And there is one without them that will draw 
 them back. Satan the god of this world, whose they 
 are and whom they serve, may indulge them with so 
 much liberty for their religion as is consistent with 
 their captive state, and as may secure them the more 
 under his dominion — for hypocrites are often the 
 faster to Satan for being so near to Christ — and the 
 very religion they have is but the devil's snare, by 
 which he holds them back from religion; yet, lest by 
 venturing them too far, they should be lost to him 
 at last, he that first tempted them so near to Christ — 
 hypocrites are often beholden to the devil for the 
 religion they have — will quickly tempt them back 
 again. 
 
 And so on the other side, there are the like rea- 
 sons why saints stay not away from Christ. There 
 
258 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 is that within them which will bring them back. 
 The grace of God within them will bring them home. 
 The grace of Grod is now their nature. Sinners while 
 walking with Christ, and saints while wandering from 
 Christ, are both under a force — they are carried 
 against the stream; when the winds go down that 
 carried them on, they will return to their course. 
 The grace of God is the seed of God: "He that is 
 born of God sinneth not," that is, not unto death ; 
 "the seed of God remaineth in him." The seed of 
 God is immortal seed; it may languish and be ready 
 to die, but it shall not die, it shall recover. 
 
 There is also One above them who will bring them 
 back, though he suffer them for a time to wander 
 from the way. " Of those whom thou hast given me, 
 I have lost none." He hath lost none, and he will 
 lose none. He sends a word of commandment after 
 them : " Return, backsliding children ; for I am 
 married unto you." Jer. 3 : 14. Whither are you run- 
 ning ? Whom are you following after ? Come back 
 from your lovers, return to your husband. I am mar- 
 ried to you, and we may not part. 
 
 After the word of command, he sends a word of 
 promise : " I will heal your backslidings." Jer. 3 : 22. 
 Return from your backslidings, and I will heal them. 
 I will forgive your backslidings, and. I will cure you 
 of your backsliding heart. All the breaches they 
 have made shall be made up ; I will pass by all that 
 you have done, and be reconciled to you. If you will 
 turn, return and I will receive you. And this word 
 of promise is a word of power. I will bring you to 
 

 AN ENDURING COVENANT. 259 
 
 Zion: "Then shall she say, I will go and return to 
 my first husband." Hosca 2:7. " Behold, we come 
 unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God." Jer. 3 :22. 
 He that would not leave his Israel after the flesh with 
 their idols, will much less leave his Israel after the 
 Spirit: "Being confident of this very thing, that he 
 which hath begun a good work, will perform it until 
 the day of Jesus Christ." Phil. 1 : 6. 
 
 A good work may be said to be begun in two 
 senses. One is when there is some good thing doing- 
 towards it : when the Lord has been ploughing up 
 the fallow-ground, making his batteries against the 
 strong-hold, shaking secure hearts, breaking false 
 hopes, awakening consciences, convincing sinners, 
 spreading sin and death and hell before them, enter- 
 ing upon a treaty with them, and persuading them 
 over to Christ, to make an escape — there may be 
 hopes in this ; but sinners, awakened shiners, beware 
 you make not a stand at the threshold. Beware that 
 your ploughed ground be not left to lie fallow. Be- 
 ware that the womb prove not the grave of all your 
 hopes. Mistake not conviction for conversion ; make 
 on, let not your God nor your souls lose the things 
 which have been wrought. The other sense is when 
 there is some good thing done : when the rubbish is 
 removed, and the first stone is laid ; when the plough 
 has been going, and the good seed . is sown ; when 
 the new creature has passed the birth ; when Christ 
 is formed, and the light of life is newly sprung up in 
 the soul. If there be but a grain of mustard-seed, 
 the least and lowest degree of saving grace broken 
 
260 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 forth in the heart, the question is not whether it be 
 much or little ; if it be grace, there is the immortal 
 seed, there is the good work begun, which shall be 
 carried on till the day of Jesus Christ. Grace is a 
 security for glory. Yet beware, Christians, let not 
 this security make you secure ; though there be a 
 harvest in the seed, yet the seed must be cherished, 
 watched, and well looked to, that it may grow up to 
 the harvest. He that lets it die for want of looking 
 to, proves that it was dead while alive. Let not your 
 falling short of glory prove that your grace was not 
 grace. 
 
 Christians, lay hold on the promise and lift up 
 your heads : you are under fears ; however it be with 
 you for the present, you are in doubt how it may be ; 
 your way is long and dangerous, your hearts are de- 
 ceitful and unstable ; you are going on at present, but 
 doubt how you shall hold out: "I may meet with 
 lions in the way, which may fright me back ; I may 
 lose my way, and never recover it ; I may be weary, 
 and faint in the way, and lie down and give up. My 
 Lord and my soul have been often upon the parting 
 point ; I have been almost gone, and I tremble to 
 think what may yet become of me." Yet remember 
 who it is that has said, "I will not turn from you, to 
 do you good ; I will put my fear in your hearts, and 
 you shall not depart from me." Rise, soul, take care 
 for to-day, and take no thought for to-morrow. Mind 
 the present duty, go on thy way, though weeping 
 and trembling and hard bestead : go on thy way, 
 and then commit thy way and thyself to Him, by 
 
AN ENDURING COVENANT. 261 
 
 whose mighty power thou shalt be kept through faith 
 unto salvation. Faithful is He that hath called you, 
 and will do it. 
 
 And now you have all. Let us hear the conclu- 
 sion of the whole matter. God has made a covenant 
 with his people, has given himself for their portion, 
 his Son for their price, his Spirit for their guide in 
 the way, his earth for their accommodation by the 
 way, his angels for their guard, the powers of dark- 
 ness and death for their spoils, everlasting glory for 
 their crown. And because their way is difficult and 
 their work is contrary to them, he has given them all 
 that grace which is necessary to bring them to glory 
 In general, a new heart, in all things suited to their 
 way, and thoroughly furnished for every good work. 
 In particular, knowledge to guide, oneness to fix and 
 intend, tenderness to submit to and yield, love to 
 constrain and bring on, fear to fence and hold in, 
 obedience to perform and bring forth, and perse- 
 verance to go through and hold out to the end ; and 
 there grace and glory meet. This is the covenant of 
 grace, this is the word which by the gospel is preached 
 unto you. 
 
 "Will it be said, " But if God has undertaken all this 
 for us, what is there then left us to do ? Here is a 
 doctrine according to sinners' hearts : if this be gos- 
 pel, then, soul, take thine ease, take thy liberty, cast 
 away care, make much of thy body; God will tscke 
 care of the rest ?" 
 
262 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 But is there nothing required of us? Let the 
 Scriptures speak : " Yet for all this will I be inquired 
 of," or sought unto, " by the house of Israel," Ezek. 
 36 : 37; otherwise let them look for no such things. 
 He that will not ask in faith, "let not that man think 
 he shall receive any thing of the Lord." James 1 : 7. 
 And can he think to receive any thing who neither 
 believes nor prays ; who neither prays in faith, nor 
 prays at all ? "It is God which worketh in you both 
 to will and to do." Phil. 2 : 12, 13. What then ? 
 Therefore sit you still and do nothing ? No such 
 thing: therefore "work out your salvation with fear 
 and trembling," saith the apostle. The promise of 
 God was never intended to make the command of 
 God of none effect. God, in promising grace, prom- 
 ises a power for duty ; and as he does not give, so we 
 must not receive that power or grace of God, in vain. 
 While he gives what he requires, he still requires 
 what he gives. That promise of God, "Ye shall be 
 my people," though he undertake to make it good, 
 yet is also the matter of our stipulation. And in this 
 promise, wherein the Lord assures us what we shall 
 be, is included a precept, wherein we may understand 
 what we ought to be. 
 
 In undertaking to give us a new heart, a tender 
 and obedient, a persevering heart, the Lord promises 
 both to make us what we should be and to help us in 
 what we are bound to do, and gives us at once a clear 
 hint both of our mercy and duty. This is the sense 
 and sum of that promise, The Lord will work all that 
 in us, and will help and cause us to perform all that 
 
AN ENDURING COVENANT. 2C3 
 
 which is required unto salvation ; and so the promise 
 on God's part does not make void, but establish the 
 obligation on ours. Do we then make void the law 
 through faith? Nay, wo establish the law. 
 
 Though it be certain as to the event, that all 
 which is necessary to salvation shall be accomplished 
 in us, since God hath undertaken that, yet it is alto- 
 gether as certain, that God has made our loving him, 
 fearing him, obeying his whole will, and our sincerity 
 and perseverance herein, so necessary that we cannot 
 otherwise be saved. 
 
 Christians, mistake not, nor abuse the grace of 
 the gospel. The Lord never meant your mercy should 
 make void your obligation to duty. Redemption from 
 sin was never intended as a toleration of sin. He 
 gives not his Spirit in favor of the flesh. What he 
 undertakes to work for you was never with a mind 
 to maintain you in idleness. The grace of God that 
 bringeth salvation teacheth us, "that, denying un- 
 godliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, 
 righteously, and godly in this present world." Titus 
 2 : 11, 12. 
 
 Though you are saved by grace, yet you are still, 
 in a sense, debtors to the whole law. Perfect obedi- 
 ence to the whole law, even to the utmost iota, is still 
 due from you ; and if it be not in your hearts to pay 
 all that you owe — that is, if there be any duty com- 
 manded in the whole book of God, that you dispense 
 with, that you will not set your hearts to observe and 
 obey ; if there be any one sin that you must be ex- 
 cused in, and will not part with ; if there be any, the 
 
264 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 highest pitch of holy care, activity, industry, zeal for 
 God and holiness, that you will not be persuaded to 
 press hard after — this is an evidence of such an un- 
 sound heart as has no part in the gospel or its salva- 
 tion. Perfection is still due, though sincerity will be 
 accepted. Sincerity shall be accepted; but what is 
 sincerity less than a hearty willingness to be perfect, 
 attested by a striving and pressing on to that mark 
 which is set before us? 
 
 admire and bless the Lord for his grace, but 
 do not turn the grace of God into licentiousness. 
 Shall we continue in sin, because grace hath abound- 
 ed ? "Will ye thus requite the Lord ? "Will ye thus 
 deceive yourselves, foolish people and unwise ? 
 Will you slight him, because he has loved you ; kick 
 at him, because he has cared for you ; shake off his 
 yoke, because he has secured you the crown ? Will 
 you serve his enemies, because he has saved you from 
 them ? Will you nourish your diseases, because he 
 has said he will cure you ? Will you live, and not eat ; 
 reap, and not plough? Will you not eat, because he 
 he has given you meat? Will you not run, because 
 he has given you legs ; nor work, because he has given 
 you hands ; nor watch, because he has given you eyes? 
 Or will you tempt the Lord, and call it your trust in 
 him ? Awake from such madness. 
 
 Christians, say not, If God will, I shall; whether 
 I take care or not, believe or not, repent or not, be 
 obedient or rebellious, whether I wake or sleep, work 
 or be idle, my unbelief, my disobedience, my negli- 
 gence shall not make the faith of God of none effect. 
 
AN ENDURING COVENANT. 265 
 
 But rather, since God has said, You shall, let thy 
 heart answer, I will walk in his statutes; arise, 
 my soul, up and be doing; w T ork out thy salvation, 
 "because it is God that worketh in thee to will and to 
 do. Shake off thy sloth, set about thy work, run thy 
 race, since God hath said, Thou shalt not run nor 
 labor in vain. And look to it, for however thy idle- 
 ness or greatest unfaithfulness will not make void the 
 covenant of God, yet will it make manifest that thou 
 hast no part nor lot in it. 
 
 But to all these glorious things that have been 
 spoken, possibly some will reply, "0, if all this be 
 so, then happy saints indeed ! ' Happy are the people 
 that are in such a case; yea, blessed are the people 
 whose God is the Lord.' But will the Lord indeed 
 do all these things for mortals? Will he take notice 
 of worms ? Shall such dry bones live ? Will he set 
 such vile dust as the apple of his eye? Is not this too 
 good to be true, too great to be believed ? that I 
 were sure the one half were as it hath been told me !" 
 Too great to be believed ! As if it must be questioned 
 whether the sun be light because it dazzles our eyes. 
 But what certainty would you have ? Is all this too 
 great for the great and Almighty God to do, who hath 
 said, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so 
 are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts 
 than your thoughts." Isa. 55 : 9. Can he not do it, 
 jvho can do all things ? Will he not do it, when he 
 hath said he will? Will the Lord mock? Can God 
 deceive? Shall his word, yea, and his oath too, those 
 two immutable things in which it is impossible for 
 
 Henrpti Opened. 1 2 
 
26G HEAVEN OPENED 
 
 God to lie, can these fail ? If you should hear the 
 Lord himself speaking to you from heaven with audi- 
 ble voice, My covenant I make with thee, and it is 
 my intent and purpose to perform every word that is 
 written in it, according to the plain import and mean- 
 ing thereof; there shall not a tittle fail, neither will 
 I alter the thing that is gone forth of my lips. Heaven 
 and earth shall fail, but my word shall not fail; trust 
 to it, trust everlasting truth, trust to everlasting 
 strength. Fear not, for there shall not fail one word 
 of all that I have spoken by all my servants the 
 prophets. 
 
 If you should hear the Lord speaking thus to you 
 from heaven, what would you say? would not this 
 satisfy you? Why, search the Scriptures, that "more 
 sure word of prophecy." 2 Pet. 1 : 19. Read them 
 diligently, understand what thou readest, and then 
 say if thou dost not there find the Lord speaking fully 
 to thee the words of the two following chapters. 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 267 
 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE RICHES OF THE COVENANT, OR A SHORT 
 VIEW OF THE EXCEEDING GREAT AND FREC- 
 IOUS PROMISES.* 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE HERALD. 
 
 all ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers 
 on the earth, come, see and hear; gather yourselves 
 together unto the proclamation of the great King. 
 Hear, you that are far off, and you that are near. 
 He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear. I am the 
 voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye 
 the way of the Lord. Let every valley be exalted, 
 and every mountain made low, for the glory of the 
 Lord is to be revealed. Go through, go through the 
 gates, prepare the way. Cast up, cast up the high- 
 way; gather out the stones, lift up the standard for 
 the people ; for the Lord proclaimeth salvation to the 
 ends of the earth. Tidings, tidings, ye captives ! 
 Hear, all ye that look for salvation in Israel; behold, 
 I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be 
 unto all people. Blessed news ! prepare your ears 
 and hearts. The Lord has commanded me, saying, 
 Go unto the people and sanctify them; let them wash 
 and be ready, for the Lord is coming down upon 
 
 * By Rev. Joseph Alleine, author of "An Alarm to Unconverted 
 Sinners." ♦ 
 
2GS HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 mount Zion, in the sight of all the nations. Not in 
 earthquakes and fire, not in clouds and darkness, not 
 in thunderings and turnings, rending the mountains 
 and breaking the rocks in pieces. He speaks not to 
 you out of the blackness and darkness and tempest ; 
 you shall say no more, Let not God speak to us, lest 
 we die; he cometh peaceably, the law of kindness is 
 in his mouth, he preacheth Peace, peace, to him that 
 is far off, and to him that is near. 
 
 Behold how he cometh, leaping upon the moun- 
 tains ; he hath passed mount Ebal — no more wrath or 
 cursing ; he is come to mount (xerizim, where he 
 standeth to bless the people : as did Mordecai to 
 his nation, he writeth the words of truth and peace, 
 seeking the welfare of his people and speaking peace 
 to all his seed. 
 
 Behold how he cometh, clothed with flames of 
 love, with bowels of compassion, plenteous redemp- 
 tion, and multiplied pardons. how full is his love ! 
 the tenderness of his compassions ! how full is 
 his heart, even aching till it is eased by supplying his 
 hungry children ! 
 
 Hearken therefore, ye children, hearken to me. 
 To you it is commanded, people, nations, and lan- 
 guages, that at what time you hear the joyful sound, 
 the trump of jubilee, the tidings of peace in the voice 
 of the everlasting gospel, you fall down before the 
 throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever. 
 
 Arise, and come away ; prepare, prepare you ; 
 hear not with an uncircumcised ear ; you are not 
 upon a common thing. Behold, the throne is set, the 
 

 RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 269 
 
 throne of grace, where majesty and merry dwell to- 
 gether ; from thence will the Lord meet you, from 
 thence will he commune with you, from the mercy- 
 seat, from between the cherubim, upon the ark of the 
 testimony. Lo, the Lord cometh out of his pavilion, 
 the mighty C4od from Zion. Selah. His glory cover- 
 cth the heavens, the earth is full of his praise. A 
 fire of love goeth before him, mercy and truth are 
 round about him, righteousness and peace are the 
 habitation of his throne ; he rideth on his horses and 
 chariots of salvation, the covenant of life and peace is 
 in his mouth. 
 
 Rejoice, ye heavens, make a joyful noise to the 
 Lord, all the earth. Let the sea roar, the floods clap 
 their hands, and the multitudes of the isles rejoice. 
 Stand forth, the host of heaven, prepare your harps, 
 cast down your crowns, be ready with your trumps, 
 bring forth your golden vials full of odors ; for our 
 voices will jar, our strings will break, we cannot reach 
 the note of our Maker's praise. 
 
 Yet let them that dwell in the dust arise and sing. 
 Bear your part in this glorious service, but consider 
 and attend. Call out your souls, and all that is with- 
 in you. Lift up your voices, fix your eyes, enlarge 
 your hearts, exert all their powers ; there is work for 
 them all. Be intent and serious, you cannot raise too 
 high a strain. 
 
 Come forth, ye graces, beset the way, be all in 
 readiness. Stand forth, faith and hope ; flame, 
 love ; come, ye warm desires, and break with longing. 
 Let fear with all veneration do its obeisance. Joy, 
 
270 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 prepare thy songs, call up all the daughters of music 
 to salute the Lord as he passeth by. Let the gener- 
 ations of the saints appear, and spread the way with 
 houghs and garments of salvation, and- songs of de- 
 liverance. Ye stand this day all of you before the 
 Lord your God, your captains, your elders, your offi- 
 cers, with all the men of Israel, your little ones, your 
 wives, and the stranger that is within thy camp, from 
 the hewer of wood to the drawer of water — that thou 
 shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, 
 and into his oath which the Lord thy God maketh 
 with thee this day: that he may establish thee to-day 
 for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto 
 thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath 
 sworn. Deut. 29 : 10-13. 
 
 I have done my errand. The messenger of the 
 morning disappeareth ; when the orient Sun cometh 
 forth out of his chambers, I vanish. I put my mouth 
 in the dust. The voice of the Lord ! The soft and 
 still voice ! my soul, wrap thy face in thy mantle, 
 and bow thyself to the ground, and put thee in the 
 cleft of the rock, while Jehovah proclaimeth his name, 
 and maketh all his goodness to pass before thee. 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE LORD.' 
 
 Hear, ye ends of the earth, the mighty God, 
 the Lord hath spoken : Gather my saints unto me, 
 those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. 
 Behold, I establish my covenant between me and you. 
 By my holiness have I sworn, that I will be your 
 covenant friend. I lift up my hand to heaven, and 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 271 
 
 swear that I live for ever; and because I live, you 
 shall live also. I will be yours — yours to all intents 
 and purposes : your refuge and your rest ; your patron 
 and your portion ; your heritage and your hope ; your 
 God and your guide. While I have, you shall never 
 want ; and what I am to myself, I will be to you. 
 And you shall be my people, a chosen generation, a 
 kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a peculiar treasure 
 unto me above all people. I call heaven and earth to 
 witness this day, that I take you for mine for ever. 
 My name shall be upon yon, and you shall be pillars 
 in the temple of your God, and shall go no more out. 
 My livery shall you wear, and the stamp of my 
 own face shall you carry ; and I will mako you my 
 witnesses, and the epistles of Christ unto the world, 
 and you shall be chosen vessels to bear my name 
 before the sons of men. And that you may see that 
 I am in earnest with you, lo, I make with you an 
 everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure ; 
 and do here solemnly deliver it to you as my act and 
 deed, sealed with sacred blood, and ratified with the 
 oath of God, a God that cannot lie, that knows no 
 place for repentance. Come, ye blessed, receive tho 
 instrument of your salvation; take the writings, be- 
 hold the seals ; here are the conveyances of the king- 
 dom. Fear not, the donation is free and full. See, 
 it is written in blood, founded on the all-sufficient 
 merits of your Surety, in whom I am well pleased ; 
 whose death makes this testament unchangeable for 
 ever ; so that your names can never be put out, nor 
 y^ur inheritance alienated, nor your legacies dimin- 
 
272 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 ishecl ; nothing may "be altered, nothing added, noth- 
 ing subtracted, no, not for ever. Happy art thou, 
 Israel ! "Who is like unto thee, people ? Only 
 believe, and know your own blessedness. Attend, 
 my children, unto the blessings of your Father ; and 
 hear and know, 
 
 I. The glorious immunities and the royal pre- 
 rogatives that I here confirm upon you. 
 
 1. The glorious immunities. Here I seal you 
 your pardon. Though your sins be as many as the 
 sands, and as mighty as the mountains, I will drown 
 them in the deeps of my bottomless mercies. I will 
 be merciful to your unrighteousness ; I will multiply 
 to pardon ; where your sins have abounded, my grace 
 shall superabound ; though they be as scarlet, they 
 shall be as white as snow ; though red like crimson, 
 they shall be as wool. Behold, I declare myself sat- 
 isfied, and pronounce you absolved. The price is paid, 
 your debts are cleared, your bonds are cancelled. 
 
 Whatever the law, or conscience, or the accuser 
 hath to charge upon you, here I exonerate you, I dis- 
 charge you. I, even I, am He that blotteth out your 
 transgressions, for my name's sake. Who shall lay 
 any thing to your charge, when I acquit you ? Who 
 shall impeach or implead you, when I proclaim you 
 guiltless ? Sons, daughters, be of good cheer ; your 
 sins are forgiven you. I will sprinkle your consciences, 
 and put the voice of peace into their mouths, and they 
 shall be your registers, in which I will record your 
 pardon, and the voice of guilt and wrath and terror 
 shall cease. 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 273 
 
 Here I sign your release from the house of bond- 
 age. Come forth, ye captives, come forth, ye prison- 
 ers of hope, for I have found a ransom, I proclaim 
 liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison 
 to them that are bound. Behold, I have broken your 
 bonds, and shaken the foundations of your prisons, and 
 opened the iron gates. By the blood of the covenant 
 have I sent forth the prisoners out of the pit wherein 
 there is no water. Arise, redeemed of the Lord, 
 put off the raiment of your captivities, arise and come 
 away. 
 
 The dark and noisome prison of sin shall no longer 
 detain you. I will loose your fetters, and knock off 
 your bolts. Sin shall not have dominion over you. 
 I will heal your backslidings, I will subdue your ini- 
 quities, I will sanctify you wholly, and will put my 
 fear in your hearts, that you shall not depart from me. 
 Though your corruptions be strong and many, yet the 
 aids of my Spirit, the cleansing virtue of my word and 
 of my corrections, shall so work together with your 
 prayers and endeavors, that they shall not finally pre- 
 vail against you, but shall surely fall before you. 
 
 From the strong and loathsome jail of the grave 
 do I deliver you. death, I will be thy plague ; 
 grave, I will be thy destruction ; my beloved shall 
 never see corruption. I will change your rottenness 
 into glory, and make your dust arise and praise me. 
 What is sown in weakness, I will raise in power; 
 what is sown in corruption, I will raise in incorrup- 
 tion ; what is sown a natural body, I will raise a 
 spiritual body. This very flesh of yours, this corrupt- 
 12* 
 
274 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 ible flesh, shall put on incorruption, and this mor- 
 tal shall put on immortality. Death shall he swal- 
 lowed up in victory, and mortality of life. Fear not, 
 
 my children. Come, and I will show you the ene- 
 my that you dreaded. See, here lies the king of ter- 
 rors, like Sisera in the tent, fastened to the ground 
 with the nail struck through his temples. Behold 
 the grateful present, the head of your enemy in a 
 charger: I bequeath you your conquered adversary, 
 and make over death as your legacy. death, where 
 is thy sting ? where now is thine armor wherein thou 
 trustedst ? Come, my people, enter into your cham- 
 bers ; come to your beds of dust, and lay you down 
 in peace, and let your flesh rest in hope ; for even in 
 this flesh shall you see (rod. ye slain of death, 
 your carcasses, now as loathsome as the carrion in the 
 ditch, will I redeem from the power of the grave, and 
 fashion those vile bodies like unto the glorious body 
 of your exalted Redeemer. Look, if you can, on the 
 sun when shining in his strength : with such dazzling 
 glory will I clothe you, ye of little faith. 
 
 From the terrible dungeon of eternal darkness do 
 
 1 hereby free you. Fear not, you shall not be hurt 
 of the second death ; you are delivered from the wrath 
 to come, and shall never come into condemnation. 
 Ihe flames of Tophet shall not be able to singe the 
 hair of your heads, no, nor the smell of fire pass 
 upon you. Stand upon the brink, and look down into 
 the horrible pit, the infernal prison from whence 1 
 have freed you. See you how the smoke of their tor- 
 ments ascendeth for ever? Hear you the cursings 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 275 
 
 and ravings, the roarings and blasphemies ? What 
 think you of those hellish fiends ? would you have 
 been willing to have them for your companions and 
 tormentors ? What think you of those chains of dark- 
 ness, of the river of brimstone, of the instruments of 
 torment for soul and body, of those weepings and 
 waitings and gnashing of teeth ? Can you think of 
 nu everlasting banishment, of a sentence, " Go, yo 
 cursed ?" Could you dwell with everlasting burn- 
 ings, could you abide with devouring fire? This is 
 the inheritance yon were born to. But I have out 
 off the entail, and wrought for you a great salvation. 
 I have not ordained you to wrath, but my thoughts 
 towards you are thoughts of peace. 
 
 Here I deliver you your protection. From all 
 your enemies will I save you. I grant you a protec- 
 tion from the arrests of the law: your Surety hath 
 fully answered it; my justice is satisfied, my wrath 
 is pacified, my honor is repaired. Behold, I am near 
 that justify you; who is he that shall condemn you? 
 
 From the usurped dominion of the powers of dark- 
 ness. I will tread Satan shortly under you, and will 
 set your feet in triumph upon the necks of your ene- 
 mies. Let not your hearts be troubled, though you 
 are to wrestle with principalities and powers, and the 
 rulers of the darkness of this world; for stronger is 
 He that is in you, than he that is in the world. He 
 may bruise your heel, but you shall bruise his head. 
 Behold your Redeemer leading captivity captive, spoil- 
 ing principalities and powers, and triumphing over 
 them openly in his cross. See how Satan falleth like 
 

 276 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 lightning from heaven, and the Samson of your salva- 
 tion beareth away the gates of hell, posts and all, upon 
 his shoulders, and setteth them up as trophies of his 
 victory: how he pulleth out the throat of the lion, and 
 lifteth up the heart of the traitor upon the top of his 
 spear, and washeth Ins hands, and dyeth his robes in 
 the blood of those your enemies. 
 
 From the victory of the world. Neither its frowns 
 nor its flatteries shall be too hard for your victorious 
 faith. Though it raise up Egypt and Amalek and 
 Moab, and all its armies against you, yet it shah 
 never keep you out of Canaan. Be of good comfort, 
 your Lord hath overcome the world. Though its 
 temptations be very powerful, yet this, upon my faith- 
 fulness, will I promise you, that no such shall come 
 upon you, but what you shall be able to bear. But 
 if I see such trials as would be too hard for your 
 graces, and overthrow your souls, I will never suffer 
 them to come upon you ; nay, I will make your ene- 
 my to serve you, and do bequeath the world as part 
 of your dowry to you. 
 
 From the curse of the cross. Affliction shall prove 
 a wholesome cup to you; your Lord hath drunk the 
 venom into his own body, and what remains for you 
 is but a healthful potion, which I will promise you 
 shall work for your good. Be not afraid to drink, nor 
 desire the cup should pass from you: I bless the cup 
 before I give it unto you. Drink you all of it, and 
 be thankful ; you shall find my blessing at the bottom 
 of the cup, to sweeten the sharpest afflictions to you. 
 I will stand by you in all conditions, and be a fast 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 277 
 
 friend to you in every change. In the wilderness I 
 will speak comfortably to you, and in the fire and in 
 the water I will he with you. I will he a strength to 
 the poor, and a strength to the needy in his distress ; 
 a refuge from the storm, and a shadow from the heat, 
 when the blast of terrible ones is as a storm against 
 the wall. Your sufferings shall not be a cup of 
 wrath, but a grace cup; not a curse, but a cure; 
 not a cup of trembling, but a cup of blessing to you. 
 They shall not hurt you, but heal you. My blessing 
 shall attend you in every condition. I say not only, 
 Blessed shall you be in your basket, and blessed in 
 your store; but blessed shall you be in your poverty, 
 and blessed shall you be in your straits : not only 
 blessed shall you be in your cities, and blessed shall 
 you be in your fields ; but blessed shall you be in 
 your bonds, and blessed shall you be in your banish- 
 ment. Blessed shall you be when you are persecuted, 
 and when you are reviled, and your name is cast out 
 as evil; yea, then doubly blessed. My choicest bless- 
 ings, greatest good, and richest sweets, will I put into 
 your evil things. These happy immunities, these 
 glorious liberties of the sons of God, by this immuta- 
 ble charter I do for ever settle upon you ; and do in, 
 and with my covenant, unalterably, irrevocably, ever- 
 lastingly convey unto you, and confirm upon you. 
 
 2. Yea, I will not only free you from your miseries, 
 but will confer upon you royal privileges and pre- 
 rogatives, and instate you into higher and greater 
 happiness than ever you have fallen from. Lo, I give 
 myself to you, and all things with myself 
 
278 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 Behold, ye sons of men ; behold, and wonder. 
 Be astonished, heavens ; be moved, ye strong 
 foundations of the earth; for you shall be my wit- 
 nesses. This day do I by covenant bestow myself 
 upon my servants. I will be your God for ever and 
 ever — your own God. Nothing in the world is so 
 much your own as I. The houses that you have built, 
 that you have bought, are not so much yours as I am. 
 Here you are tenants at will; but I am your eternal 
 inheritance. These are loans for a season, but I am 
 your dwelling-place in all generations. You have 
 nowhere so great a proprietorship, so sure and unal- 
 terable a claim, as you have here. What do you 
 count your own ? Do you count your bodies your 
 own, your souls your own ? Nay, these are not your 
 own; they are bought with a price. But you may 
 boldly make your claim to me ; you may freely chal- 
 lenge an interest in me. Come near, and fear not ; 
 where should you be free, if not with your own ? 
 where should you be bold, if not at home ? You are 
 never in all the world so much at home as when you 
 are with me. You may freely make use of me, or of 
 any of my attributes, whenever you need. I will be 
 all to you that you can wish. 
 
 I will be a Friend to you. My secrets shall be with 
 you, and you shall have all freedom of access to me, 
 and liberty to pour out all your hearts into my bosom. 
 
 I will be a Physician to you. I will heal your 
 backslidings, and cure all your diseases. Fear not ; 
 never did soul miscarry that left itself in my hands, 
 and would but follow my prescriptions. 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 279 
 
 I will be a Shepherd to you. Be not afraid of 
 evil tidings, for I am with you ; my rod and my staff 
 shall comfort you. You shall not want, for I will 
 feed you ; you shall not wander, to he lost, for I will 
 restore you. I will cause you to lie down in green 
 pastures, and lead you beside the still waters. I will 
 gather you with my arm, and carry you in my bosom, 
 and will lead on softly, as the flock and the children 
 are able to endure. If officers be careless, I will do 
 the work myself. I will seek that which was lost, 
 and bring again that which was driven away, and 
 bind up that which was broken, and strengthen that 
 which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the 
 strong, and will feed them with judgment. I will 
 watch over my flock by night. Behold, I have ap- 
 pointed my ministers as your watchmen, and over- 
 seers that watch for your souls. Yea, mine angels 
 shall be your watchers, and shall keep a constant 
 guard upon my flock. And if peradventure the ser- 
 vants should sleep, mine own eyes shall keep a perpet- 
 ual watch over you, by night and by day. The Keeper 
 of Israel never slumbereth, nor sleepeth, nor withdraw* 
 eth his eyes from the righteous. I will guide you with 
 mine eye ; I will never trust you out of my own sight. 
 
 I will be a Sovereign to you. The Lord is your 
 judge, the Lord is your lawgiver, the Lord is your 
 king. Fear not the unrighteousness of men, I will 
 judge your cause, I will defend your rights. You 
 shall not stand at man's bar ; you shall not be cast at 
 their vote: let them curse, I will bless; let them con- 
 demn, I will justify. When you come upon trial for 
 
2S0 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 your lives, to have your eternal state decided, you 
 shall see your Friend, your Father, upon the bench. 
 Into my hands shall your cause be cast, and you shall 
 surely stand in judgment, and be found at the right 
 hand among the sheep, and hear the King say, Come 
 ye blessed, inherit the kingdom. 
 
 I will be a Husband to you. In loving-kindness, 
 and in mercies, will I betroth you unto me for ever. 
 I will espouse your interest, and will be as one with 
 you, and you with me. You shall be for me, and not 
 for another; and I also will be for you. Though I 
 found you as a helpless infant exposed in its blood, 
 all your unworihiness doth not discourage me. Lo, 
 I have looked upon you, and put my comeliness upon 
 you. Moreover, I swear unto you, and enter into 
 covenant with you, and you shall be mine. Behold, 
 I do, as it were, put myself out of my own power, and 
 do here solemnly, in this my marriage-covenant, make 
 away myself to you, and with myself all things. I 
 will be an everlasting portion to you. Lift up now 
 your eyes eastward and westward and northward and 
 southward. Have you not a worthy portion, a goodly 
 heritage ? Can you cast up your riches, or count your 
 own happiness ? Can you fathom immensity, or reach 
 omnipotency, or comprehend eternity? All this is 
 yours. I will set open all my treasures to you, I 
 will keep back nothing from you. 
 
 II. All the attributes in the G-odhead, and all the 
 persons in the Godhead, do I hereby make over to 
 you. I will be yours in all my essential perfections, 
 and in all my personal relations. 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 251 
 
 1. In all my essential perfections. My eternity 
 shall be the date of your happiness. I am the eternal 
 God, and while I am, I will be life and blessedness to 
 you. I will be a never-failing fountain of joy and 
 peace and bliss unto you. I am the first and the last, 
 that was, and is, and is to come, and my eternal 
 power and godhead shall be bound to you. I will be 
 your (rod, your Father, your Friend, while I have any 
 being. I have made my everlasting choice in choos- 
 ing you. Fear not, for the eternal God is your refuge, 
 and underneath are the everlasting arms. My durable 
 riches and righteousness shall be yours. Though all 
 should forsake you. yet will I not forsake you. When 
 the world and all that is therein shall be burnt up, I 
 will be a standing portion for you. When you are 
 forgotten among the dead, with everlasting loving- 
 kindness will I remember you. 
 
 My unchangcablencss shall be the rock of your 
 rest. "When all the world is like the tumbling ocean 
 round about you, here you may fix and settle. I am 
 your resting-place. The immutability of my nature, 
 and of my counsel, and of my covenant, are sure foot- 
 ing for your faith, and a firm foundation for your strong 
 and everlasting consolation. When you are afflicted, 
 tossed with tempests, and not comforted, take refuge 
 in me: I am a haven of hope, I am a harbor of resf 
 for you ; here cast your anchors, and you shall never 
 be moved. 
 
 My omnipotence shall be your guard. I am God 
 Almighty, your almighty Protector, your almighty 
 Benefactor. What though your enemies are many ? 
 
282 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 more are they that are with you, than they that are 
 against you ; for I am with you. What though they 
 are mighty, they are not almighty. Your Father is 
 greater than all, and none shall pluck you out of my 
 hands. Who can hinder my power, or obstruct my 
 salvation? Who is like unto the God of Jeshurun, 
 who rideth on the heaven for your help, and in his 
 excellency on the sky? I am the sword of your 
 strength, and the shield of your excellency. I am your 
 rock and your fortress, your deliverer, your strength, 
 the horn of your salvation, and your high tower. I 
 will maintain you against all the power of the enemy. 
 You shall never sink, if omnipotence can support 
 you. The gates of hell shall not prevail against you. 
 Your enemies shall find hard work of it. They shall 
 overcome victory, or enervate omnipotence, or cor- 
 rupt fidelity, or change immutability, or else they 
 cannot finally prevail against you ; either they shall 
 how or break. Though they should exalt themselves 
 as the eagle, though they should set their nest among 
 the stars, even thence will I bring them down, saith 
 the Lord. 
 
 My faithfulness shall be your security; my truth, 
 yea, my oath shall fail if ever you come off losers by 
 me. I will make you to confess, when you see the 
 issue and upshot of all my providences, that I was a 
 God worthy to be trusted, worthy to be believed, wor- 
 thy to be rested in and relied upon. If you walk not 
 in my judgments, you must look for my threats and 
 ftowns, yea, and blows too; and you shall see that I 
 am not in jest with you, nor will indulge you in your 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 283 
 
 sins. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I never 
 take from you, nor sutler my faithfulness to fail. My 
 covenant will I not break, nor alter the tiling that is 
 gone out of my lips. 
 
 My mercies shall be your store. I am the Father 
 of mercies, and such a Father I will be to you. I 
 am the fountain of mercies, and this fountain shall be 
 ever open to you. My mercies are very many, and 
 they shall be multiplied towards you ; very great, and 
 they shall be magnified upon you; very sure, and 
 they shall be for ever sure to you; very tender, and 
 they shall be infinitely tender of you. Though the 
 fig-tree do not blossom, nor the vine bear, nor the 
 flock bring forth, fear not, for my compassions fail 
 not. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all 
 the days of your lives. Even to your old age I am he, 
 and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, 
 and I will bear, even I will carry and deliver you: I 
 will make an everlasting covenant with you, that I 
 will not turn away from you to do you good — that T 
 will show you the kindness of God. I can as soon 
 forget to be Grod, as forget to be gracious. While my 
 name is Jehovah, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, 
 abundant in goodness and truth, I will never forget 
 to show mercy to you. All my ways towards you 
 shall be mercy and truth. I have sworn that I would 
 not be wroth with you, nor rebuke you ; for the moun- 
 tains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my 
 kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the 
 covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that 
 hath mercy on you. 
 
284 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 My omniscience shall be your overseer; mine eyes 
 shall be ever open, observing your wants to relieve 
 them, and your wrongs to avenge them. Mine ears 
 shall be ever open to hear the prayers of my poor, the 
 cries of mine oppressed, the clamors, calumnies, and 
 reproaches of your enemies. Surely I have seen your 
 affliction, and know your sorrows. And shall not God 
 avenge his own elect ? I will avenge them speedily. 
 I see the secret plots and designs of your enemies 
 against you, and will disannul their counsels. I see 
 your secret integrity, and the uprightness of your 
 hearts towards me, while the carnal and censorious 
 world condemn you as hypocrites. Your secret pray- 
 ers, fasts, and tears, which the world knoweth not of, 
 I observe them, and record them. Your secret care 
 to please me, your secret pains with your own hearts, 
 your secret self-searchings and self-denial, I see them 
 all; your Father which seeth in secret shall reward 
 them openly. 
 
 My wisdom shall be your counsellor. If any lack 
 wisdom, let him ask of me, and it shall be given him. 
 I will be your deliverer. When you are in darkness, I 
 will be a light to you. I will make your way plain be- 
 fore you. You are but short-sighted, but I will be eyes 
 to you. I will watch over you, to bring upon you all 
 the good I have promised, and to keep off all the evil 
 you fear, or to turn it into good. You shall have your 
 food in its season, and your medicine in its season — 
 mercies, afflictions, all suitable, and in their season. ] 
 will outwit your enemies, and make their oracles to 
 speak but folly. The old serpent shall not deceive vou 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 2S5 
 
 I will acquaint you with his devices. The deceitful 
 hearts you fear shall not undo you; I will discover their 
 wiles. I know how to deliver the godly out of tempta- 
 tion, and to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment 
 to be punished. Trust in me with all your hearts, and 
 lean not to your own understanding, I am God that 
 performeth all things for you. I will forfeit the rep- 
 utation of my wisdom, if I make you not to acknow- 
 ledge, when you see the end of the Lord — though at 
 present you wonder, and reach not the meaning of 
 my proceeding!'? — that all my works are in weight and 
 in number and in time and in order; if I cause you 
 not to cry out. Manifold are thy works, in wisdom 
 hast thou made them all. 
 
 My justice shall be your avenger and re warder. 
 Fear not to approach ; fury is not in me. My justice 
 is not only appeased towards you, but engaged for 
 you. I am so fully satisfied in the sacrifice of my 
 Beloved, that justice itself, which was as a flaming 
 sword drawn against you, doth now greatly befriend 
 you ; and that which was an amazing, confounding 
 terror, shall now become your relief and consolation. 
 Under all your oppressions, here shall your refuge be. 
 Let me know your grievances; my justice shall right 
 your wrongs, and reward your services. You may 
 conclude upon your pardons, conclude upon your 
 crowns, conclude upon reparation for all your injuries, 
 and all from the sweet consideration of my justice, 
 the thought of which to others is as the horror of the 
 shadow of death. If you sin, despair not ; remember, 
 I am just to forgive you. If you are at any pains or 
 
286 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 cost for me, do not count it lost ; for I am not unright- 
 eous to forget you. I am the righteous Judge, that 
 have laid up for you, and will set on you the crown 
 of righteousness. Are you reviled, persecuted, de- 
 famed ? Forget not that I am righteous to render 
 tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you that 
 are troubled, rest with me. Though all your services 
 and sufferings deserve not the least good at my hands, 
 yet as I have freely passed my promise to reward 
 them, so I will as justly keep it. 
 
 My omnipresence shall be company for you. Surely 
 I will be with you, to bless you. No bolts, nor bars, 
 nor bonds, nor banishment shall remove you from 
 me, nor keep my presence and the influences of heav- 
 en from you. I am always with you : in your dark- 
 est nights, in your deepest dangers, I am at hand with 
 you, a very present help in the time of trouble. I am 
 not a God afar off, or asleep, or in a journey, when 
 you need my counsel, mine ear, or mine aid : I am 
 always nigh unto them that fear me. No Patmos, no 
 prison shall hinder the presence of my grace from 
 you. My presence shall perfume the most noisome 
 cell, and lighten the darkest dungeon where you can 
 be thrust. 
 
 My holiness shall be a fountain of grace to you. 
 I am the God of hope, the God of love, the God of 
 patience, the author and finisher of faith, the God of 
 all grace, and I will give grace to you. My design is 
 to make you partakers of my holiness. I will be a 
 constant spring of spiritual life to you. The water 
 that T shall give you, shall be in you a well of water 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 237 
 
 springing up into everlasting life. The seed of life 
 that I shall put into you, shall he so fed and cherished 
 and maintained by my power, that it shall be immor- 
 tal. The unction that you shall receive from the Holy 
 One shall abide in you, and teach you all things ne- 
 cessary for you ; and as it hath taught you, you shall 
 abide in him. You shall flourish in the courts of your 
 God. Yea, I will satisfy your souls in drought, and 
 make fat your bones, and you shall be like a watered 
 garden. Lo, I will be as the dew unto you, and you 
 shall grow as the lily, and cast forth your roots as 
 Lebanon ; and your branches shall spread, and your 
 beauty shall be as the olive-tree. You shall still 
 bring forth fruit in old age, you shall be fat and flour- 
 ishing. 
 
 My sovereignty shall be commanded by you. You 
 shall be my favorites, men of power, to prevail with 
 me. All my attributes shall be at the command of 
 your prayers. 
 
 In sum, my all-sufficiency shall be the lot of your 
 inheritance. My fulness is your treasure. My house 
 is your home. You may come as freely to my store, 
 as to your own cupboard. You may have your hand 
 as freely in my treasures, as in your own purses. 
 You cannot ask too much, you cannot look for too 
 much from me. I will give you, or be myself to 
 you instead of, all comforts. You shall have chil- 
 dren, or I will be better to you than ten children. 
 You shall have riches, or I will be more to you than 
 all riches. 
 
 You shall have friends, if best for you, or else T 
 
238 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 will be your comforter in your solitude, your counsel- 
 lor in your distress. If you leave father or mother, 
 or houses or lands, for my sake, you shall have a 
 hundred-fold in me, even in this time. When your 
 enemies shall remove your comforts, it shall be but as 
 the letting the cistern run and opening the fountain, 
 or putting out the candles and letting in the sun. 
 The swelling of the waters shall raise higher the ark 
 of your comfort. I will be the staff of bread to you, 
 your life, and the strength of your days. I will be 
 the house and home to you, you shall dwell with me ; 
 yea, dwell in me, and I in you. I will stand and 
 fall with you. I will repair your losses, and relieve 
 your needs. Can you burn out the lamp of heaven, 
 or lave out the boundless ocean with your hands ? 
 Why, the sun shall be dark and the sea be dry, before 
 the Father of lights; the fountain of mercies shall be 
 exhausted. Behold, though the world hath been 
 spending upon the stock of my mercy ever since I 
 created man upon earth, yet it runs with full stream 
 still. My sun doth diffuse its rays and disburse its 
 light, and yet shines as bright as ever : much more 
 can I dispense of my goodness, and fill my creatures 
 brimful and running over, and yet have never the 
 less in myself: and till this all-sufficiency be spent, 
 you shall never be undone. I am the God of Abra- 
 ham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, and whatever I was 
 to them, I will be to you. 
 
 Are you in want ? you know whither to go. I am 
 ever at home ; you shall not go away empty from my 
 ioor. Never distract yourselves with cares and fears, 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 2S9 
 
 but make known your requests by prayer and suppli- 
 cation unto me. I will help when all things else 
 fail. When friends fail and hearts fail, when your 
 eyestrings crack and your heartstrings crack, when 
 your acquaintance leave you and your souls leave 
 you, my bosom shall be open to you. I will lock up 
 your dust, I will receive your souls. 
 
 And my infinitenczs shall be the extent of your 
 inheritance. Can you by searching find out God ; 
 can you find out the Almighty to perfection ? It is 
 high as heaven, what can you do ? deeper than hell, 
 what can you know ? This height incomprehensible, 
 this depth unfathomable, shall be all yours, for ever 
 yours. I am your inheritance which no line can 
 measure, no arithmetic can value, no surveyor can 
 describe. Lift up now your eyes to the ancient moun- 
 tains, and to the utmost bounds of the everlasting 
 hills : all that you can see is yours ; but your short 
 sight cannot ken the moiety of what I give you ; and 
 when you see and know most, you are no less than 
 infinitely short of the discovery of your own riches. 
 Job 26 : 14. 
 
 2. Yea, further, I will be yours in all my per- 
 sonal RELATIONS. 
 
 I am the everlasting Father, and I will be a Fa- 
 ther to you. I take you for my sons and daughters. 
 Behold, I receive you not as servants, but as sons to 
 abide in my house for ever. Whatever love or care 
 children may look for from their father, that may you 
 expect from me ; and so much more as I am wiser 
 and greater and better than any earthly parents. If 
 
 ITrtven Opened. \ 3 
 
290 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 earthly fathers will give good things to their children, 
 much more will I give to you. If such cannot forget 
 their children, much less will I forget you. What 
 would my children have ? Your Father's heart, and 
 your Father's house ; your Father's care, and your 
 Father's ear ; your Father's hread, and your Father's 
 rod : these shall he all yours. 
 
 You shall have my fatherly affection; my heart I 
 share among you, my tend crest love I bestow upon 
 you. 
 
 My fatherly compassion. As a father pitieth his 
 children, so will I pity you. I will consider your 
 frame, and not be extreme to mark what is done amiss 
 by you, but cover all with the mantle of my excusing 
 love. 
 
 My fatherly instruction. I will cause you to hear 
 the sweet voice behind you saying, This is the way. 
 I will be tender of your weakness, and inculcate mine 
 admonitions, line upon line, and feed you with milk 
 when you cannot digest stronger meat. I will instruct 
 you, and guide you with mine eye. 
 
 My fatherly protection. In my fear is strong con- 
 fidence, and my children shall have a place of refuge. 
 My name shall be your strong tower, to which you 
 may at all times fly and be safe. To your strong- 
 hold, ye prisoners of hope. I am an open refuge, a 
 near and inviolable refuge for you. 
 
 My fatherly provision. Be not afraid of want ; in 
 your Father's house there is bread enough. I will 
 care for your bodies. Be not anxious what you shall 
 eat, drink, or put on. Let it suffice you that your 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 291 
 
 heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all 
 things. I will provide for your souls, meat for them, 
 and mansions for them, and portions for them. Be- 
 hold, I have spread the tahle of my gospel for you, 
 with privileges and comforts that no man takcth from 
 you. I have set before you the bread of life, and the 
 tree of life, and the water of life. Eat, friends ; 
 drink abundantly, beloved. But all this is but a 
 taste of what I have prepared. You must have but 
 smiles and hints now, and be contented with glimpses 
 and glances here ; but you shall be shortly taken up 
 into your Father's bosom, and live for ever in the full- 
 est views of his glory. 
 
 My fatherly probation. I will chasten you because 
 I love you, that you may not be condemned with the 
 world. 
 
 My Son I give unto you, in a marriage-covenant 
 for ever. I make him over to you as wisdom, for your 
 illumination ; righteousness, for your justification ; 
 sanetification, for the curing of your corruptions ; re- 
 demption, for your deliverance from your enemies. I 
 bestow him upon you with all his fulness, all his mer- 
 its, and all his graces. He shall be yours in all his 
 offices. I have anointed him for a Prophet. Are you 
 ignorant, he shall teach you ; he shall be eye-salve to 
 you. I have sent him to preach the gospel to the 
 poor, and recovering of sight to the blind ; to set at 
 liberty them that are bruised. I have established him 
 by oath, as a Priest for ever. If any sin, he shall be 
 your Advocate ; he shall expiate your guilt, and make 
 the atonement. Have you any sacrifice, any service 
 
292 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 to offer, bring it unto him, and you shall receive an 
 answer of peace. 
 
 Present your petitions hy his hand, him will I 
 accept. Having such a High-priest over the house 
 of God, you may come and welcome ; come with bold- 
 ness. Him have I set up as King upon my holy hill 
 of Zion. He shall rule you, he shall defend you. He 
 is the King of righteousness, King of peace ; and such 
 a King shall he be to you. I will set up his standard 
 for you ; I will set up his throne in you. He shall 
 reign in righteousness, and rule in judgment ; and he 
 shall be a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert 
 from the tempest, and the shadow of a great rock in 
 a weary land. He shall hear your causes and judge 
 your enemies, and reign till he hath put all under his 
 feet ; yea, and under your feet ; for they shall be as 
 ashes under you, and you shall tread them, saith the 
 Lord of hosts. Yea, I will undo them that afflict you, 
 and all they that despised you shall bow themselves 
 down at the soles of your feet. And you shall go forth 
 and behold the carcasses of the men that have tres- 
 passed against me ; for their worm shall not die, nei- 
 ther shall their fire be quenched ; and they shall be an 
 abhorring to all flesh. Isa. 66 : 24. 
 
 My Spirit do I give unto you for your Counsellor 
 and your Comforter. He shall be a constant inmate 
 with you, and shall dwell in you and abide with you 
 for ever. I consecrate you as temples to his holiness. 
 He shall be your guide, he shall lead you into all 
 truth. He shall be your advocate to indite your 
 prayers, and make intercession for you, and shall fill 
 

 RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 293 
 
 your mouths with, the arguments that he knows will 
 prevail with me. He shall be oil to your wheels, and 
 strength to your ancles, wine to your hearts, and 
 marrow to your hones, and wind to your sails. He 
 shall witness your adoption. He shall seal you to the 
 day of redemption, and be to you the earnest of your 
 inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased pos- 
 session. 
 
 III. And as I give you myself, so much more all 
 things with myself. Earth and heaven, life and death, 
 
 THINGS PRESENT and THINGS TO COME. 
 
 1. Things present are yours : lo, I give you Ca- 
 leb's blessing, the upper springs and the nether springs. 
 I will bless you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly 
 places in Christ. To you pertaineth the adoption, and 
 the glory, and the covenants, and the service of God, 
 and the promises. To you will I give the white stone 
 and the new name, access into my presence, the ac- 
 ceptation of your persons, the audience of your pray- 
 ers. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto 
 you. I will keep you to the end, and then crown my 
 own gift with eternal life. I have made you heirs of 
 Grod, and coheirs with your Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 you shall inherit all things. 
 
 I have granted you my angels for your guardians. 
 The courtiers of heaven shall attend upon you ; they 
 shall be all ministering spirits for your good. Behold, 
 I have given them charge over you, upon their fidelity 
 to look after you, and, as tender nurses, to bear you in 
 their arms, and to keep you from coming to any hurt. 
 These shall be as the careful shepherds, to watch over 
 
294 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 my flock by night, and to encamp round about my 
 fold. 
 
 My ministers I give for your guides. Paul, Apol- 
 los, Cephas, all are yours. I am always with them, 
 and they shall be always with you to the end of the 
 world. You shall have pastors after my own heart, 
 and this shall be my covenant with you, that my 
 Spirit which is upon you, and my words which I 
 have put into your mouth, shall not depart out of 
 your mouth, nor the mouth of your seed, nor of your 
 seed's seed, from henceforth and for ever. In short, 
 all my officers shall be for profiting and perfecting 
 you. All my ordinances shall be for edifying and 
 saving you. The very severities of my house, ad- 
 monitions, censures, and the whole discipline of my 
 family, shall be for preventing your infection, curing 
 your corruption, procuring your salvation. 
 
 My word have I ordained for converting your 
 souls, enlightening your eyes, rejoicing your hearts, 
 cautioning you of dangers, cleansing your defilements, 
 and conforming you to my image. To you I commit 
 the oracles of God. Here you shall be furnished 
 against temptations, hence you shall be comforted 
 under distresses and afflictions. Here you shall find 
 my whole counsel. This shall instruct you in your 
 way, correct you in your wanderings, direct you into 
 the truths to be believed, detect to you the errors to 
 be rejected. 
 
 My ordinances I give you as the pledges of my 
 love. You shall freely claim them, they are children's 
 bread. Lo, I have given them to certify to you all 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 295 
 
 that I have here promised you ; and when these sacred 
 signs are delivered unto you, then know, and remem- 
 ber, and consider in your hearts, that I therein plight 
 you my truth, and set to my hand, and do thereby 
 ratify and confirm every article of these indentures, 
 and do actually deliver into your own hands this glo- 
 rious charter, with all its immunities and privileges, 
 as your own for ever. 
 
 And having sowed to you so largely in spiritual 
 blessings, shall you not much more reap the temporal? 
 Be you not of doubtful mind ; all these things shall be 
 added unto you. My creatures I grant for your ser- 
 vants and supplies. Heaven and earth shall minister 
 to you. All the stars in their courses shall serve you, 
 and, if need be, shall fight for you. And I will make 
 my covenant for you with the beasts of the field, and 
 with the fowls of heaven; and you shall be in league 
 with the stones of the field, and all shall be at peace 
 with you. I will undertake for all your necessities. 
 Do I feed the fowls, and clothe the grass, and do you 
 think I will neglect my children ? I hear the young 
 ravens when they cry ; shall I not much more fulfil 
 the desires of them that fear me ? Fear not, you shall 
 be sure to want no good thing; and you would not 
 yourselves desire riches, pleasures, or preferment, to 
 your hurt. I will give meat to them that fear me : I 
 will be ever mindful of my covenant. My providen- 
 ces shall cooperate to your good. The cross winds 
 shall blow you the sooner and swifter into your har- 
 bor. You shall be preferred, when you seem most 
 debased ; shall be greatest gainers, when you seem. 
 
296 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 to be deepest losers, and shall most effectually pro- 
 mote your good, when you seem most to deny it. 
 
 2. Things to come are yours : the perfecting of your 
 souls, the redemption of your bodies, the consumma- 
 tion of your bliss. When you have glorified me for a 
 while on earth, and finished the work I have given 
 you to do, you shall be caught up into paradise, and 
 rest from your labors, and your works shall follow 
 you. I will send of my own life-guard to conduct 
 home your departing souls, and receive you among 
 the spirits of just men made perfect. And you shall 
 look back upon Pharaoh, and all his host, and see 
 your enemies dead upon the shore. Then shall be 
 your redemption from all your afflictions, and all your 
 corruptions. The thorn in the flesh shall be pulled 
 out, and your hour of temptation shall be over for 
 ever. 
 
 The sweat shall be wiped from your brows, and 
 the day of refreshing shall come, and you shall sit 
 down for ever under my shadow. For the Lamb that 
 is in the midst of the throne shall feed you, and lead 
 you to living fountains of water. 
 
 The tears shall be wiped away from your eyes, 
 and there shall be no more sorrow, nor crying, neither 
 shall there be any more pain ; for the former things 
 are passed away, and behold I make all things new. 
 I will change Marah into ^Naomi, the cup of sor- 
 row into the cup of salvation, and the bread and 
 water of affliction into the wine of eternal consolation. 
 You shall take downpour harps from the willows, and 
 I will turn your tears into pearls, and your peniten- 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 297 
 
 tial psalms into songs of deliverance. You shall 
 change your Ichabods into hosannas, and your ejacu- 
 lations of sorrow into hallelujahs of joy. 
 
 The cross shall be taken off from your backs, and 
 you shall come out of your great tribulations, and 
 wash your robes and make them white in the blood 
 of the Lamb ; and you shall be before the throne 
 of God, and serve him night and day in his temple ; 
 and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell amona; 
 you, and you shall hunger no more, and thirst no 
 more, neither shall the sun light upon you, nor any 
 heat. 
 
 The load shall be taken off from your consciences. 
 Sins and doubts shall no more defile you or distress 
 you. I will make an end of sin, and knock off the 
 fetters of your corruptions, and you shall be a glorious 
 church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; 
 but you shall be holy and without blemish. 
 
 Thus shall you be brought to the King all glorious, 
 in raiment of needle-work, and clothing of gold ; with 
 gladness and rejoicing shall you be brought, and enter 
 into the king's palace. So shall the beloved of the 
 Lord dwell safely by him, and you shall stand con- 
 tinually before him, and behold the beauty of the 
 Lord, and hear his wisdom. Then will I open in you 
 an everlasting spring of joy, and you shall break forth 
 into singing, and never cease more, nor rest day or 
 night, saying, Holy, holy, holy. 
 
 Thus shall the grand enemy expire with your dy- 
 ing breath, and the body of death be put off with your 
 mortal body ; and the day of your death shall be the 
 13* 
 
298 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 birthday of your glories. Have faith in Grod. "Wait 
 but a little, and sorrow shall cease, and sin be no 
 more. 
 
 And then a little longer, and death shall be no 
 more ; but your last enemy shall be destroyed, and 
 your victory completed. Yet a little while, and He 
 that shall come, will come, and }^ou also shall appear 
 with him in glory. This same Jesus which is taken 
 from you into heaven, shall so come as he went up 
 into heaven ; and when he cometh, he will receive you 
 to himself, that where he is, there you may be also. 
 Behold his sign : he cometh in the clouds of heaven 
 with power and great glory ; and every eye shall see 
 him, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn be- 
 cause of him ; but you shall lift up your heads, because 
 the day of your redemption draweth nigh. Then shall 
 he sound his trump, and make you hear his voice in 
 your dust, and shall send his mighty angels to gather 
 you from the four winds of heaven, who shall carry 
 you in the triumphant chariot of the clouds, to meet 
 your Lord ; and you shall be prepared for him, and 
 presented to him, as a bride adorned for her husband. 
 And as you have borne the image of the earthly, so 
 shall you bear the image of the heavenly ; and you 
 shall be fully conformed both in body and spirit to. 
 your glorious Head. Then shall he confess you be- 
 fore his angels, and you shall receive your open abso- 
 lution before all flesh, and be owned, approved, and 
 applauded in the public audience of the general assem- 
 bly. And you shall be with all royal solemnities es- 
 poused unto the King of glory, in the presence of all 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 299 
 
 his shining courtiers, to the envy and terror of your 
 adversaries. 
 
 So shall your Lord with his own hand crown you, 
 and set you on thrones ; and you shall judge men and 
 angels, and you shall have power over the nations, and 
 you shall set your feet upon the necks of your ene- 
 mies. . Lo, I have set the very day for your instal- 
 ment, I have provided your crowns, I have prepared tho 
 kingdom. Wherefore do you doubt, ye of little faith ? 
 these are the true sayings of God. Are you sure that 
 you are now on earth ? so surely shall you be shortly 
 with me in heaven. Are you sure that you shall die ? 
 so surely shall you rise again in glory. Lo, I have 
 said it, and who shall reverse it ? You shall see me 
 face to face, and be with me where I am, and behold 
 my glory. For I will be glorified in my saints, and 
 admired in all them that believe ; and all flesh shall 
 know that I have loved you. For I will make you the 
 trophies of my grace, in whom the whole world shall 
 see how unutterably the Almighty God can advance 
 the poor worm's meat and dust of the ground. And 
 the despisers shall behold and wonder and perish ; for 
 they shall be witnesses to the riches of my magnifi- 
 cence and the exceeding greatness of my power. They 
 shall go away into everlasting punishment, but you 
 into life eternal ; for no sooner shall their sentence be 
 passed, but the court shall rise, and the Judge shall 
 return with all his glorious train ; with sound of trum- 
 pet and shouts incredible shall he ascend, and shall 
 lead you to your Father's house. Then shall the tri- 
 umphal arches lift uu> their heads, and the everlasting 
 
300 HEAVEN OPENED 
 
 gates stand open, and the heavens shall receive you 
 all, and so shall you be ever with the Lord. 
 
 And now will I rejoice over you with singing, and 
 rest in my love ; and heaven shall ring with joys and 
 acclamations, because I have received you safe and 
 sound. And in that day you shall know that I am a 
 reward er of them that diligently seek me ; and that 
 I did record your words, and bottle your tears, and 
 tell your wanderings, and keep an account, even to a 
 cup of cold water, of whatever you said or did for my 
 name. You shall surely find that nothing is lost ; but 
 you shall have full measure, pressed down and running 
 over, thousands of years in paradise, for the least good 
 thought, and thousand thousands for the least good 
 word ; and then the reckoning shall begin again, till 
 all arithmetic be nonplussed. For you shall be swal- 
 lowed up in a blessed eternity, and the doors of heav- 
 en shall be shut upon you, and there shall be no more 
 going out. 
 
 The glorious choir of my holy angels, the goodly 
 fellowship of my blessed prophets, the happy society 
 of triumphant apostles, the royal hosts of victorious 
 martyrs, these shall be your companions for ever. 
 And you shall come in white robes, with palms in 
 your hands, every one having the harps of God, and 
 golden vials full of odors, and shall cast your crowns 
 before me, and strike in with the multitude of the 
 heavenly hosts, glorifying God, and saying, Halle- 
 lujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Blessing, 
 honor, glory, power be unto Him that sitteth upon 
 the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. In 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 301 
 
 short, I will make you equal to the angels of God, 
 and you shall be the everlasting trumpets of my 
 praise. You shall be abundantly satisfied with the 
 fatness of my house, and I will make you drink of 
 the rivers of my pleasures. You shall be an eternal 
 excellency ; and if God can die, and eternity run out, 
 then, and not else, shall your joys expire. For you 
 shall see me as I am, and know me as you are known ; 
 and shall behold my face in righteousness, and be 
 satisfied with my likeness. And you shall be the 
 vessels of my glory, whose blessed use shall be to 
 receive the overflowings of my goodness, and to have 
 mine infinite love and glory poured out into you brim- 
 ful, and running over for evermore. Blessed is he 
 that hath believed, for there shall be a performance of 
 the things that have been told him. I the Lord have 
 spoken it; you shall see my face, and my name shall 
 be written in your foreheads ; and you shall no more 
 need the sun, nor the moon, for the Lord God shall 
 give you light, and you shall reign for ever and ever. 
 
 And as I give myself to you for your God, and all 
 things with myself, so I take you for my covenant 
 people, and you shall be mine in the day when I make 
 up my jewels; and I will spare you as a man spareth 
 his own son that serveth him. The Lord shall count 
 when he writeth up the people, Surely they are my 
 children. I do not only require you to be mine, if 
 you would have me to be for you, but I do promise 
 to make you mine, and to work in you the conditions 
 -which I require of you. I will circumcise your hearts 
 to love me. I will take out the heart of stone. My 
 
302 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 laws will I write within you. Yet you must know 
 that I will he sought unto for these things; and as 
 ever you expect to partake of the mercies, I charge 
 you to lie at the pool, and wait for my Spirit, and be 
 diligent in the use of the means. 
 
 I am content to abate the rigor of the old terms ; 
 I shall not stand upon satisfaction. I have received 
 a ransom, and do only expect your acceptance. I 
 shall not insist upon perfection. Walk before me, 
 and be upright, and sincerity shall carry the crown. 
 Yea, both the faith and obedience that I require of 
 you are my own gifts. I require you to accept my 
 Son by believing; but I will give you a hand to take 
 him, and to submit to, and obey him; and I must 
 and will guide your hand to write after him, and 
 cause you to walk in my statutes. I will take you 
 by the arms, and teach you to go; I will order your 
 steps. Yea, those things will I accept of you as the 
 conditions of life, which, viewed in the strictness of 
 my justice, would deserve eternal death. Grace ! 
 Grace ! 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE REDEEMED. 
 
 Amen, hallelujah. Be it to thy servants accord- 
 ing to thy word. But who are we, and what is our 
 Father's house, that thou hast brought us hitherto ? 
 And now, Lord God, what shall thy servants say 
 unto thee ? for we are silenced with wonder, and must 
 sit down in astonishment, for we cannot utter the 
 least tittle of thy praises. "What meaneth the height 
 of this strange love? And whence is this unto us, 
 
RICHES OF THE COVENANT. 303 
 
 that the Lord of heaven and earth should condescend 
 to enter into covenant with his dust, and take into 
 his bosom the viperous brood that have so often spit 
 their venom in his face ? "We are not worthy to be as 
 the handmaids, to wash the feet of the servants of 
 our Lord ; how much less to be thy sons and heirs, 
 and to be made partakers of all these blessed liberties 
 and privileges which thou hast settled upon us ! But 
 for thy goodness' sake, and according to thine own 
 heart, hast thou done all these great tilings. Even 
 so, Father, because so it seemed good in thy sight. 
 
 Wherefore thou art great, God, for there is none 
 like thee, neither is there any God besides thee. And 
 what nation on earth is like thy people, whom God 
 went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make 
 him a name, and to do for them great things and ter- 
 rible ? For thou hast confirmed them to thyself, to be 
 a people unto thee for ever, and thou, Lord, art be- 
 come their God, even unto the end. 
 
 "Wonder, heavens, and be moved, earth, at 
 this great thing ! For behold, the tabernacle of God 
 is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they 
 shall be his people, and God himself shall be with 
 them, and be their God. Be astonished and ravished 
 with wonder, for the infinite breach is made up; the 
 offender is received, God and man reconciled, and a 
 covenant of peace entered, and heaven and earth are 
 all agreed upon the terms, and have struck their hands 
 and sealed the indentures. happy conclusion ! 
 blessed conjunction ! Shall the stars dwell with the 
 dust, or the wide distant poles be brought to mutual 
 
304 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 embraces ? But here the distance of the terms is infi- 
 nitely greater. Rejoice, angels ; shout, seraphim ; 
 0, all ye friends of the Bridegroom, prepare an epitha- 
 lamium, he ready with the marriage-song. Lo, here 
 is the wonder of wonders ; for Jehovah hath betrothed 
 himself for ever to his hopeless captives, and owns the 
 marriage before all the world, and is become one with 
 us and we with him. He hath bequeathed to us the 
 precious things of heaven above, and the precious 
 things of the earth beneath, with the fulness thereof, 
 and hath kept back nothing from us. 
 
 And now, Lord, thou art that G-od, and thy 
 words are true, and thou hast promised this goodness 
 unto thy servants, and hast left us nothing to ask at 
 thy hands but what thou hast already freely granted. 
 Only the word which thou hast spoken concerning 
 thy servants, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast 
 said, and let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, 
 The Lord of hosts, he is the God of Israel. Amen. 
 Hallelujah. 
 
TRIUM.PH IN THE COVENANT. 305 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 
 
 THE VARIOUS CONFLICTS AND GLORIOUS CONQUESTS OF 
 FAITH OVER UNBELIEF.* 
 
 Yea, hath God said, I will be a God unto thee ? 
 Is i<" true indeed ? Will the Lord be mine ? "Will ho 
 lay aside the controversy, and conclude a peace ? 
 "Will he receive the rebel to mercy, and open his doors 
 to his prodigal ? I will surely go unto my Father; I 
 will take unto me words, and bow myself before his 
 footstool, and say, Lord, I have heard thy words, 
 and do here lay hold on thy covenant. I accept the 
 kindness of God, and will adventure myself upon thy 
 fidelity, and trust my whole happiness here and here- 
 after upon these thy promises. 
 
 Farewell, deceitful world, get thee under my feet. 
 Too long have I feared thy vain threats ; too long 
 have I been deluded with thy flattering promises. 
 Canst thou promise me, or deny me such things as 
 God hath covenanted to give me ? I know thou canst 
 not, and therefore I renounce thee for ever from being 
 the object of my faith, or fear. No longer will I lean 
 to this rotten reed, no longer will I trust to this broken 
 idol. Away, Satan, with thy tempting baits. In 
 vain dost thou dress the harlot in her paint and brav- 
 
 * By Rev. Joseph Alleine. 
 
30G HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 ery; and tell me, All this will I give thee. Canst 
 thou show me such a crown, such a kingdom as (rod 
 has promised to settle upon me ; or that which will 
 balance the loss of an infinite God, who here gives 
 himself unto me ? Away, deceitful lusts and pleas- 
 ures, get you hence ; I have enough in Christ and his 
 promise to give my soul full content ; these have I 
 lodged in my heart, and there is no longer room for 
 such guests as you. Never shall you have quiet enter- 
 tainment more within these doors. 
 
 Thou God of truth, I here take thee at thy word ; 
 thou requirest hut my acceptance and consent, and 
 here thou hast it. Good is the word of the Lord 
 which he hath spoken, and as my Lord hath said, so 
 will thy servant do. My soul catcheth hold of thy 
 promises. These have I taken as my heritage for 
 ever. Let others gain the preferments and possessions 
 of this world, it shall he enough for me to be an heir 
 of thy promises. 
 
 happy soul, how rich art thou ! What a booty 
 have I gotten ! It is all mine own. I have the prom- 
 ises of this life and of that which is to come. what 
 can I wish more ? How full a charter is here ! Now 
 my doubting soul may boldly and believingly say 
 with Thomas, My Lord, and my God. What need 
 we any further witness ? We have heard his words. 
 He hath sworn by his holiness that his decree may 
 not be changed, and hath signed it with Ins own 
 signet. 
 
 Rejoice, ye heavens ; strike up, ye celestial choirs. 
 Help, heaven and earth. Sing unto the Lord, ye 
 

 TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 307 
 
 saints of his. Bless the Lord, my soul. had I 
 the tongues of men and angels, all were too little for 
 me. Had I ten thousand tongues, the whole were not 
 sufficient to utter my Creator's praises. 
 
 My Beloved is mine, and I am his. The grant is 
 clear, and my claim is firm. Who durst deny it, 
 when God himself doth own it ? Is it a hard adven- 
 ture to speak after Christ himself? Why, this is the 
 message that he hath sent me : I ascend to my Fa- 
 ther and your Father, my God and your God. He 
 hath put words into my mouth, and bid me say, Our 
 Father. 
 
 I believe ; Lord, help my unbelief. my God, 
 and my Father, I accept thee with all humble thank- 
 fulness, and am bold to take hold of thee. my 
 King and my God, I subject my soul and all its pow- 
 ers to thee. • my glory, in thee will I boast all the 
 day. my rock, on thee will I build all my confi- 
 dence and my hopes. staff of my life, and strength 
 of my heart, the life of my joys and joy of my life, 
 I will sit and sing under thy shadow, and glory in thy 
 holy name. 
 
 my soul, arise and take possession. Inherit 
 thy blessedness, and cast up thy riches. Thine is 
 the kingdom, thine is the glory, and thine is the vic- 
 tory. The whole Trinity is thine. All the persons 
 in the Godhead, all the attributes in the Godhead 
 are thine. And behold, here is the evidence, and 
 these are the writings, by which all is made sure to 
 thee for ever. 
 
 And now, Return to thy rest, my soul ; for the 
 
308 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. Say if thy 
 lines be not fallen to thee in a pleasant place, and if 
 this be not a goodly heritage. blasphemous discon- 
 tent, how absurd and unreasonable an evil art thou, 
 whom all the fulness of the Godhead cannot satisfy, 
 because thou art denied in a petty comfort, or crossed 
 in thy vain expectations from the world ! my un- 
 thankful soul, shall not a Trinity content thee ; shall 
 not all-sufficiency suffice thee ? Silence, ye mur- 
 muring thoughts, for ever. I have enough, I abound, 
 and am full. Infiniteness and eternity are mine, and 
 what more can I ask ? 
 
 But methinks I feel some secret damps upon my 
 joy, and when I would soar aloft and triumph in the 
 riches of my portion, a secret diffidence plucks me 
 back, as the string doth the bird, and unbelief whis- 
 pers in my ear, 
 
 1. "Surely this is too good to be true." But who 
 art thou that disputest against God ? The Lord hath 
 spoken it, and shall not I believe him ? "Will he be 
 angry if I give my assent, and speak it confidently 
 upon the credit of his words ? my Lord, suffer me 
 to spread the writing before thee. Hast thou not 
 said, Thy Maker is thy husband, Isa. 54 : 5 ; I will 
 betroth thee unto me, Hosea 2 : 19 ; Thou shalt call 
 me, my Father ? Jer. 3 : 19. I pray thee, Lord, 
 was not this thy saying : I am God, even thy God, 
 Psalm 50 : 7 ; I will be a Father unto you, and ye 
 my sons and daughters ? 2 Cor. 6 : 18. Why then 
 should I doubt ? Is not the truth of the living God 
 sure footing for my faith ? 
 

 TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 309 
 
 Silence then, quarrelling unbelief. I know in 
 whom I have believed. Not in friends, though nu- 
 merous and potent ; for they are men, and not God. 
 Not in riches ; for they make themselves wi; gs. Not 
 in princes ; for their breath is in their nostrils. But 
 let God be true, and every man a liar. In God have 
 I put my trust, in his word do I hope. sure word ! 
 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or 
 tittle of this : I have not built upon the sand of mor- 
 tality. Let the rain descend, and the floods come, 
 and the winds blow, nevertheless the foundation of 
 God standeth sure. His everlasting counsel and ever- 
 lasting covenant are my stay. I am built upon his 
 promises, and let hell and earth do their worst to blow 
 up this foundation. 
 
 Now shall my faith triumph, and my heart be glad, 
 and my glory rejoice. I will shout with the exulting 
 multitude. The Lord he is the God, and he is not 
 ashamed to be called my God. He is not ashamed 
 of my rags or poverty, of my parentage or pedigree ; 
 and since his infinite condescension will own me, 
 will he take it ill if I own him? Though I havo 
 nothing of my own to glory in, unless I should glory 
 in my shame, yet I will glory in the Lord, and bless 
 myself in him. 
 
 For who is like unto the God of Jeshurun ? Bring 
 forth your gods, ye nations. Lift up your eyes, 
 and behold who hath created all these things. Can 
 any do for their friends as the Lord can ? Or if he 
 be angry, who is the god that shall deliver out of his 
 hands ? Will you set Dagon before the ark ? Or shall 
 
310 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 mammon contend with the holy One ? ambitious 
 Haman, where is now thine idol honor ? rich 
 glutton, that madest a god of pleasure, where is now 
 the god whom thou hast served ? sensual world- 
 ling, that knewest not where or how to bestow thy 
 gwds, do riches profit thee ? Could mammon save 
 thee ? Deceived souls, go now to the gods that you 
 have chosen. Alas, they cannot administer a drop of 
 water to cool your tongues. 
 
 But the Portion of Jacob is not like them. From 
 everla'sting to everlasting he is God. His power is 
 my confidence, his goodness is my maintenance, his 
 truth is my shield and my buckler. But, 
 
 2. " My clamorous unbelief hath many wiles, and 
 afresh assaults me with the difficulty of the things 
 promised, and labors to nonplus and confound me with 
 their amazing' greatness." But why should I stagger 
 at the promise through unbelief, robbing at once my 
 Master of his glory, and my soul of her comfort ? It 
 is my great sin to doubt and dispute, and shall I be 
 afraid to believe ? my soul, it is the highest honor 
 thou canst put upon thy Lord, to believe against diffi- 
 culties, and to look for and reckon upon great things 
 and wonderful, passing all created power and human 
 faith. 
 
 Let not the greatness nor the strangeness of the 
 benefits bequeathed unto thee, put thee to a stand. 
 If is with a God thou hast to do, and therefore thou 
 must not look for little things; that were to darken 
 the glory of his munificence, and the infiniteness of 
 his power and goodness. Knowest thou not that it is 
 
TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 311 
 
 his design to make his name glorious ; and to make 
 thee know he is able to do for thee above all thou 
 canst ask or think ? Surely they cannot be any small 
 or ordinary things that shall be done for theo, when 
 the Lord shall show in thee what a God can do, and 
 shall carry thee in triumph before the world, and make 
 proclamation before thee, Thus shall it be done to the 
 man whom the Lord delighteth to honor. "What won- 
 der if thou canst not comprehend these things — if they 
 exceed all thy apprehensions and conceptions ? This 
 is a good argument for thy faith ; for this is that 
 which the Lord hath said, that it hath not entered 
 into the heart of man to conceive what things he hath 
 prepared for them that love him. Now if thou couldst 
 conceive and comprehend them, how should his word 
 be made good ? It is enough for thee that the Lord 
 hath spoken it. Is not the word nigh thee ? Hath 
 God said, I will receive you ; you shall be kings and 
 priests unto God, and inherit all things ; and shall sit 
 •on thrones, and judge angels, and be ever with the 
 Lord : and shall I dare to say him nay ? Unreason- 
 able unbelief ! What, never satisfied ; still contra- 
 dicting and blaspheming ? False whisperer, no more 
 of thy tales. I believe God, that it shall be as he hath 
 told me. 
 
 And now, thanks be to God, who always causest 
 us to triumph in Christ; therefore my lips shall praise 
 thee, and my soul which thou hast redeemed. For 
 thou hast made me glad through thy word, and I will 
 triumph in the works of thy hands. I will praise the 
 Lord while I live. I will sing praises to my God 
 
312 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 while I have any being. my soul, if thou couldst 
 wear out thy fingers upon the harp, and wear thy 
 tongue to the roots, thou couldst yet never sufficiently 
 praise thy Redeemer. 
 
 my enemies, where is now your confidence, and 
 where is your armor wherein you trusted ? I will set 
 Christ alone against all your multitudes, and all the 
 power and malice and policy wherewith they are 
 armed. The field is already won, and the Captain of 
 our salvation returned with the spoils of his enemies, 
 having made a show of them openly, triumphing over 
 them in his cross. And thanks be to God who hath 
 given us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Of whom, then, should I be afraid ? Behold he is 
 near that justifieth me; who shall plead with me? 
 
 ye powers of hell, you are but chained captives, 
 and we have a sure word, that the gates of hell shall 
 not prevail against us. Though the world be in arms 
 against us, and the devil at the head of them as their 
 champion, yet who is this uncircumcised Philistine, 
 that he should defy the armies of the living God ? 
 Behold, I am come out to thee, as the stripling against 
 Goliath ; not with sword, and with spear, but in the 
 name of the Lord of hosts, in whose strength I am 
 more than a conqueror. 
 
 grave, where is now thy victory ? Christ is risen, 
 and hath broken up thy prison, and rolled away the 
 stone, so that all thy prisoners have made an escape. 
 Rejoice not against me, mine enemy; though I 
 fall, I shall rise again; though I lie in darkness, the 
 Lord shall be a light unto me. Enlarge not thy de- 
 
TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 313 
 
 sires, Tophet, but shut up thy flaming mouth; for 
 there is now no condemnation to them that are in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 deceitful world, thou art already overcome, and 
 the conquered enemy is become my servant, and I 
 am fed with the honey taken out of the carcass of the 
 slain lion. I fear not thy threats, nor the enchant- 
 ments of thy syren songs, being kept by the power of 
 God, through a victorious faith unto salvation. 
 
 my sins, you are already buried, never to have 
 any resurrection, and the remembrance of you shall 
 be no more. I see my sins nailed to the cross, and 
 their dominion is taken away, though their lives be 
 prolonged yet for a little season. Awake, therefore, 
 my glory; awake, psaltery and harp, and meet the 
 Deliverer with triumph; for his right hand and his 
 holy arm have gotten us the victory, and all the ends 
 of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 
 
 3. "Yet methinks my unworthiness flies in my face, 
 and I hear my cavilling unbelief thus upbraiding me, 
 and crying out, ' proud presumption, that thou who 
 art conscious to thyself of thy great unworthiness, 
 shouldst pretend a claim to God -and glory! Shall 
 daring dust think to share with *hc Almighty, and 
 say of his endless perfections, They are my right ? 
 Bold sinner, stand off, and tremble at thy presump- 
 tuous arrogance.' " 
 
 my God, I lay my hand upon my mouth. I 
 confess the charge of mine unworthiness. My guilt 
 and shame is such as I cannot cover, but thou canst, 
 and dost. Thou hast cast a mantle upon my naked- 
 
 H«aven Opened. 1 4 
 
314 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 ness, and hast promised my transgressions shall not 
 be mentioned, and that thou wilt multiply pardons. 
 And shall I take up what thou hast buried, and then 
 affright myself with the ghosts that unbelief has 
 raised ? Is it presumption to take the pardon that 
 thou dost offer, or to receive and claim thee as mine, 
 when it is but what thou hast promised ? I durst not 
 have approached thee, "but upon thy call; nor have 
 claimed a title, but upon thy grant. I should have 
 thought it diabolical pride, to have pleaded an interest 
 in thee, and claimed kindred to thee, but that thou 
 hast showed me the way. 
 
 And thou, my soul, art thou ignorant of God's 
 great design ? Knowest thou not that it is his purpose 
 to glorify free grace? And how should grace appear 
 to be grace indeed, were there any worthiness in the 
 subject ? Thine unworthiness is but a foil to set off 
 the beauty and riches of free grace and mercy. 
 
 4. "But I cannot shake off this brier: alas, what a 
 cavilling sophister is unbelief, and will never be an- 
 swered. Now is it ready to tell me, what if the 
 promise should be a sure foundation, yet thou mayest 
 not build upon another man's ground. What though 
 the grace and mercies of God are infinite, yet dogs 
 may not catch at the children's bread. Thou hast no 
 right nor title to the promise, therefore cease thy 
 pretended claim." 
 
 But, my soul, wherefore should st thou doubt? 
 "Whose image and superscription is this ? Dost thou 
 not bear upon thee the marks of the Lord Jesus ? I 
 have given up my name to him, and taken hold of 
 
TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 315 
 
 his covenant, and therefore may claim an interest. I 
 have accepted the matter, and closed with the Media- 
 tor, and subscribed to the conditions of the covenant, 
 and therefore cannot question but it is mine. The 
 Lord hath offered to be my Clod, and I have taken 
 hold of his offer. I have taken him as God, and given 
 him the supremacy. my soul, look round about 
 thee, in heaven and in earth; is there any thou dost 
 esteem or value in comparison with God? Is there 
 any thou dost love like him, or take that content or 
 felicity in, that thou dost in him? Are not thy chief 
 desires and designs to glorify and enjoy him? Thou 
 canst not deny but it is truly thus. I am sure noth- 
 ing but God will content me. I am never so well in 
 all the world as in his company. My soul seeketh 
 him above all, and rests in him alone as my satisfac- 
 tory portion. He olfereth to take me as one of his 
 people, and I have resigned myself accordingly to him 
 as his, and have put both my inward and outward 
 man under his government, and given up all to his 
 disposal, and am resolved to be content with him, as 
 my all-sufficient happiness. 
 
 Besides, I have taken him in Ins own way through 
 Christ, whom he hath tendered to me as my head and 
 husband, and I have accordingly solemnly and delib- 
 erately taken him. my soul, dost not thou remem- 
 ber thy many debates ? Hast thou not put Christ and 
 all the world into the balance ? Hast thou not cast up 
 the cost, and reckoned upon the cross, and willingly 
 put thy neck under Christ's yoke, and ventured thy 
 salvation upon Christ alone, and trusted him with all 
 
 
316 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 thy happiness and all thy hopes ? Hast thou not over 
 and over resolved to take him with what comes, and 
 that he shall be enough, though in the loss of all 
 things ? Thou canst not but know that these have 
 been the transactions between Christ and thee; and 
 therefore he is thine, and all the promises are yea and 
 amen to thee through him. 
 
 And for the terms of the covenant, I love and like 
 them; my soul embraceth them; neither do I desire 
 to be saved in any other way, than by repentance 
 towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and sincere obedience to his gospel. I am willing to 
 go out of my flesh, and do look unto Jesus for right- 
 eousness and strength, and trust my salvation wholly 
 on this foundation. I am content to deal upon trust, 
 and venture all in the hope of what is to come, and 
 to tarry till the next world for my preferment. I am 
 willing to wait till the coming of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and have laid up my happiness on the other 
 side the grave. 
 
 And though my sins be many, yet I should belie 
 my own knowledge if I should say they were not my 
 constant trouble and burden, and the enemies against 
 which I daily watch, and with whom my soul hath 
 no peace. My own heart knoweth that I hate them, 
 and desire and endeavor their utter destruction, and 
 do resolve against them all, and am willing to use all 
 God's means to mortify them. It is too true that I 
 often fall and fail; yet my conscience beareth me 
 witness that I confess and bewail it, and do not ordi- 
 narily and deliberately allow myself in any sin what- 
 
TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 317 
 
 soever against my knowledge. And though my obe- 
 dience be miserably lame, yet, Lord, thou knowest 
 that I have respect unto all thy commandments, and 
 do strive to come up to what thou requirest. The 
 Holy Ghost is witness, and my conscience also, that 
 I first seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness 
 thereof, and that it is my chief care to please God, 
 and keep from sin. Speak, my soul, is not holi- 
 ness thy design ? Dost thou not thirst for it, and fol- 
 low after it? Dost thou not in thy settled choice 
 prefer the holy ways of God before all the pleasures 
 and delights of sin ? Thou knowest it is thus, and 
 therefore no more disputing; thou hast sincerely taken 
 hold of God's covenant, and without controversy it 
 must be thine. 
 
 my God, I see thou hast been at work with my 
 soul. I find the prints, I see the footsteps. Surely 
 this is the finger of God. I am thy servant, Lord, 
 truly I am thy servant, and my soul hath said unto 
 the Lord, Thou art my Lord. It must be so. Wouldst 
 thou ever set thy mark upon another's goods ? Or 
 shall God disown his own workmanship ? My name 
 is written in heaven. Thou hast written thy name 
 upon my heart, and therefore I cannot question but 
 thou hast my name on thy heart. I have chosen 
 thee, Lord, as my happiness and heritage, and 
 therefore I am sure thou hast chosen me; for I could 
 not have loved thee, except thou hadst loved me first. 
 my Lord, discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the 
 signet, the bracelets, and the staff. I know thou wilt 
 acknowledge them. 
 
318 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 And now blessed be God, and the Father of onr 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who of his abundant mercy hath 
 
 BEGOTTEN ME AGAIN TO A LIVELY HOPE. 
 
 And thou, my soul, believe and wait, look through 
 the window, and cry through the lattice, and rejoice 
 in the hope of the glory of God. The vision is for 
 an appointed time ; wait for it. It will come in the 
 end, and will not tarry. Hab. 2 : 3. Behold, the 
 husbandman waiteth for the precious fruits of the 
 earth. Be thou also patient. He hath long patience, 
 and wilt not thou have a little patience ? He, for the 
 fruits of the earth ; but thou, for the joys of heaven. 
 He, upon mere probabilities; but thou, upon infallible 
 certainties. He, for a crop of corn ; but thou, for a 
 crown of glory. Were he but sure that every corn 
 would bear a crown, how plentifully would he sow, 
 how joyfully would he wait ! Why, such is thy har- 
 vest. As sure as the summer's delights do follow the 
 winter's severities — as sure as the wished- for harvest 
 doth follow the toilsome and costly seed-time, so sure 
 shall thy Lord return, and bring thy reward with 
 him. Therefore, my soul, love and long for the ap- 
 proaching jubilee, and wait all the days ol my appoint- 
 ed time, until my change shall come. 
 
 blessed state that my Lord hath translated me into ; 
 happy change that he hath made ! I was a stranger, 
 and he took me in and made me an heir, and preferred 
 me from the dunghill to the throne, and from a hewer 
 of wood and drawer of water to attend his court, and 
 know his counsels, and do his pleasure. Happy am I 
 that ever I was born to partake of this endless dignity. 
 
TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 319 
 
 my Lord, it is no little thing thou hast given 
 me in hand. I am already come to mount Zion, and 
 the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
 and to an innumerable company of angels, to the 
 general assembly and church of the first-born, and to 
 God the Judge of all, and unto the spirits of just men. 
 made perfect, and unto Jesus the Mediator of the new 
 covenant, and unto the blood of sprinkling. My heart 
 reviveth as Jacob's, when I behold the tokens which 
 thou hast sent me. the spirit of adoption, the pardon 
 of my sins, my patent for heaven, the chain of thy 
 graces, the Son of thy bosom, the new testament in 
 his blood, and the letters of his love. My Lord hath 
 said that he will love me, and manifest himself unto 
 me; and that the Father will love me, and both will 
 come unto me, and make their abode in me. But is 
 it true indeed? Will the Lord dwell on earth? Or 
 if he will, shall so foul a stable, so unclean a place as 
 my heart hath been, shall this be the place that the 
 Lord of life will take up his lodging and keep his 
 court in ? Will he indeed come with all his train of 
 graces, and live and walk in me ? How can these 
 things be ? But he hath said it, and I do, and I will 
 believe it. 
 
 Yet all this is but the earnest of what is to come. 
 how great is thy goodness laid up for them that 
 fear thee ! Yet a little, and my warfare shall be 
 accomplished, and the heavens must receive me till 
 the time of the restitution of all things. It is but for 
 a short term that I shall dwell in this flesh, in an 
 earthen tabernacle. My Lord hath showed me, that 
 
320 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 where he is, there shall his servant he. Now the 
 living is tied to the dead, and my soul is a stage of 
 strife and a field of war. Yet, it is but a little mo- 
 ment, and that which is perfect shall come : perfect 
 holiness and perfect peace, eternal serenity and a se- 
 rene eternity. 
 
 my sins, I am going where you cannot come — 
 where no unclean thing shall enter, nor any thing 
 that defileth. Methinks I see all my afflictions and 
 temptations, all my infirmities and corruptions, falling 
 off me, as Elijah's mantle at his translation. 
 
 my soul, dost thou not see the chariots of fire, 
 and the horses of fire, come to take thee up ? Be thou 
 as poor as Lazarus, yet (rod will not disdain to send 
 a party of angels to conduct thee home. How canst 
 thou doubt of a ready reception, that hast such a 
 Friend in court, who will lead thee with boldness into 
 his Father's presence ? If there was joy in Pharaoh's 
 court when it was said, Joseph's brethren are come, 
 surely it will be welcome news in heaven, when it is 
 told, Jesus' brethren are come. 
 
 My soul, fear not to enter, though the Lord be 
 clothed with terror and majesty; for thy Redeemer 
 will procure thee favor, and plead thy right. I am 
 sure of welcome, for the Father himself loveth me. I 
 have tasted and tried Ins love ; and when I had played 
 the wicked prodigal, yet he despised not my rags, but 
 fell on my neck and kissed me, and heaven itself 
 rejoiced over me. Much more will he receive me 
 gladly, and let out his love upon me, when presented 
 to him by his Son, in his perfect likeness, as a fit 
 
TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 321 
 
 object for his everlasting delight. Fear not, my 
 soul, as if thou wert going to a strange place. Why, 
 heaven is thy country and thy home : wilt thou doubt 
 of admission, or fear of welcome, when it is thine own 
 home? Why, my soul, thou wast born from above, 
 and here is thy kindred and thy Father's house, and 
 therefore thou shalt surely be admitted. And then 
 shall I see the glorious preparations of eternal love, 
 and the blissful mansions of the heavenly inhabit- 
 ants. 
 
 Doubtless it will be thus. These are not sick 
 men's dreams, nor children's hopes. The living God 
 cannot deceive me : and may not I certainly promise 
 myself what the Lord hath promised me ? I will 
 sooner think that all my senses are deluded, and what 
 I see and feel and taste is but a fancy, than think 
 that the living God will deceive me, or that his un- 
 changeable covenant will fail. Now I am a son of 
 God, and it doth not yet appear what I shall be ; but 
 this I know, I shall be like him, and see him as 
 he is. 
 
 I know it shall be thus. Why, what security 
 should I ask of God? He hath given me all assur- 
 ance in his word. And though the word of God be 
 enough, yet he, willing to show more abundantly to 
 the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, 
 confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable 
 things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, I 
 might have strong consolation. unreasonable un- 
 belief! What, shall not the oath of God put an end 
 to thy strife ? my God, I am satisfied ; it is enough. 
 14* 
 
322 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 Now I may be bold without presumption, and boast 
 without pride ; and will no more call my duty arro- 
 gance, nor my faith a fancy. 
 
 my soul, there is but a short life between thee 
 and glory, where holy angels and glorified saints shall 
 be my associates, and love and praise my only em- 
 ployment. Methinks I hear already how the morning 
 stars sing together, and all the sons of God shout for 
 joy. that I could come in ! But it was said unto 
 me, that I should rest yet for a little season, and I 
 shall stand in my lot at the end of the days. It is 
 well; Lord, thy word is enough ; thy bond is as good 
 as ready payment. The Holy Ghost tells me, that 
 life and glory abide me ; that what day I loose from 
 the body, the same day I shall be landed in paradise. 
 Amen. It is as I would have it. 
 
 But this is not all. "When my body hath slept a 
 short nap in the dust, Christ will call to it, Come up 
 hither. Ah, true yoke-fellow, it will be a hard part- 
 ing, but a welcome meeting. I could not leave thee, 
 but to live with Christ. But he will raise thee a 
 glorious temple ; and when he shall appear, will bring 
 me with himself in glory ; and then I shall reenter 
 thee as a royal mansion, wherein I shall abide with 
 the Lord for ever. For as we have served our Re- 
 deemer together, so we must be glorified together with 
 him. And when the Lord hath married us together 
 again, then will he marry us both unto himself. For 
 I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall 
 stand at the last day upon the earth. And though 
 after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my 
 
TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 323 
 
 flesh I shall see God ; whom I shall see for myself, 
 and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though 
 my reins be consumed within me. My Lord hath 
 already told me how it shall be. He hath set down 
 the time, and showed me the robes of immortality, 
 and the crown of life, that I must put on; and the 
 throne of glory, and the scat of judgment that I must 
 sit in. He hath told me the manner in which I shall 
 be presented to him, and espoused by him. He hath 
 told me where he will set me, and what he. will say 
 to me, and how he will acknowledge my mean 
 vices, and remember what I have forgotten; how he 
 will praise the works that I have been ashamed of, 
 and reward me openly for what I have buried in 
 secrecy, and not forget the poorest alms that I have 
 given for his name. Then will he confess me before 
 his Father, and before the angels of God. Thus saitli 
 the true and faithful Witness, and we know that his 
 testimony is true. 
 
 Ah, my soul, see that thou make not God a liar. 
 1 John, 5 : 10. my God, I have believed thy 
 report, and do look for all these things, according to 
 thy promise. I know thou intendest me but for a very 
 little while in this lower region. This world is but 
 the house of my pilgrimage, and my soul now is but 
 like a bird in the shell; but when the shell is cracked, 
 then shall she take wings like a dove, and soar aloft 
 to thee, and fly away and be at rest. Yet I doubt 
 not thy care for my despicable dust. I know that 
 nothing will be lost : I know not where they will lay 
 me ; but thy wakeful eye observeth, and will not havo 
 
324 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 to seek at what door to knock, nor at what grave to 
 call for me. I believe, and am sure that I shall come 
 a glorious work out of thy hands, fair as the moon, 
 clear as the sun, crowned with honor and glory. And 
 when my absolution is read, and sentence passed 
 upon the world, then must I be taken up to dwell 
 with thee. 
 
 Let not my Lord be angry, that thy dust and ashes 
 speaketh thus unto thee. Thou, Lord, hast raised 
 my expectations, and hast made me look for all these 
 great things from thee. In vain hast thou written all 
 these things unto me, if I should not believe them ; 
 and a distrustful diffidence would put a high dishonor 
 upon thy truth. 
 
 Lord, it repenteth me — it repenteth me of my 
 jealousies, and my doubtful thoughts about thee. I 
 know thou lovest an humble confidence, and delight- 
 est in nothing more than to see thy children trust 
 thee. I know the building of my hopes reaches not 
 a hair's breadth beyond the foundation of thy prom- 
 ises; yea, it is sure, my expectations are infinitely 
 short of what I shall find. my God, my heart 
 trusteth safely in thee, and I here set to my seal that 
 thou art true. Christ is the corner-stone on which I 
 "build, and therefore my building will challenge the 
 winds and floods. 
 
 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is 
 in thee. my Blessedness, let me enjoy thee. my 
 Life, let me possess thee. Desire of mine eyes, let 
 me see thy face and hear thy voice ; for thy voice is 
 sweet, and thy countenance is comely. I ask but 
 
TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 325 
 
 what thou hast promised; for thou hast told me that 
 I shall see God, and thou wilt speak to me mouth to 
 mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches, 
 and the similitude of God shall I hehold. So shall 
 my knowledge be perfected, and I shall see the inac- 
 cessible light, and my tender eye shall not water, nor 
 my sight dazzle ; but I shall with open face look 
 steadfastly on the Sun of righteousness, and behold 
 his glory. Then shall faith be turned into fruition, 
 and hope into possession, and love shall arise like the 
 full moon in her brightness, and never wax nor wane 
 more. 
 
 thou God of my hopes, I look for a new body, 
 and a new soul — for new heavens, and for a new 
 earth, according to thy promise, when my whole 
 soul shall be wholly taken up with thee, and all my 
 affections strained to the highest pitch, and all the 
 wheels of my raised powers set in most vigorous and 
 perpetual motion towards thee, still letting in, and 
 still laying out; and thus shall there be an everlast- 
 ing communication of joy and glory from thee, and of 
 love and praise from me. 
 
 my soul, thou art rich indeed, and increased in 
 goods. Thou hast no reason to envy the glory or 
 grandeur of the mightiest on earth; for their glory 
 shall not descend after them: like sheep shall they be 
 laid in their graves, and death shall feed upon them, 
 and there is an eternal end of all their pomp and ex- 
 cellency. But my kingdom is an everlasting king- 
 dom. My robes shall never wear, my crown shall 
 never totter, my throne shall never be vacant, my 
 
326 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 bread shall never decay, my garland shall never 
 wither, my house shall never moulder, my wine shall 
 never sour, but everlasting joy shall be upon my head, 
 and sorrow and sighing shall fly away. 
 
 my God, how happy hast thou made me ! It is 
 better than I could have wished. Thou hast done all 
 things well. Thou hast settled them for ever. The 
 whole earth cannot show any such heritage or ten- 
 ure. The world can deed out her possessions only for 
 years, nor can she make a good title for that ; but 
 my inheritance is for ever, and none can put me out 
 of possession. The thing is established in heaven, and 
 in the volume of the book it is written of me. My 
 evidence cannot be lost; it is recorded in the court 
 above, and enrolled in the sacred leaves of the word, 
 and entered upon the book of my conscience, and 
 herein I do and will rejoice. 
 
 Now, my soul, wipe thine eyes, and go away like 
 Hannah, and be no more sad. "What though my 
 house be not so with Grod ; so happy, so prosperous as 
 I could wish ? What though they be increased that 
 trouble me, and my temptations and afflictions are 
 like the rolling billows, riding on one another's backs 
 for haste, yet shall my soul be as a rock unmoved, 
 and sit down satisfied in the security and amplitude 
 of my portion. For (rod hath made with me an ever- 
 lasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure ; and 
 herein is all my salvation, and all my desire. 
 
 And now, what remaineth, Lord, but that I 
 should spend the remainder of my days in loving, 
 praising, and admiring thee ? But wherewithal shall 
 
 
TRIUMPH IN THE COVENANT. 327 
 
 I come before the Lord, or bow myself before the most 
 high Clod ? What shall I give thee, to express my 
 thankfulness, though not to requite thy bounty ? 
 Alas, my poor little soul ; alas that thou art so little ! 
 How narrow are thy capacities ; how disproportion- 
 ate are thy powers ! Alas that my voice can reach to 
 no higher a note ! But shall I do nothing, because I 
 cannot do all? 
 
 Lord, I resign my all to thee. "With the poor wid- 
 ow, I cast my two mites, my soul and body, into thy 
 treasury. All my powers shall love and serve thee. 
 All my members shall be weapons of righteousness for 
 thee. Here is my good will. Behold, my substance 
 is thy stock, mine interest is for thy service. I lay 
 all at thy feet: there, thou ha*st them, they are thine. 
 My children I enter as thy servants. My possessions 
 I resign as thy right. I will call nothing mine but 
 thee. All mine are thine. I can say, My Lord and 
 my God, and that is enough; I thankfully quit my 
 claim to all things else. I will no more say, My 
 house is mine, or my estate mine; I myself am not 
 mine own. Yet it is infinitely better for me to be 
 thine, than if I were mine own. This is my happi- 
 ness, that I can say, My own God, my own Father. 
 And what a blessed exchange hast thou made with 
 me: to give me thyself, who art an infinite sum, for 
 myself, who am but an insignificant cipher ! 
 
 And now, Lord, do thou accept and own my claim. 
 I am not worthy of any thing of thine, much less of 
 thee. But since I have a deed to show, I bring thy 
 word in my hand, and am bold to take possession. 
 
328 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 Dost thou not know this hand ? wilt thou not own this 
 name? wilt thou not confirm thine own grant? It 
 were infidelity to doubt it. I will not disparage the 
 faithfulness of my Lord, nor be afraid to aver and 
 stand to what he hath said and sworn. Hast thou 
 said thou art my God, and shall I fear thou art my 
 enemy ? Hast thou told me thou art my Father, and 
 shall I stand aloof, as if I were a stranger? I will 
 believe. Lord, silence my fears; and as thou hast 
 given me the claim and title of a child, so give me 
 the confidence of a child. Let my heart be daily kept 
 alive by thy promises, and with this staff let me pass 
 over Jordan. May these be my undivided companions 
 and comforters. When I go, let them lead me ; when 
 I sleep, let them keep me; when I awake, let them 
 talk with me. And do thou keep these things for 
 ever upon the imaginations of the thoughts of the 
 hearts of thy people, and prepare their hearts unto 
 thee. And let the heart of thy servant be the ark of 
 thy testament, wherein the sacred records of what 
 hath passed between thee and my soul may for ever 
 be preserved. Amen. 
 
 Thus far my friend. So may it bo. 
 
TO THE UNCONVERTED. 329 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 TO THE UNCONVERTED. 
 WITH A FORM OF COVENANTING WITH GOD. 
 
 earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. 
 Ye men of this world, ye spirits that are in prison, 
 held captive to iniquity, under the prince of this 
 world; in a covenant with dealh, at an agreement 
 with hell, without Christ, aliens from the common- 
 wealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant of prom- 
 ise, having no hope, without God in the world; who 
 have said, we will not have this man to rule over us, 
 let us break his bonds asunder andtast his cords from 
 us; who are joined to idols, have chosen you other 
 gods, are following after other lovers ; who walk 
 after the course of this world, according to the prince 
 of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh 
 in the children of disobedience; having your conver- 
 sation in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of 
 the flesh and of the mind, and being still, as you were 
 by nature, the children of wrath, in the gall of bitter- 
 ness and bond of iniquity. 
 
 ye sons of death, ye children of the night and 
 of darkness, hear, and your souls shall live ; to you 
 also is the word of this salvation sent ; even the 
 strangers, and those who are afar off, that will lay 
 
330 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 hold on the covenant, and choose the thing that pleas- 
 eth God, these also shall have a name in his house, 
 even the glorious name of sons and daughters. The 
 Lord hath sent a word into Jacoh, and it shall light 
 upon Edom, and Amalek, and the uncircumcised Phil- 
 istines, even as many of them as the Lord our Grod 
 shall call. Acts 2 : 39. 
 
 Hearken, people, you that are polluted in your 
 Mood, written in the earth, free among the dead ; 
 come in, let your covenant with death be made void, 
 and your agreement with hell he disannulled ; strike 
 a league with the Almighty, and your names also 
 shall be written among the living in Jerusalem. 
 Stand ye before the Lord ; come, let us reason to- 
 gether. Where are you ? What is your portion and 
 inheritance ? Ye are cursed with a curse. Fire and 
 brimstone, and a horrible tempest, this shall be the 
 portion of your ctfp. Psalm 11 : 6. What are you 
 seeking ? Whither are you travelling ? After a few 
 years of your vanity are over, where must your 
 dwelling be ? Who can dwell with the devouring 
 fire ? Who can dwell with everlasting burnings ? 
 Look before you, behold that smoking furnace, that 
 burning lake, that bottomless pit which is gaping for 
 you, and which at your next step may swallow you 
 up. Escape for your lives ■ why will ye die ? Turn 
 and live. 
 
 Do you believe the resurrection from the dead, 
 the judgment to come, and the invisible world? Is 
 it to the spirit of a man as to the spirit of a beast ? 
 Doth it perish with his body ? Dieth a man as a dog 
 
TO THE UNCONVERTED. 331 
 
 dieth ? Dieth a wise man as a fool dieth ? Fall all 
 things alike to all, just and unjust, good and bad, 
 after this life, as well as in it ? 
 
 Do you believe the Scriptures? Are they but a 
 fable ? If you hope they are, are you sure they are ? 
 Dare you venture your souls upon it ? While the 
 saints venture on the truth, dare you venture your 
 souls on the falsehood of it ? Dare you stand forth 
 and say, If this word be not a lie, let me be damned 
 for ever ; I am content that the everlasting worm shall 
 gnaw my heart, that the infernal fire shall burn my 
 flesh and bones and soul for ever and ever, if it prove 
 not at last a mere forgery and imposture ! 
 
 Do you believe the Scriptures to be true indeed ? 
 If you do, what do they preach to you ? Do they 
 speak any thing, if not this : That there is another life 
 and death, besides that which is within the ken of 
 mortal eyes ; that the other life and the other death 
 are eternal ; that upon your being found within or 
 without the covenant of God, hangs your eternal judg- 
 ment, either for life or death ; that while you are in 
 a covenant with death, and in a course of iniquity, 
 you are without the covenant of God, and can have 
 no benefit by it ; that under sin, you are out of cove- 
 nant ; out of covenant, you are out of Christ ; and out 
 of Christ, you are under condemnation ? 
 
 Are there any things which that word — which you 
 profess to believe to be true, and to stand as sure as 
 heaven and earth — are there any things which this 
 speaks more plainly than these things and such as 
 these ? What, and yet secure in a state of sin ? 
 
332 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 Aliens from God, enemies of all righteousness, and 
 yet in quiet ? Are you resolved to sell eternity for 
 time, life for death, a soul for the pleasures of sin? 
 Is this the choice you have made, and are you resolved 
 to stand to it? "Let me have this world, my por- 
 tion here, my good things here, and then let me be 
 damned in the other world ; let me sin here, and suf- 
 fer hereafter ; let me laugh here, and lament here- 
 after ; let me flourish and prosper and live at ease 
 and in honor and in pleasure and at liberty here, and 
 let my prison and my pain and my anguish and my 
 plagues be beneath ; there let me be torn, let me 
 burn, let me roar, let me die, so I may be rich and 
 be merry, and rejoice a while here ; let time be my 
 heaven, and eternity be my hell !" Speak in earnest, 
 is this your choice ? Or that you may not be urged 
 to make a new choice, will you take upon you to 
 make a new gospel ? And dividing what God hath 
 joined together, will you join what he hath divided? 
 Will you write this for gospel: "Holiness and hell, 
 sin and glory, Christ and the curse, the devil and the 
 crown : let the wicked hold on his way, and the un- 
 righteous his thoughts; let him still run away from 
 the Lord, and he shall have mercy, and from his God, 
 and he will abundantly pardon ! Strait is the gate, 
 and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto death, and 
 few there be that find it ; but broad is the gate, and 
 wide is the way, that leadeth unto life, and the whole 
 world are going in thereat ! Blessed are the proud 
 inspirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven ! Blessed 
 are they that laugh now ; blessed are the froward, 
 
TO THE UNCONVERTED. 333 
 
 the merciless, the impatient in heart, the persecutors 
 for righteousness' sake ; for great is their reward in 
 heaven ! Within shall be the dogs, the whoremongers, 
 the sorcerers, the drunkards, the ruffians, the blas- 
 phemers, the idolaters, and whosoever loveth and 
 maketh a lie ; and without shall be the lambs, the 
 holy, and the humble, and the meek, and the merci- 
 ful, and the upright in heart, and the poor in spirit, 
 and peacemakers, the persecuted for righteousness' 
 sake, and whosoever loveth truth and maketh God 
 his trust : these shall go into everlasting fire, but the 
 ungodly into life eternal !" 
 
 Are these the articles of your creed ? Is this your 
 gospel ? If it be, what is your heaven ? If it be 
 not, if the old gospel must stand, where are your 
 souls ? Are your souls lost, and are they not worth 
 the recovery? Why will ye die? Turn and live ; 
 when shall it be ? 
 
 As an ambassador for Christ, to whom is committed 
 the word of reconciliation, having hinted to you what 
 is law, so in the name of the eternal God, I publish 
 
 to you THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL. 
 
 The Lord God having entered into a covenant of 
 life with the first Adam, for himself and all mankind 
 in him, this covenant has been broken, whereby sin 
 hath entered, and death by sin ; and all the world 
 being now become guilty before God, bound over to 
 the vengeance of eternal fire, and under an utter im- 
 possibility of recovery by aught which that covenant 
 can do, God has out of his abundant grace made a 
 new covenant, on which whosoever shall lay hold, 
 
334 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 shall be delivered out of the state of death and wrath 
 into a state of life and blessedness. What the law- 
 could not do, being weak through the flesh, God sent 
 his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to accomplish ; 
 and with him this gracious grant, that whosoever 
 believeth in him, shall not perish, but have everlast- 
 ing life. John 3 : 16. And this is the covenant which 
 has been declared unto you. 
 
 This new covenant is a marriage covenant : I 
 will betroth thee unto me for ever, yea, I will betroth 
 thee to me in righteousness, and in loving-kindness, 
 and in mercies. Hos. 2 : 20. In it the Lord makes 
 offer, and invites you to accept of a husband and a 
 dower : the husband is the King's Son, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and with him the lost kingdom, and all that 
 belongs to the kingdom of God, for a dower. Liberty 
 for the captives, the opening of the prison to them 
 that are bound ; riches to the poor, eyes to the blind, 
 feet to the lame, healing to the diseased, and life to 
 the dead. 
 
 And whoever among you all, who are persons 
 under the law, held by the cords of your sins, whose 
 souls are fast bound in fetters of iron, who are willing 
 that your covenant with death be made void and your 
 agreement with hell be disannulled, and will join 
 yourselves to the Lord and be brought within the 
 bonds of this covenant, all the blessings of this cove- 
 nant are made over and stand sure unto you. The 
 grant is made, the deed is drawn and sealed ; the 
 Lord hath set to his seal — come you in and seal the 
 counterpart; set to it your seal, and the match is 
 
TO THE UNCONVERTED. 335 
 
 made up. Christ, and with him all things, are yours, 
 and you are his. Accept, and live ; refuse, and die 
 for ever. 
 
 Come then, sinner ; what sayest thou ? Dost thou 
 consent? Dost thou accept? Or, as Laban to Re- 
 bekah, Wilt thou go with this man ? Let me espouse 
 thee to this one Husband ; only let me first tell thee, 
 the matter is solemn, and thoii must be serious. It 
 is for life, it is for eternity. Consider therefore, and 
 let thy heart, lying prostrate before the Almighty, 
 come in and make answer to these demands, which 
 from him, and in his great and dreadful name, I make 
 unto thee. 
 
 I. Wilt thou have Jesus for thy Husband ? Un- 
 derstand before thou answer. The taking of Christ 
 for thy Husband implies, 
 
 1. Intimate union — by choosing and accepting 
 him for thine, and resigning and giving up thyself to 
 him for his own ; to live with him in the dearest con- 
 jugal affections for ever. 
 
 2. Ingenuous subjection — by a free and cheerful 
 putting thyself under him, as thy Lord whom thou 
 wilt obey and be subject to, in all things. The wife 
 must be subject to her husband ; yet not as a slave, 
 by constraint, but freely and by consent. 
 
 3. Total dependence — holding him as thy Head, 
 expecting nothing, owning nothing but what descends 
 upon thee from him ; depending upon him for all 
 things, the bearing of thy debts, thy discharge from 
 thy bonds, and thy whole provision for a livelihood 
 and maintenance. 
 
33G HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 Consider, then; what sayest thou? Does thy 
 heart choose and accept, and resign up itself unto 
 Christ ? Dost thou choose him as a Husband ? Thou 
 canst choose him as a Refuge, to hide thee from dan- 
 ger — thou canst choose him as a Friend, to help thee 
 in thy need ; hut dost thou choose him for thy Hus- 
 band ? Wilt thou cleave to him ; love, honor, and 
 obey him ? Dost thou understand his manner, the 
 law of his house, his family order and discipline ? 
 Dost thou know his commands and expectations ; how 
 holy, how spiritual, how strict and self-denying, how 
 humble and submissive he expects thy whole carriage 
 should be ? "Wilt thou be at his finding ? "Wilt thou 
 look unto him, and lean upon him for all thou need- 
 est ? Shall all thy desire be to him, and thy depend- 
 ence on him ? Thou art a bondman ; who shall be 
 thy redemption ? Thou art a malefactor ; who shall 
 be thy satisfaction ? Thou art a leper ; whence dost 
 thou look for cleansing ? Thou art a beggar ; whence 
 dost thou expect an inheritance ? "Wilt thou lean 
 upon thy Beloved for all ? Shall he be thy wisdom, 
 righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and inherit- 
 ance ? "Wilt thou do him this honor, to trust him for 
 all this ; to cast all thy burdens, thy care, thy fears, 
 thy sins, thy guilt, thy hopes upon him? Canst 
 thou say, "0 my God, I have sinned, I have sinned; 
 thy law have I broken, thy love have I slighted, I 
 have fallen from thee, and run over to thine enemies; 
 I have fallen under thy displeasure ; wrath is pro- 
 voked, justice has taken hold of me, my soul is un- 
 done. How dreadful is thy controversy with me ! And 
 
TO THE UNCONVERTED. 337 
 
 I have nothing to answer but this, 'My Jesus shall 
 answer for me.' 
 
 "0 my Jesus, thou hast wooed and invited sin- 
 ners unto thee ; thou hast sent forth thy messengers 
 and thy word' into the highways and hedges, into tho 
 jails and hospitals of the world ; among the poor, 
 the blind, and the bound, and the diseased, and those 
 who are in debt and distress, to take from among 
 them a wife for thy bosom. Behold, thy word has 
 found among the captives this wretched adulteress, 
 my poor harlot soul, which has dealt treacherously 
 with thee, and has followed after other lovers, has 
 fallen among thieves and robbers, is bruised, wounded, 
 and undone, having prodigally spent and wasted all 
 that I had. 
 
 " But behold, I come at thy word ; if thou sayest, 
 'I have no pleasure in thee' — if thou spurn me with 
 thy foot, and trample me in the dirt, or send me back 
 to my prison, and leave me to bear the shame of my 
 sins, I must be silent and speechless. 
 
 "But wilt thou receive me ? Wilt thou take me 
 into thy house ? Shall I be called by thy name ? 
 Wilt thou love me, and be joined unto me ? Wilt 
 thou be surety for thy servant ? Wilt thou that my 
 debts be upon thee, my bonds be upon thee, my wants, 
 my sins, my sorrows, my fears, my plagues, my help, 
 my soul be upon thee ? Wilt thou, Lord, and can I 
 say thee nay ? Wilt thou take them, and can I re- 
 fuse to lay them upon thee? I consent, Lord, I con- 
 sent to thee ; be thou my husband and my helper ; 
 love me, discharge me of this guilt, loose me from 
 
 ITenven Opened. 15 
 
336 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 these fetters, cleanse me from this filthiness, and then 
 ask what thou wilt, impose upon me whatever thou 
 pleasest. Love thee, honor thee, ohey thee ! what 
 is my love, what is my obedience, that thou shouldst 
 accept, or I should deny it to thee ? It is but little 
 that I can do ; this heart is so false and so feeble 
 that I am afraid how I undertake for it ; but such as 
 it is, take it to thee ; I bestow it wholly upon thee, 
 with this promise, that if thou wilt help me, I will 
 love thee ; if thou wilt help me, I will be subject to 
 thee, and lay up all my hopes and expectations with 
 thee." Now, soul, now that thou knowest what it 
 means, now say, wilt thou have Christ for thy Hus- 
 band? 
 
 II. "Wilt thou take him for better, for worse, for 
 richer, for poorer? Though thy Lord be a King, yet 
 his kingdom is not of this world. He came not to be 
 ministered unto, but to minister ; he came to serve 
 and to suffer, and all those that will follow him must 
 suffer with him. He came not to divide lands and 
 spoils and crowns and temporal dignities and honors 
 among his disciples, but crosses and prisons and 
 scourges and wants. Thou wilt join thyself to the 
 Lord, but wilt thou take up thy lot with him ? Thou 
 wilt live with him, and abide with him ; but dost thou 
 know where he dwells, and what his entertainment 
 is ? Sometimes he has bread, and sometimes he is 
 hungry; sometimes he has clothes, and sometimes is 
 naked ; sometimes he has a house, and sometimes he 
 has none ; sometimes he has friends, and sometimes he 
 has none j he is sometimes used kindly, and some- 
 
TO THE UNCONVERTED. 339 
 
 times as coarsely; sometimes it is Hosanna, and 
 sometimes Crucify; sometimes he is cried up as a 
 king, sometimes cried out against as a devil: and as 
 it is with the master, so will it be with the scholar ; 
 as with the Lord, so with the disciple; where he is, 
 thou must be also. Canst thou say, "Whither thou 
 goest, I will go with thee ; where thou feedest, I will 
 feed with thee ; where my Lord dwelleth, if in a tent, 
 if in a cave, if in a dungeon, if in a wilderness, wher- 
 ever my Lord dwelleth, let me dwell with him? Con- 
 sider what thou sayest, and be not overhasty. 
 
 May be thou dost not yet know what hunger and 
 thirst and nakedness mean, what the wrath of man, 
 what their reproachings and spittings and stripes 
 and bonds mean : it may be thou hast thought, This 
 may be far enough off, and may never come upon me ; 
 or hast taken up a resolution through thoughtlessness, 
 not weighing how sharp and how pinching they may 
 be to thee. But suppose thou wert now just come to 
 it, and that thou sawest that thy first foot Christ- 
 ward would be the parting-point between thee and all 
 that is dear unto thee in the world — that thy first step 
 heavenward would be into the fire, or the water, or 
 into the camp of the Philistines, whose faces were all 
 filled with fury against thee — hast thou yet such a 
 far deeper sense of the eternal sufferings thou art in 
 danger of; such a settled belief of thy absolute neces- 
 sity of Christ to thy escaping these ; such a high value 
 of the love of Christ, and the everlasting salvation 
 thou expectest by him, as overbalances and swallows 
 up the sharpest and the quickest sense thou hast or 
 
340 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 canst have of the greatest things thou shalt suffer by 
 him? Hast thou counted up all afflictions imaginable, 
 and then put thy soul to decide : "Now resolve what 
 to do : either this, or no Christ ; either this, or no 
 crown ; either this cross, or the curse ; either the 
 wrath of man, or the wrath of Grod, shrieking and 
 howling and gnashing of teeth for ever and ever. 
 Confess Christ, and be confessed by him ; suffer 
 with Christ, and reign with him ; weep with Christ, 
 and rejoice with him; die with Christ, and live for 
 ever: deny Christ, forsake Christ, and perish for 
 ever." Hast thou thus put thyself to it? And after 
 the most solemn debate thou hast had, what is the 
 result ? Now tell me, Christ, or no Christ ? Wilt thou 
 have Christ for better, for worse, how dear soever he 
 cost thee ? 
 
 III. Wilt thou FORSAKE ALL OTHERS ? TllOU hast 
 
 three husbands that lay claim to thee: sin, the world, 
 and the devil. Wilt thou renounce, and be divorced 
 from all these? There is no compounding between 
 Christ and them; he or they must go. 
 
 1. The renouncing of sin consists in the disen- 
 gaging or loosening of the heart from sin. It is a 
 hearty willingness to let it go : a willingness to part 
 is our parting with sin — a breaking the peace, the 
 cutting off the league between sin and the soul ; 
 when a sinner, clearly convinced of the worth of 
 Christ, of the value of the soul, of the enmity of sin 
 against Christ and the soul, of the unworthiness of 
 sin with all its pleasures and advantages to be laid 
 in the balance with Christ, is willing to be rid of it: 
 
TO THE UNCONVERTED. 341 
 
 "What is there in it? what can it do for me? how 
 long will it last me? where, %vill it lead me? the 
 tail of these locusts — the sting, the sting that I see 
 there! Can I live without Christ; or can I hope that 
 he will dwell with such neighbors ? Can I bear the 
 loss of my soul; or can it escape if these escape? I 
 see it is vain to think of keeping both Christ and lusts, 
 it is vain to think of saving both my sins and my soul; 
 it is all one as to be saved and to be damned; I may 
 as well bring heaven and hell together. "Well, let 
 them go; henceforth hold thy peace, sin, plead no 
 more with me for entertainment, be a stranger for 
 ever to me, henceforth I know thee no more." 
 
 In the engaging of the heart against sin. When 
 the heart is not only content to let it depart, but gives 
 it a bill of divorce, and sends it away. When it can 
 live without it, and cannot bear it. When it deals 
 with it as the Egyptians with Israel : at first they 
 only gave them leave to be gone, but at length they 
 thrust them out. They were urgent upon them, 
 "that they might send them out of the land in haste; 
 for they said, we be all but dead men." 
 
 " Begone, sin," it says, " I am but a dead man if 
 thou abidest with me;" and so it will no longer court 
 it as a friend, but curse it as an enemy — fears it, hates 
 it, and is resolved to be its mortal enemy; and to this 
 end is determined to use all God's means to discover 
 and to destroy it. 
 
 (1.) To use all God's means to discover it; to 
 bring to light the hidden things of darkness. Sin 
 goes under a disguise ; it is hard to know friends from 
 
342 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 enemies ; they need have their senses about them, and 
 well exercised too, that are to discern between good 
 and evil. Heb. 5 : 14. "Who can understand his errors ? 
 Psa. 19 : 12. Sin lies in the dark. " The heart of 
 man is desperately wicked ; who can know it?" There 
 is too much wickedness, and it lies too deep to be dis- 
 cerned by every eye ; he that means in earnest to cast 
 out, must first search out his iniquities. "Let us 
 search and try our ways." Lam. 3 : 40. He must 
 search the scriptures which describe these enemies, 
 and mark them out, what they are, and how many, 
 and how you may know them wherever you find 
 them, and under what disguise soever they appear; 
 must search the heart, where, if they walk no more 
 openly, they will hide themselves, that they be not 
 discovered or suspected. 
 
 Thou art a self-deceived sinner, who callest thy- 
 self an adversary to sin, and takest no care to find it 
 out ; much more, who willingly hidest it out of sight. 
 He takes part with sin who will not take pains 
 to know it. "I hate the devil and all his works, I 
 repent, I forsake all my sins ; and though I have done 
 iniquity, by the grace of God I will do so no more." 
 Thus vain men talk ; but dost thou know what thou 
 say est ? What is sin ? Dost thou know a friend from 
 an enemy, good from evil ? What are thy sins ? what 
 hast thou done ? wherein hast thou transgressed ? 
 who are those that have done thee mischief? what 
 are their names ? It may be thou wilt say their name 
 is Legion, for they are many. 
 
 " In many things I have transgressed, in many 
 
TO THE UNCONVERTED. 343 
 
 things I have offended." But in what things ? Dost 
 thou know thine enemy when thou seest him ; or 
 wouldst thou know him if thou couldst ? Dost thou 
 make any search or inquiry after him ? When thou 
 readest of a proud heart in the Scriptures, art thou 
 able to say, There is one of them that have done me 
 mischief ; or of a covetous heart, There is another of 
 them ; or of an envious, malicious, froward heart, 
 There are more of them ; or of a hard and hypocriti- 
 cal, ignorant, unbelieving heart, This is he, this is my 
 great enemy? Or if thou canst not tell, dost thou 
 ask, Is not this he ; are not these they ? that I 
 could understand mine errors ; Lord, make me to know 
 my transgressions. 
 
 Sinners, never make yourselves believe you are 
 enemies to sin till you make narrow and particular 
 inquiry after it — after all sin, the several kinds of it, 
 whether of omission or commission, whether outward 
 or spiritual, open or secret, greater or smaller, sins of 
 ignorance or knowledge, of infirmities or presump- 
 tion; your beloved, your most pleasing sins, your 
 most gainful lusts, whatever they be, you can never 
 renounce till you resolve to make a diligent search 
 after them. 
 
 (2.) To use all God's means to overcome and de- 
 stroy them. He that hides his enemy, and he that 
 will spare him when he has found him, is not an 
 enemy, but a friend. He that says, I will destroy, 
 and will not use his weapons, either knows not what 
 he says, or says what he never means. Thou sayest 
 thou wilt renounce and resist all thy sins ; but art 
 
344 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 thou in earnest ? What course dost thou mean to 
 take ? Wilt thou take God's way ? He "bids thee 
 hear, believe, pray, fast, mourn, strive, watch ; and 
 wilt thou hearken to his counsels ? Thou wilt he 
 healed of thy diseases ; but wilt thou take the counsel 
 of the Physician ? Wilt thou use his medicines ? Thou 
 wilt overcome thine enemy ; but wilt thou take heed 
 of him ? Wilt thou fight against him ? Wilt thou 
 take in all the help that is offered thee ? Wilt thou 
 not only believe and lean upon God for his help, but 
 wilt thou pray and lift up thy heart for his help ? 
 Wilt thou not only pray against thy sins, but watch 
 against them — i against the occasions, temptations, 
 and beginnings of sin? Wilt thou use all God's 
 means, and against all thy sins ? Shall not thine 
 eyes spare any of them ? Wilt thou make thorough 
 work with them, root and branch, old and young? 
 Shall there be neither the lowing of the oxen nor the 
 bleating of the sheep heard with thee ? 
 
 Wilt thou avenge thyself of thine enemies, and 
 wilt thou never again agree with thine adversaries ? 
 If thy sins say to thee, Is it peace, soul ? wilt thou 
 answer, What have you to do with peace ? get you 
 behind me. Wilt thou neither make a truce with 
 sin, nor embrace a parley, nor entertain a treaty for 
 peace with it ? Wilt thou not draw back thy hand, 
 nor put up thy weapons, nor give over thy watch, 
 nor go off thy guard, till all thine enemies become 
 thy footstool ? All this is included in the renouncing 
 of sin. 
 
 Beware you be not mistaken here ; this is the 
 
TO THE UNCONVERTED. 345 
 
 damnation of the world, their mistakes about repent- 
 ance. They easily say, I repent of my sins, I forsake 
 the devil and all his works. And they as easily per- 
 suade themselves that they do as they say. But did 
 they understand what there is in this repentance — a 
 searching out their sins, dividing their souls from 
 them, a painful and watchful shunning and resisting 
 them in their whole course ; did they know what their 
 particular sins are, how near they arc to their hearts, 
 how they have been nursed in their bosoms, and how 
 hard it will be now to part : even tins covetousixss 
 must go, even this sensuality must go ; these dear 
 pleasures, these beloved gains, these pleasant compan- 
 ions must all be sent away, not one to be spared, not 
 so much as once more — did they understand this, they 
 would then see what wind all their good words be. 
 They as much mean to pluck their eyes out of their 
 heads, to tear their flesh off their bones, as to repent, 
 if this be repentance. Well, now say, wilt thou re- 
 pent — wilt thou now renounce sin ? 
 
 2. Wilt thou renounce the world also ? By the 
 world, understand all the substance of the world, 
 houses, lands, money, and whatsoever worldly pos- 
 sessions ; all the shadows of the world, its honors, 
 pleasures, pomps, with all its glory ; the men of this 
 world, the friendship of the world, all fleshly rela- 
 tions, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children, all 
 sinful companions and societies ; whatsoever is in and 
 of the world. 
 
 These are then renounced, when we are resolved 
 *hat they shall neither be our gods nor our tempters 
 
 15* 
 
346 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 1. Not our gods. We make the world a god to us, 
 when we make it our happiness or end ; when we 
 bless ourselves in it, and count that our very life con- 
 sists in the abundance of the things which we pos- 
 sess ; when we devote ourselves to it, making it both 
 the blessedness and the great business of our life. He 
 that can lack the world, and yet be blessed — he that 
 can have the world, and yet not serve it — he has re- 
 nounced it, even while he has it ; though it is his still, 
 yet it is not his god. 2. Not our tempters. The 
 world tempts in a double way — by objects and instru- 
 ments. As objects : which by something that is ap- 
 prehended desirable in them, entice and invite out the 
 heart after them ; or by something apprehended as 
 formidable, affright us out of our way : thus, pleas- 
 ant meats tempt the glutton, and wine the drunkard, 
 and a lion in the streets the coward. Also by instru- 
 ments : as the devil's instruments or agitators, by 
 which he betrays and beguiles unstable souls. In the 
 former sense the things of the world, in the latter, 
 the men of the world, are temptations and tempters 
 to us. He renounces the world, that will not be 
 tempted by the world — that takes up with Christ, and 
 will not be bribed off by worldly advantages, nor prose- 
 lyted by worldly companions. 
 
 He that is resolved for Christ, though with the 
 loss of all, and with the displeasure of all the world — 
 he that can be poor for Christ, that can be vile for 
 Christ, that can go hungry and naked with Christ, 
 that can go alone with Christ, and this even when it 
 is but to turn away from Christ, and he may be rich, 
 
TO THE UNCONVERTED. 347 
 
 honorable, clothed and filled, and have company enough, 
 as much as he desires — he forsakes the world. 
 
 He that can renounce the world, whenever it comes 
 to he the case that either Christ must be forsaken, or 
 all things for Christ — he that can do this, whose heart 
 is brought to it, he has renounced the world. What 
 sayest thou now, soul ? 
 
 Thou wilt have Christ ; but what if thou must 
 leave all behind thee? "What if he say to thee, Sell 
 all that thou hast, and follow me ? Canst thou be 
 poor ? Canst thou be naked ? Canst thou be hungry 
 for Christ? Thou wilt have Christ; but how wilt 
 thou leave thy companions ? Canst thou hear all thy 
 carnal friends say of thee, "He is a fool, he is mad, 
 he is beside himself ?" How wilt thou look thy fa- 
 ther, or thy mother, or thy wife in the face, who are 
 all against it ; who will be persuading, beseeching 
 thee, weeping over thee, hanging upon thy neck, or it 
 may be, scoffing and reviling, to discourage and hold 
 thee back ? What sayest thou now ? Art thou yet 
 for Christ? Wilt thou forsake them all, cast off all 
 that stands in thy way? 
 
 3. Wilt thou forsake the devil also ? But I 
 need not now ask thee that; that is done already: 
 farewell, devil, when once sin and the world are cast 
 out. If thou wilt not be tempted to sin, if the world 
 ceases to be a temptation, the devil might as well 
 cease to be a tempter. There be many that say, " I 
 defy the devil," and yet defy not sin and the world. 
 Wise men! They like not the devil, but yet wilt fol- 
 low his will ; they hate the devil, and yet are never 
 
348 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 well longer than they are dancing in his chains. Defy 
 the devil, and yet love sin! Such defiance is his 
 delight. Let sin be defied, let the world be despised, 
 and the devil is conquered. 
 
 IV. Wilt thou cleave unto Christ from hence- 
 forth unto death ? Thou wilt have Christ ; but 
 when ? Shall this be the marriage-day ? Wilt thou 
 from henceforth be the Lord's ; or when shall it be ? 
 Must it be to-morrow, or next month, or next year, 
 or some time or other, thou knowest not when ? Must 
 we take thy promise as they did the prophecy, " The 
 vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and 
 he prophesieth of the times that are far off ?" Ezek. 
 12 : 27. To-morrow thou wilt, hereafter thou wilt : 
 as well thou hadst said nothing ; as good thou hadst 
 said, "Never," as, "Not yet." Speak, soul; wilt thou 
 give thyself to the Lord, wilt thou presently ? If thou 
 wilt, how long wilt thou abide with him ? Wilt thou 
 not endorse on thy deed of gift a power of revocation ? 
 Wilt thou not repent, not return again from heaven 
 to earth ? Wilt thou be chaste, and play the harlot 
 no more? Wilt thou be faithful to the death, obe- 
 dient to the death? Is this thy voice : "I have opened 
 my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot go back. As 
 the Lord liveth, nothing but death, no, not death 
 itself, shall part thee and me : I am persuaded, I am 
 resolved that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor 
 principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
 things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
 creature, shall separate me from the love of God, or 
 withdraw me from Jesus Christ my Lord?" 
 
TO THE UNCONVERTED. 349 
 
 Now, soul, gather up all this together ; stand thou 
 before the Lord, the God of all the earth, and this 
 once more answer. Wilt thou have Jesus Christ for 
 thy Husband? Dost thou choose him for thy Lord? 
 "Wilt thou cleave to him in love ? Wilt thou lean 
 upon him for righteousness and strength — for right- 
 eousness, to pay thy debts, and for strength, to pa}* 
 thy vows ? "Wilt thou be subject to him ? Thou 
 knowest the commandments, how holy, how strict 
 they are; wilt thdu obey them in all things? Wilt 
 thou exercise thyself to godliness in the strictness of 
 it ? Wilt thou be a thorough disciple ? "Wilt thou 
 not content thyself with such a cold or lukewarm in- 
 difference in religion, as thy lazy flesh will bear; as 
 thy credit, thy safety, or the temper of the times will 
 bear ? Wilt thou follow thy Lord fully ? Wilt thou 
 take up thy lot with Christ, be it better or worse? 
 Shall his Father be thy Father, his inheritance be thy 
 inheritance ; yea, and his sufferings thy sufferings ; 
 his stripes, his bonds, his poverty be thine ? . Wilt 
 thou espouse not his crown only, but his cross too ? 
 Wherever he goes, wilt thou go ; where he dwells, 
 wilt thou dwell ? Wilt thou say, Wherever my Lord 
 is, there let his servant be ? Wilt thou forsake all 
 others ; all thy sins ? Wilt thou be made clean ? 
 Wilt thou give up thy fleshly lusts to be purged out? 
 Does thy heart stand disengaged from every sin ? Is 
 there not any one iniquity, concerning which thy 
 heart says, Let this stay with me ? Wilt thou search 
 out thy sins ? Wilt thou accomplish a diligent search, 
 sweep every corner, search every chamber of thy heart 
 
350 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 and life ? "Wilt thou go down to the bottom of thy 
 great deep to find out what lodges there ? Wilt thou 
 faithfully endeavor no more to allow thyself in any 
 known iniquity ? Wilt thou use all Gf od's means for 
 conquering and casting out all sin ? Wilt thou forsake 
 the world ? Wilt thou cast away thine idols ? Shall 
 thy mammon be no more a god nor a demigod to thee ? 
 Shall it neither carry away thy heart from him, nor 
 so much as share with him in it ? Wilt thou not bow 
 down to this golden image, nor serve it ? Wilt thou 
 no longer serve thy greedy appetite ? Shall thy heart 
 no longer go after thy covetousness ? Wilt thou aban- 
 don thine estate, thy pleasures, thine honors, thy 
 friends and companions, so far as any of these divide 
 or entice, or steal away thy heart from thy Lord? 
 Whenever they say, Come away, wilt thou say, Get 
 you hence ? Wilt thou forsake the devil ? Wilt thou 
 fear, and fly from, and no longer hearken to his temp- 
 tations ? Wilt thou no longer regard his promises nor 
 his threatenings ; his flatteries nor his frowns ? Com- 
 ing off from the tents of all these, wilt thou cleave 
 unto thy Lord from henceforth, from this day forward, 
 and not depart from him for ever ? Wilt thou hold on 
 thy course ? Wilt thou run out thy race ? Wilt thou 
 be faithful to the death? Wilt thou hope to the end 
 for the grace that shall be brought unto thee at the 
 revelation of Jesus Christ ? 
 
 What sayest thou? If thou sayest, No, as the 
 Lord liveth, thou speakest this word against thine own 
 life. If thou refusest to enter into this covenant, thou 
 sayest, "I will not be the Lord's, I will none of him, 
 
FORM OF COVENANT WITH GOD. 351 
 
 I will not live ; let death and wrath and chains and 
 plagues be my portion for ever. I will not be the 
 Lord's, I will not leave my sins and my pleasures and 
 my companions for his love ; I will die, and will not 
 see life." Mistake not thyself, be not deceived, it is 
 a matter of life and death that is before thee. It is 
 whether heaven or hell, a God or no (rod, a Christ or 
 no Christ, a soul or a lost soul, everlasting life or 
 everlasting fire shall be thy portion, that stands now 
 to be determined, by thy consent or refusal ; look to 
 it, be wise, this once for eternity. Consent, and thou 
 art blessed ; consent, and he is thine, and with him 
 the kingdom. Thy Lord hath given his consent al- 
 ready ; view the handwriting, the whole New Testa- 
 ment, which is written in blood, and sealed as it is 
 written. There thou hast his "I will" in every line 
 almost, visible before thee ; put to thy hand, and it is 
 done. What sayest thou ? Dost thou consent ? Shall 
 thy heart come in and put to thy hand, and subscribe 
 for thee, " I will?" Let that be done, and then say 
 after me, 
 
 A FORM OF WORDS EXPRESSING MAN'S COVENANTING 
 WITH GOD. 
 
 most dreadful God, for the sake of thy Son, I 
 beseech thee, accept of. thy poor prodigal now pros- 
 trating himself at thy door. I have fallen from thee 
 by mine iniquity, and am by nature a son of death, 
 and a thousand-fold more the child of hell by my 
 wicked practice ; but of thine infinite grace thou hast 
 promised mercy to me in Christ, if I will but turn to 
 
352 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 thee with all my heart ; therefore, upon the call of thy 
 gospel, I am now come in ; and throwing down my 
 weapons, submit myself to thy mercy. 
 
 And because thou requirest as the condition of my 
 peace with thee, that I should put away mine idols, 
 and be at defiance with all thine enemies, which I 
 acknowledge I have wickedly sided with against thee, 
 I here from the bottom of my heart renounce them 
 all, firmly covenanting with thee not to allow myself 
 in any known sin, but conscientiously to use all means 
 that I know thou hast prescribed for the death and 
 utter destruction of all my corruptions. And where- 
 as I have formerly inordinately and idolatrously let 
 out my affections upon the world, I do here resign 
 my heart to thee who madest it ; humbly protesting 
 before thy glorious Majesty, that it is the firm resolu- 
 tion of my heart, and that I do unfeignedly desire 
 grace from thee, that when thou shalt call me here- 
 unto, I may practise this my resolution, through thy 
 assistance, to forsake all that is dear unto me in this 
 world, rather than to turn from thee to the ways of 
 sin ; and that I will watch against all its temptations, 
 whether of prosperity or adversity, lest they should 
 withdraw my heart from thee; beseeching thee also 
 to help me against the temptations of Satan, to whose 
 wicked suggestions, I resolve, by thy grace, never to 
 yield myself a servant. And because my own right- 
 eousness is but filthy rags, I renounce all confidence 
 therein, and acknowledge that I am of myself a hope- 
 less, helpless, undone creature, without righteousness 
 or strength. 
 
FORM OF COVENANT WITH GOD. 353 
 
 And forasmuch as thou hast of thy boundless 
 mercy offered most graciously to me a wretched sin- 
 ner to he again my God through Christ, if I would 
 accept of thee, I call heaven and earth to record this 
 day, that I do here solemnly avouch thee to be the 
 Lord my God, and with all possible veneration, bow- 
 ing the neck of my soul under the feet of thy most 
 sacred Majesty, I do here take thee the Lord Jehovah, 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for my portion and 
 chief good, and do give up myself, body and soul, for 
 thy servant, promising and vowing to serve thee in 
 holiness and righteousness all the days of my life. 
 
 And since thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus 
 Christ the only means of coming unto thee, I do here 
 upon the bended knees of my soul accept of him as the 
 only new and living way by which sinners may have 
 access to thee, and do here solemnly join myself in 
 the marriage-covenant to him. 
 
 blessed Jesus, I come to thee hungry and poor, 
 and wretched and miserable, and blind and naked, a 
 most loathsome, polluted wretch, a guilty, condemned 
 malefactor, unworthy to wash the feet of the servants 
 of my Lord, much more to be solemnly married to 
 the King of glory. But since such is thine unparal- 
 leled love, I do here with all my power accept thee, 
 and do ta"ke thee for my Head and Husband, for bet- 
 ter for worse, for richer for poorer, for all times and 
 conditions, to love, honor, and obey thee before all 
 others, and this to the death. I embrace thee in all 
 thine offices: I renounce mine own unworthiness, and 
 do here avow thee to be the Lord my righteousness. 
 
354 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 I renounce mine own wisdom, and do here take thee 
 for mine only guide. I renounce mine own will and 
 take thy will for my law. 
 
 And since thou hast told me that I must suffer if 
 I will reign, I do here covenant with thee to take my 
 lot as it falls with thee, and by thy grace assisting, 
 to run all hazards with thee, verily supposing that 
 neither life nor death shall part between thee and me. 
 
 And because thou hast been pleased to give me 
 thy holy laws as the rule of my life, and the way in 
 which I should walk to thy kingdom, I do here will- 
 ingly put my neck under thy yoke, and set my 
 shoulder to thy burden, and subscribe to all thy 
 laws, as holy, just, and good. I solemnly take them 
 as the rule of my words, thoughts, and actions ; prom- 
 ising that though my flesh contradict and rebel, yet 
 I will endeavor to order and govern my whole life 
 according to thy direction, and will not allow myself 
 in the neglect of any thing that I know to be my 
 duty. 
 
 Only, because through the frailty of my flesh I am 
 subject to many failings, I am bold humbly to pro- 
 test that unallowed miscarriages, contrary to the set- 
 tled bent and resolution of my heart, shall not make 
 void this covenant; for so thou hast said. 
 
 Now, Almighty God, searcher of hearts, thou 
 knowest that I make this covenant with thee this day, 
 without any known guile or reservation ; beseeching 
 thee, that if thou seest any flaw or falsehood therein, 
 thou wouldst discover it to me, and help me to do it 
 aright. 
 
FORM OF COVENANT WITH GOD. 355 
 
 And now, glory be to thee, God the Father, whom 
 I shall be bold from this day forward to look upon as 
 my God and Father, that ever thou shouldst find out 
 such a way for the recovery of undone sinners. Glory 
 be to thee, God the Son, who hast loved me, and 
 washed me from my sins in thine own blood, and art 
 now become my Saviour and Redeemer. Glory be to 
 thee, God the Holy Ghost, who by thine almighty 
 power hast turned my heart from sin to God. 
 
 dreadful Jehovah, the Lord God omnipotent, 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, thou art now become 
 my covenant Friend, and I through thine infinite grace 
 am become thy covenant servant. Amen. So be it. 
 And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it 
 be ratified in heaven. 
 
356 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 TO GOD'S COVENANT PEOPLE. 
 
 Come, ye people beloved, you that are highly fa- 
 vored : the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among 
 men. The lines are fallen to you in a pleasant place, 
 yea, you have a goodly heritage. Come and enter 
 upon your lot ; let your hearts be glad, let your glory 
 rejoice. Bat that your joy may be full, hearken to 
 these following counsels. 
 
 I. Make sure your interest in the covenant. 
 Rejoice not in that which is none of thine. Make 
 sure ; all lies upon this ; your life and all the com- 
 forts and concerns of it, both your eternal safety here- 
 after and your success in all the parts of your Chris- 
 tian course here, depend on your interest in the cove- 
 nant. "What have you, if Christ be not yours ; and 
 what have you in Christ, if you be not in covenant ? 
 "Whence are your hopes, either of mercy at last, or of 
 prospering in any thing at present, but from the cove- 
 nant of promise ? And what have you thence, if your 
 name be not in it ? give not rest to yourselves, till 
 this be put out of doubt ; whatever duties you per- 
 form, whatever ease or hope you find hereupon, what- 
 ever transport of affection you feel in your hearts, in 
 the midst of all inquire, "But am I in covenant?" 
 How shall I know that ? you will say. "Why, make 
 
TO GOD'S COVENANT PEOPLE. g 357 
 
 a strict and narrow inquiry whether those special 
 graces already mentioned be wrought within you. 
 Common mercies, though even these are covenant 
 mercies to the saints, yet will not prove themselves 
 so to be ; but special graces will be their own evidence. 
 Things outward fall alike to all : No man knoweth 
 love or hatred by aught that befalls him. Eccl. 9 : 1 
 Thou mayest be a son or an alien, notwithstanding all 
 that thou en joy est or su Merest here ; but there is not 
 one of the forementioned graces but is a child's por- 
 tion, God's mark upon the heart, to distinguish chil- 
 dren from strangers. Prove that thou truly knowest 
 the Lord, hast one heart, a tender heart, etc., and 
 thou therein provest thyself to be a child of prom- 
 ise. Read over the descriptions that have been given 
 of these graces ; observe diligently where the main 
 difference lies between common and special grace ; 
 compare thy heart with it, and thereby thou mayest 
 give a judgment of thy state. If it be yet question- 
 able whether such evidence be found or not, sit not 
 down till thou hast obtained it; but having obtained, 
 II. Keep your evidences clear. Have you peace? 
 maintain it carefully. The hidden manna will never 
 breed worms by long keeping. Content not yourselves 
 that you once had peace ; it will be but a poor liveli- 
 hood you will get out of what is wasted and lost. 
 Get you good evidences that God is yours, and keep 
 them by you till you need them no more. Grace is 
 your best evidence ; cherish and preserve it. Get a 
 seeing eye, and keep your eye open ; get a single 
 heart, and let it not be again divided ; get a tender 
 
358 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 heart, and keep it tender : let the love and fear of God 
 be acted in holy obedience. An obedient, gracious, 
 watchful, active life will keep grace in heart ; and 
 flourishing grace will speak for itself and you. Look 
 not that the Lord should so far countenance your 
 declinings to a more fleshly, careless state, as to 
 smile upon you in such a state ; God will not be an 
 abettor to sin. Count upon it, that your grace and 
 peace, your duty and comfort will rise and fall to- 
 gether ; suspect those comforts that accompany you 
 into the tents of wickedness, and forsake you not 
 when you forsake your God. Keep up your spirits, 
 and then lift up your heads, keep needfully on your 
 way, and your joy shall no man take from you. Par- 
 ticularly, 
 
 1. Keep close to God. Keep thyself under his eye 
 and influences. As both thy grace and thy comforts 
 had their birth, so must they have their nourishment 
 from heaven. Lose the sight of the sun, and darkness 
 follows. Let thine eyes be towards the hills. Let 
 divine love be the pleasure of thy life. Let it be thy 
 Lord's cord upon thy heart, let it bind thee to him ; 
 he loves captives, let thine ear be bored to the thresh- 
 old ; be familiar in heaven, keep thine acquaintance 
 there, and be at peace ; chide back thy gadding heart : 
 " Soul, whither art thou going ? who hath the words 
 of eternal life ?" Let the interviews of love between 
 thy Lord and thee be constant ; let them not be lim- 
 ited to some few holy days of thy life. Count not 
 thou hast lived that day, in which thou hast not lived 
 with God. 
 
TO GOD'S COVENANT PEOPLE. 359 
 
 Keep close to God by keeping close to duty. Keep 
 close to duty, and keep close to God in duty. Call 
 not that a duty which thou canst not call communion 
 with God. Make not duty to do the work of sin, by 
 taking God out of sight. Let not prayer, or hearing, 
 or ordinances be instead of God to thee. Such pray- 
 ing and hearing there is among many ; but know not 
 thou any thing for religion, wherein thou meetest not 
 with God. 
 
 Behold the face of God, but behold his face in 
 righteousness. Psalm 17 : 15. It is ill looking on 
 God with a bloodshot eye. Guilt upon the heart will 
 be a cloud that will make the sun as darkness to thee. 
 "Walk in the light of the Lord. Walk in the light, as 
 he is in the light. In thy light — the holiness of thy 
 life — thou shalt see his light. The light of his holi- 
 ness in thee, will be attended with the light of his 
 countenance upon thee. By the light of his counte- 
 nance, thou wilt both see thyself in the way to thy 
 hopes, and learn thy way more perfectly. " Make thy 
 face to shine upon thy servant, and teach me thy 
 statutes." Psalm 119 : 135. God hath many ways 
 of teaching : he teaches by book, he teaches by his 
 finger, he teaches by his rod ; but his most comfort- 
 able and effectual teaching is by the light of his eye. 
 Send forth thy light and thy truth, let them lead me, 
 let them bring me to thy holy hill. 
 
 2. Keep hold on Christ. He is thy peace. Ap- 
 pear not before God, but in the blood of the Lamb ; 
 let him carry up thy duties ; and own not that for a 
 comfort which is not brought thee by his hand. Let 
 
3G0 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 him be thy way to the Father, and thy Father's way 
 to thee. Keep fresh upon thy heart the memory of 
 his death and satisfaction, and let that be thy life 
 and thy hope. Hast thou cast anchor on this rock ? 
 loose not thy hold ; hang upon the horns of the altar. 
 Thou canst not live, but there ; if thou must die, 
 say, But I will die here. Put forth fresh acts of faith 
 every day and hour. Believe, believe, believe, and 
 thou shalt be established. Fall not into unbelief; 
 then thou art gone ; thou departest from the living 
 God. Heb. 3 : 12. 
 
 3. Quench not the Spirit. Observe and obey his 
 motions : when he excites, get thee on ; when he 
 checks, get thee back; know the holy from the evil 
 spirit, by its according or differing with the Scriptures; 
 reject that spirit in the heart that is not the same 
 with the Spirit in the word. Try the wind, what and 
 whence it is, by the card and compass : to the law 
 and to the testimony. And when thou perceivest it 
 is from above, hoist up thy sails, and get thee on. 
 Quench not the Spirit: grieve not the Holy Spirit of 
 God, whereby thou art sealed to the day of redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 4. Keep in with conscience. Make not thy wit- 
 ness thine enemy. Deal friendly with it; thou wilt 
 need its good word, which thou canst not have if it- 
 receive blows from thee. It will not learn this lesson, 
 to speak good for evil: or if thou shouldst compel it 
 to do so, thou art undone; if an abused conscience 
 speak peace, it becomes thy traitor. 
 
 Give due respect to conscience. Let it abide with 
 
TO GOD'S COVENANT PEOPLE. 361 
 
 thee in peace and in power. Keep up its authority 
 as God's vicegerent. Next under God, commit the 
 keeping of thy soul to conscience ; as the Lord hath 
 made, so do thou make it superintendent in thy soul ; 
 the judge and overseer of all thy motions and actions. 
 Let conscience counsel thee, and tell thee thy way; 
 let conscience quicken thee, and put thee on in thy 
 way; let conscience watch thee, that thou turn not 
 out of thy way ; let conscience check thee, and restore 
 thee into thy way. 'Wherever thou goest, carry con- 
 science along with thee ; carry conscience into thy 
 closet, let it watch how thou behavest thyself there; 
 carry conscience into thy shop, let it eye what thou 
 doest there; carry conscience into thy fields, into the 
 market, among thy friends, among thine enemies, let 
 it observe how thou behavest thyself among them; 
 carry conscience with thee to thy recreation, to thy 
 bed, to thy table : wherever thou goest, there is like 
 to be but sad work, if conscience be not with thee. 
 
 Commit the keeping of thy covenant to con- 
 science: let it be the ark in which the tables of the 
 testimony are kept and preserved ; let it be the exec- 
 utor of thy testament. Conscience is bound from sin 
 by the covenant; the covenant lays hold upon it, let 
 it lay hold on thee. Is thy conscience bound, seek 
 not to be loosed ; is thy conscience bound, give it 
 leave to bind thy whole man. Let it bind thy 
 thoughts, and bind thy will, and bind thy affections, 
 and bind thy tongue, and thy whole practice; thou 
 never livest as a man in covenant, longer than thou 
 livest as a man of conscience. What becomes of the 
 
 Hrarm Opcnt.1. 1 6 
 
362 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 covenant, when a breach is made upon conscience ? 
 
 what is there worth having where conscience is not ? 
 "What faith, or truth, or peace is there left alive? 
 What are vows and covenants and promises ? W r hat 
 are our duties to the Lord, our dealings with men, 
 when there is no conscience towards God ? Keep thy 
 conscience, and thou keepest thy soul; keep thy con- 
 science, and thou keepest thy covenant; keep thy 
 covenant, and thou keepest thy peace; let that go, 
 and all is lost. 
 
 Let conscience govern what God hath put under 
 its power, and let it resist all adverse power. Let it 
 resist temptations. Whenever Satan and thy flesh 
 fall upon thee, and tempt thee, saying, Pity thyself, 
 spare thyself, take thy liberty, take thine ease, take 
 thy pleasure, provide for thy safety; what need is 
 there of so much ado? why canst thou not take the 
 same liberty, and allow thyself the same latitude as 
 others do ? they have souls as well as thou, and they 
 have dangers as well as thou, and they have hopes as 
 well as thou, and they have reasons and understand- 
 ings to know what they do as well as thou ; and why 
 canst thou not be content to do as they ? Why, let 
 this be thy answer: "But what conscience is there 
 for it? With what conscience can I be idle, when I 
 have said I will be doing ? With what conscience can 
 
 1 take mine ease, when I have said I will take pains ? 
 With what conscience can I serve my flesh, when I 
 have said I will crucify it? With what conscience 
 ean I love this world, when I have said I will renouace 
 it? With what conscience can I walk at liberty, when 
 
TO GOD'S COVENANT PEOPLE. 363 
 
 I have said I will walk circumspectly ? If all this 
 were more than needs — far be it from me to have 
 such a thought, till the serving my God, and the sav- 
 ing my soul, be more than needs — but if it were more 
 than needs, yet is it any more than I am bound to ? 
 Are there any such liberties put into my indentures? 
 Was there any exception made of this duty, or that 
 duty? Was there any limitation made to this meas- 
 ure or that measure — 'hitherto will I go, and no fur- 
 ther; this little I will do, and no more?' Was there 
 any such proviso put in as this, 'I will serve the 
 Lord, provided I may with ease or with safety ?' Have 
 I not solemnly engaged to the Lord, to obey him in 
 all things, to follow him fully, to love him and serve 
 him with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my 
 strength, and this to the death? And 0, shall I lie 
 unto God? Is it more than needful to be righteous, 
 and to keep my faith? Come, my soul, come on; 
 thou hast opened thy mouth to the Lord, and thou 
 must not go back." Be true, bo honest; be honest, 
 though thou must suffer for it. Remember what thy 
 mouth hath spoken, and see that thou fulfil it with 
 thy hand. 
 
 Keep conscience pure. It is the book in which all 
 thy records are written; let no blot be upon thy book. 
 Beware of sinning against conscience. Every sin 
 against conscience is a blot upon conscience; and 
 blots upon conscience arc blots upon thy covenant- 
 evidence : thou wilt not be able to read whether there 
 be any thing written there for thee or not. Ah, fool- 
 ish soul, what art thou doing? Dashing out all thy 
 
36-i HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 hopes with thine own hand. Beware thou content 
 not thyself with blotted evidences. 
 
 Christians, forget not this counsel ; keep your 
 evidences clear. He who hath his whole estate in 
 bonds or writings, how carefully will he keep them! 
 If these be torn, or lost, or so blurred that they can- 
 not be read, he is undone. Whatever else be lost, if 
 his money be gone, if his goods be lost, if house be 
 burnt, yet if his writings be safe, he is well enough. 
 take heed, and keep your writings safe and fair; 
 keep your title to your God clear, and you can never 
 be poor and miserable. Whatever earth or hell can 
 do against you, till they can tear the covenant of 
 your God, or make you blot out your own names, 
 they have left you abundantly enough, even when 
 they have left you nothing. 
 
 how highly are we concerned to be tender of 
 conscience, and yet how little care is there taken of 
 it ! What is become of the authority of conscience, 
 when thy thoughts and thy passions, when thine eyes 
 and thine ears, thine appetite and thy tongue are left 
 unbridled and unconquered ? When every servant is 
 set up to be master, and bears rule in thee, where is 
 thy conscience — what is become of its authority? 
 When thy soul has been no better kept, what pov- 
 erty and leanness is there grown upon it, what a 
 starveling is it become both in grace and peace, eaten 
 out with lust, evaporated into vanity, sunk into sen- 
 suality, thy spirit even transubstantiated into flesh, 
 ready to perish and die away, for want of good look- 
 ing to ! When thy soul has been no better kept, 
 
TO GOD-S COVENANT PEOPLE. 365 
 
 where is thy conscience ? "When thy covenant has 
 been no better kept ; when thy duties thou hast vowed 
 to perform are so hastily and heedlessly shuffled over, 
 if not totally thrust aside ; when thy hours of prayer 
 are such short hours, thy sabbaths such winter days, 
 so short and so cold too ; when thy God is so shame- 
 fully neglected, can never hear of thee but when thou 
 hast nothing else to do, and perhaps not even then ; 
 when thy spare hours are hardly spared for God ; 
 when this earth, thy corn and thy cattle and thy 
 pleasures and thy friends, which thou hast vowed to 
 renounce, are let in again upon thy heart, and have 
 stolen it away from heaven, where is thy conscience? 
 When thou sleepest so, and hast let the enemy come 
 in and sow his tares in thy field ; when thou art such 
 a busybody in other men's matters, and thine own 
 vineyard thou hast not kept, but hast let it lie fallow, 
 like the field of the sluggard, all overgrown with thorns 
 and nettles ; when both thy heart and thy house are 
 so much out of order ; when thy wife and thy chil- 
 dren and thy servants are left at random, to do all 
 that is right in their own eyes; when more caro is 
 taken for thy cattle, than for thy sons and daughters; 
 when thy house is a very hospital of blind and lame 
 and sick souls, ready to die for want of instruction 
 and good discipline, where is thy conscience ? And 
 if conscience be not, where is thy covenant ; and if 
 thy covenant be not, where is thy God and thy 
 peace ? 
 
 Ah, conscience, wdiere art thou ? What is become 
 of that good thing committed to thee, yea, what is 
 
366 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 become of thee ? Ah, soul, where is thy peace ? How 
 is the keeper of thy peace laid low, and the covenant 
 of thy peace broken ! What, peace while no con- 
 science ? And what hast thou left, while no peace ? 
 Ah, Lord, thy treacherous dealers, how treacherously 
 have they dealt with thee ; thy children have forgotten 
 thee, thy servants are runaways from thee. Thou art 
 our Father, but where is thine honor ? Thou art our 
 Master, but where is thy fear ? We are thy servants ; 
 but where is our faith? Ah, Lord, we have dealt 
 falsely in thy covenant. Return, Lord, return ; 
 replace thy watchmen, recover thine honors, reclaim 
 thy wanderers, restore conscience, revive our peace, 
 cause us to return, and renew our covenant ; and re- 
 member, break not thou thy covenant with us. 
 
 Christians, let us bewail lost conscience, and let 
 it be recovered ; let us weep over our dead, and let 
 their souls return into them. Let those of us that 
 have obtained grace to be faithful and watchful and 
 tender, rejoice and take heed : let him that standeth, 
 take heed lest he fall. Go on in the name of the 
 Lord : remember his counsels ; keep close by God, 
 keep hold on Christ, quench not the Spirit, keep in 
 with conscience ; keep thy heart, keep thy garments, 
 keep up thy watch, keep on thy way, finish thy 
 course, keep the faith ; and then let the devil do his 
 worst, thy peace shall be extended to thee as a river, 
 and established as a rock ; and thou shalt be able 
 to say, in the words and in the faith of the apostle, 
 •'Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- 
 eousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall 
 
TO GOD'S COVENANT PEOPLE. 367 
 
 give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto 
 all them also that love his appearing." 
 
 III. Add to your covenant your sacrifice. "Gath- 
 er my saints together unto me, those that have made 
 a covenant with me by sacrifice." Psalm 1 : 5. God 
 has made with you, and he expects that you make 
 with him a covenant by sacrifice. Sacrifices were 
 seals of the covenant. As God's part of the covenant 
 was sealed, so our part also must be sealed, and sealed 
 with blood : his with the blood of his Son ; ours, with 
 the blood of our sins. "I beseech you therefore, 
 brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present 
 your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 
 God." Rom. 12 : 1. The sacrificing of ourselves to 
 the Lord comprehends in it three things — alienation, 
 dedication, oblation. 
 
 1. Alienation, or the passing awa*y of ourselves 
 from ourselves : "Ye are not your own, ye are bought 
 with a price." Thus he hath said, and he expects 
 that we should say also, True, Lord ; I am not mine 
 own. 
 
 2. Dedication, or the passing over ourselves to 
 the Lord: "Ye have consecrated yourselves to the 
 Lord." 2 Chron. 29 : 31. His we are by purchase, 
 but he expects that we be his also by donation : his 
 we are by conquest, but he expects we should be his 
 by consent also. Though he may challenge us as 
 his right, yet the most acceptable claim is, when he 
 hath us by gift. When our hearts say, I am thine, 
 Lord ; then his heart will answer, Soul, thou art 
 mine. 
 
365 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 3. Oblation, or the actual surrender or offering 
 up ourselves to him. In the offering of this sacrifice 
 is included the immolation or slaying of it. "We must 
 slay ourselves, in a spiritual sense — be mortified, be 
 crucified with Christ, and so offered up a sacrifice to 
 him. You will say, How is it then required that we 
 offer up ourselves a living sacrifice ? I reply, we are 
 never truly alive till we are dead. "Ye are dead, 
 and your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. 3 : 3. 
 When our flesh is dead, our spirit is life. Rom. 8 : 10. 
 As the apostle, " That which thou sowest," so that 
 which thou sacrificest, "is not quickened, except it 
 die." 1 Cor. 15 : 36. It is only the mortified Chris- 
 tian that is a living sacrifice. 
 
 Christians, come and sacrifice yourselves to the 
 Lord, come and slay your sacrifices, and so offer them 
 up. Your sacrifice is slain, when your carnal self, 
 your "old" man, is crucified with Christ, and the 
 body of sin destroyed, Rom. 6:6; when the wisdom 
 of the flesh is crucified, and made to vanish before 
 the wisdom of God ; when the will of the flesh is sub- 
 dued, and swallowed up of the will of God ; when 
 the lusts of the flesh are vanquished, and made cap- 
 tives by the law of God. 
 
 Christians, it may be you are willing to make 
 your claim to the covenant of God, but have you 
 made covenant with him ? You have entered into 
 covenant with God, but will you confirm your cove- 
 nant by sacrifice ? You will give yourselves a sacri- 
 fice to the Lord, but is your sacrifice slain? Is the 
 wisdom of the flesh made foolishness ? How is it with 
 
TO GOD'S COVENANT PEOPLE. 369 
 
 your carnal wills ? Is the will of the flesh broken and 
 brought into subjection, yielding itself up to the Lord ? 
 for an emptying of wills into the will of God ! What 
 wilt thou do; what wilt thou have? Canst thou reply, 
 " Nothing but what God will : what the Lord will 
 have me do, or avoid, or sutler, I can no longer say 
 him nay. Is this the will of God, my sanctification? 
 so it is mine. Is this the will of God, my humilia- 
 tion? so it is mine. Is this the will of God, my trib- 
 ulation? so it is mine. Is God for holiness? through 
 grace, so am I. Is God for his own will? so am I. 
 This is all the will I have, that the Lord may have 
 his will of me — may be all to me, have all from me, 
 rule all in me, and dispose of all that concerns me." 
 
 How is it with your carnal affections, and fleshly 
 lusts; are these slain? Are your covetousness, your 
 sensuality, your pride and envy, your carnal joys and 
 fears and worldly sorrows, destroyed ; those wildfires 
 of passion and fury and rage, are these quenched? 
 Come, put the knife to the throat of all these, and 
 then there is a sacrifice for God. Go and offer it 
 up, and let it be a freewill-offering, and a thank- 
 offering. 
 
 A /<reei0?7/-offering. Offer yourselves willingly to 
 the Lord. "Thy people shall be willing in the day 
 of thy power." Psa. 110 : 3. may that glorious 
 day dawn upon us! God loves a cheerful giver; 
 offer up your hearts with all your heart; grudge not 
 what the law requires, but bless God that he will 
 accept of an offering: this has a comfortable signifi- 
 cation — If the Lord had meant to destroy us, he 
 
 16* 
 
370 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 would not have accepted an offering at our hands. 
 Judges 13 : 23. 
 
 A thank-offering. Offer unto God thanksgiving, 
 and pay thy vows unto the Most High. Offer up 
 yourselves in token of your thankfulness to the Lord. 
 Be ye both the priests, and the lambs for the sacrifice 
 Present yourselves to the Lord as the accomplish- 
 ment of his covenant, as the fruits of the death of 
 your Redeemer, as the trophies of his victory, as the 
 spoils which he hath recovered from death and hell, 
 making a show of them openly, that it may be seen 
 that the promise of God is not of none effect, and 
 that Christ did not die in vain. Let your Lord Jesus, 
 when he comes down into his garden, where he left 
 his blood, reap his pleasant fruits, and carry up your 
 purified souls as the signals of his glorious achieve- 
 ment, v Offer up your sins to the Lord; these unclean 
 beasts will be an acceptable sacrifice. There is more 
 real honor growing up to the Lord from one mortified 
 saint, than from ten thousand anthems from the most 
 seraphic tongues. Offer up your duties to the Lord; 
 your obedience for a sacrifice. To obey is better than 
 sacrifice, than thousands of rams, and ten thousands 
 of rivers of oil. Let your whole life be this sacrifice. 
 Let every day be a sabbath, every duty an eucharist, 
 every member a cymbal, sounding out the praises of 
 God. Offer up the calves of your lips unto the Lord. 
 let your souls be filled with wonder, and your 
 mouths with praise. 
 
 "Whence is this to me," said Elizabeth, "that 
 the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Luke 
 
TO GOD'S COVENANT PEOPLE. 371 
 
 1 : 43. whence is this to us, that the Lord our 
 Father should come, and come so near to us ? 
 whence is it that the mighty God should indenture, 
 and come into bonds with sinful man? That he who 
 was free from all men should make himself debtor to 
 any ? That the high and lofty One, who inhabits eter- 
 nity, should dwell in houses of clay, and pitch his 
 tabernacle in the dust? That he who humbleth him- 
 self to behold the heavens, should come down into the 
 earth; and after what is he come down, but after so 
 degraded a creature as man ? That he should make 
 a league with stones of the ground, with beasts of tho 
 field, and creeping things; should espouse dust and 
 ashes, and gather up vile worms into his bosom ; 
 should set his heart upon shadows, and" adopt the 
 refuse of the earth for sons and daughters to himself; 
 should raise the poor out of the dust, and the beggar 
 from the dunghill ; should do such great things, and 
 should choose the foolish and the weak and the baso 
 and the contemptible, and bestow on them among all 
 the world these high honors ; should make them the 
 head and the honorable, whom the world has made 
 the off-scouring of all things ; should give himself to 
 be the portion, his Son to be the ransom, his kingdom 
 to be the heritage of bankrupts, prisoners, and cap- 
 tives? Lord, what is man, that thou art thus mindful 
 of him? Soul, what is God, that thou shouldst be yet 
 unmindful of him? How is it that the tongue of the 
 dumb is not yet loosened, that the feet of the lame do 
 not leap as a hart? 
 
 what is that love whence this strange thing has 
 
372 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 broken forth ? This is the womb that bare thee ; hence 
 has thy righteousness sprung forth; hence have thy 
 dignities, thy astonishing hope and joys arisen to 
 thee ; this is it that yearned upon thee in thy misery, 
 that reprieved thee from death, redeemed thee from 
 darkness, rescued thee as a brand out of the burning ; 
 that pitied thee in thy blood, washed thee from thy 
 blood, spared thee, pardoned thee, reconciled thee, 
 and brought thee, an enemy, a rebel, a traitor, into a 
 covenant of peace with the God of glory. Ah, con- 
 temptible dust; that ever there should be such com- 
 passionate contrivances, and such astonishing conde- 
 scensions of the eternal Deity, towards so vile a thing! 
 love the Lord, all ye his saints. bless the Lord, 
 ye beloved, ye people near unto the Lord. Alas, that 
 our hearts should be so narrow, that the waters should 
 be so shallow with us. Where are our eyes, if we be 
 not yet filled with wonders? What hearts have we, if 
 we have not yet filled our lips with praise ? Open all 
 thy springs, my soul ; let them flow forth in streams 
 of love and joy ; let every faculty be tuned and strained 
 to the height ; let heart and hands and tongue and 
 eyes lift up their voice : be astonished, heavens ; 
 be moved, ye strong foundations of the earth ; fall 
 down, ye elders; strike up, ye heavenly choir; lend, 
 poor mortals, your notes, to sing forth the high praises 
 of God, who rideth on the heavens, and has caused us 
 to ride on the high places of the earth, and made us 
 sit together in heavenly places, showing forth the 
 exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness to us in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
TO GOD'S COVENANT PEOPLE. 373 
 
 Awake up, my glory, awake, psaltery and harp ; I 
 myself will awake right early: my soul cloth magnify 
 the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my 
 Saviour; for he that is mighty hath done for me 
 great things, and holy is his name. Blessed he the 
 Lord God of Israel, who hath visited and redeemed 
 his people, who hath raised up a horn of salvation 
 for us in the house of his servant David, who hath 
 laid help on one who is mighty, and exalted one cho- 
 sen among the people, and hath given him for a cov- 
 enant to them. Bless the Lord, my soul, and all 
 that is within me bless his holy name, who hath 
 redeemed thy life from destruction, and crowned thee 
 with loving-kindness and tender mercies. Salvation to 
 our God that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb. 
 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Worthy is 
 the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and 
 riches and wisdom and strength and glory and honor 
 and blessing; for thou livest, and wast dead, and art 
 alive for evermore. Thou hast redeemed us to God 
 by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and 
 people and nation ; and hast made us kings and priests 
 unto our God for ever. Hallelujah, hallelujah! 
 
374 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 DIRECTIONS 
 
 RIGHT PERFORMANCE OF THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 
 
 EXTRACTED FROM VINDICI.E PIETATIS, OR A VINDICATION OF GODLINESS, 
 
 BY THE REV. RICHARD ALLEINE. 
 
 1. Bring yourselves, and hold yourselves to a fre- 
 quent and constant performance of this duty. There 
 must be performance, or there cannot be a right per- 
 formance. As to those that pray not, or pray but 
 seldom, it is a plain sign that the root of the matter 
 is not in them ; they that can live without prayer, are 
 dead while they are alive. Prayer is the first-fruits 
 of Christianity : it was said of Saul, as a token that 
 ho was a convert, " Behold, he prayeth." The liv- 
 ing child comes crying into the world ; and as it is a 
 token of life, so it is a means by which this new life 
 is nourished. Prayer is a Christian's key to unlock 
 the storehouses and the treasuries of souls : to him 
 that can pray, God has given a key to all his treas- 
 uries. Prayer will not only unlock the clouds, as 
 Elijah's prayer did, and bring down rain to refresh 
 the dry and parched earth, but it will unlock heaven 
 
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 375 
 
 too. It will unlock the ark and the mercy-seat, and 
 bring down spiritual blessings on the soul. Praying 
 is a Christian's knocking at the gate of heaven, that 
 knocking to which the promise is made, "Knock, and 
 it shall be opened." Matt. 7 : 7. The word which the 
 Lord speaks to us is God's knocking at our doors : 
 " Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Rev. 3 : 20. 
 And praying is our knocking at the Lord's door, at 
 the gate of heaven, that this may be opened. By the 
 way, learn that if you will not hear God'sr knock, it 
 is just in him not to hear yours. If God's voice may 
 not be heard on earth, your voice will not be heard in 
 heaven. Yet fear not, you shall be heard if you will 
 hear ; hear him that speaks to you from heaven, and 
 your cry shall enter into heaven. 
 
 Our souls will never thrive or flourish, unless the 
 rain and the showers of heavenly grace descend and 
 fall upon them ; and we cannot look that those show- 
 ers should come down, unless we look up. Persons 
 that pray not, may be classed among the heathen : 
 "Pour out thy fury upon the heathen, that know thee 
 not, and upon the families that call not on thy name," 
 Jer. 10 : 25 ; and among the profane ones of the earth, 
 who are described by this character : They are all 
 together become filthy and abominable, there is none 
 that doeth good; they call not upon the Lord. Psalm 
 14:3,4. 
 
 " Be ye sober, and watch unto prayer." 1 Peter, 
 4:7. Be ye instant as well as constant in prayer ; 
 set up your resolutions, and set your time ; set your 
 time, and keep your time. Do not put off this duty 
 
376 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 by pretending you pray always, every day and every 
 hour : as the pretence of an every-day's Sabbath 
 comes just to no Sabbath, so it is usually in the case 
 of prayer ; some carnal wretches' " praying always," 
 is not praying at all. "Get thee into thy closet," 
 saith Christ ; get thee a place, set thee a time, 
 wherein thou may est make it thy business to seek 
 the Lord. 
 
 II. Come to pray with an actual and great ex- 
 pectation of obtaining help and grace from God. 
 Do not barely impose this duty upon yourself, as your 
 task, but excite and encourage yourself to it, by 
 looking for a return ; think what it is that you would 
 have, and look to receive it. The reason why we 
 obtain no more in prayer, is because we expect no 
 more. God usually answers us according to our own 
 hearts : narrow hearts and low expectations receive 
 usually as little as they look for or desire : large ex- 
 pectations are ordinarily answered with large returns. 
 Expectation will put life into action : you will pray 
 with most enlarged hearts, when you are most full of 
 hopes; the reward that is looked for in the evening, 
 will much encourage and quicken the labor of the 
 day : fear not to expect too much from heaven. Be 
 not straitened in your own heart, and you shall not 
 be straitened in the God of compassion: open thy 
 mouth wide, and he will fill it. God will never up- 
 braid his beggars for looking for too great an alms ; 
 he has enough to supply them, and he has a heart to 
 bestow it. God will never say to you, You are too 
 bold, you ask too much — too much grace, too much 
 t 
 
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 377 
 
 holiness ; why cannot less content you ? God has 
 given you commission to ask what you will, not to 
 the one half, but the whole of his kingdom ; the king- 
 dom you shall have, if no less will serve your turn. 
 
 Christians, be thankful for every little you receive, 
 but look for much: be thankful for every little, every 
 little received from God is much. A drop from that 
 fountain is worth the world, yet content not youmlws 
 with some drops, when, if you will, the fountain may 
 be yours. The King of glory loves to give like a king, 
 and will never say, This is too much either for a king 
 to give, or a beggar to receive ; since he has given 
 you leave, spare not to speak in full your desires. 
 God has promised you, and therefore you may prom- 
 ise yourselves ; whatever you ask, that is good for 
 you, you shall not ask in vain. if we had so 
 much in our eye when we come before the throne of 
 grace, we should be oftener there, and yet still return 
 with our load. Well, Christians, remember this when- 
 ever you come to beg — look to receive, come not to 
 prayer as to an empty cistern that will yield no water. 
 
 III. Learn the skill to plead with God in prayer. 
 Though the Lord be willing to give to those that ask, 
 yet he will have them first prove they are in earnest. 
 Great store of arguments he has furnished us with 
 to press him withal, but he will have us use them : 
 we must strive with God if we will prevail, and the 
 best striving is with his own weapons. The counsel 
 I give you in this is, Plead hard with God, but plead 
 with him upon his own arguments : there are, among 
 many others, these four grounds on which to found 
 
378 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 your plea — on God himself ; on Christ ; on the prom- 
 ises ; on experiences. 
 
 1. On God himself. And there are two special 
 things from which you may plead here. 
 
 (1.) His gracious nature. Draw your arguments 
 by which you plead with God for mercy, from '.he 
 same source whence he originally drew his arguments 
 for showing mercy — from his own compassion, from 
 his gracious nature, from his natural goodness, and 
 gracious inclination to mercy : " God so loved the 
 world, that he gave his only begotten Son." John 
 3 : 16. "Having predestinated us unto the adoption 
 of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to 
 the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the 
 glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted 
 in the Beloved ; in whom we have redemption through 
 his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the 
 riches of his grace ; wherein he hath abounded tow- 
 ards us in all wisdom and prudence ; having made 
 known unto us the mystery of his will, according to 
 his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself." 
 Eph. 1 : 5-9. Here we have heaped up in a few 
 words the riches of mercy which God hath bestowed 
 on his people. Christ his beloved, redemption through 
 Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, the adoption of 
 children, acceptance in his sight, the revelation of 
 the mystery of his will, or the discovering or making 
 known these glorious mercies to us. 
 
 But whence is all this ? Who is it, or what was 
 it, that persuaded the Lord to this abundant kind- 
 ness ? Why, all this arose from himself. He pur- 
 
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 379 
 
 posed it in himself. He consulted no other argument 
 but what he found in his own heart. It was from his 
 love, the good pleasure of his will, his grace, the riches 
 of his grace, wherein he hath abounded towards us.' 
 Hosea 11 : 8, 9. "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? 
 How shall I deliver thee up, Israel ? I cannot do it, 
 I will not do it. I will not execute the fierceness of 
 mine anger, I will not destroy Ephraim." But why 
 wilt thou not be angry, Lord ; why wilt thou not 
 destroy Ephraim? "0," says the Lord, "my heart 
 is turned within me ; my heart says, Spare him ; my 
 compassion says, Destroy him not. I am God, and 
 not man. I love him, and my love is the love of a. 
 God. I have compassion on him, and my compassion 
 is the pity of a God : I will bear with him, I am a 
 God of patience : love is my nature ; pity and mercy 
 and compassion are my nature : I cannot destroy 
 Ephraim, but by denying mine own nature." Love 
 and pity and mercy and goodness are essential to 
 God. He can as soon cease to be God, as to be gra- 
 cious, and this is the fountain of all our mercy ; hence 
 Christ sprung, hence the gospel came, and all the 
 unsearchable riches of mercy prepared for poor lost and 
 undone creatures. 
 
 When you come to pray, draw your arguments 
 hence. Plead with the Lord upon his own nature, 
 his natural love, grace, and goodness. Thus we find 
 the apostle Peter praying for the Christians to whom 
 he wrote: "The God of all grace make you perfect; 
 stablish, strengthen, settle you." 1 Pet. 5 : 10. Plead 
 with the Lord in your prayers, as the psalmist pleads 
 
380 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 with himself in his affliction: ""Will the Lord cast off 
 for ever, and will he be favorable no more ? Is his 
 mercy clean gone for ever ; doth his promise fail for 
 evermore ? Hath God forgotten to be gracious ; hath he 
 in anger shut up his tender mercies ?" Psa. 77 : 7-9. 
 That men should be merciless, that men should forget 
 their friends in their low estate, is no such wonder. 
 But hath God, who is all grace, all mercy, all pity, 
 hath God forgotten ? Doth mercy cease to be mer- 
 ciful, grace cease to be gracious? Do compassions 
 cease to be pitiful? Hath God not only forgotten his 
 servant, but forgotten himself? Remember thyself, 
 Lord ; thine own heart, thine own soul, and according 
 to it, remember me. 
 
 (2.) Plead his glorious name. The Lord's nature 
 is to be gracious, and according to his nature, such is 
 his name: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and 
 gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness 
 and truth." Exod. 34 : 6. This is an argument which 
 the L*ord puts into the mouths of his people, telling 
 them, "I had pity for my holy name; I do not this 
 for your sakes, but for my holy name's sake." Ezek. 
 36 : 21, 22. And upon this argument we find them 
 frequently pleading with him : " For thy name's sake, 
 lead me and guide me." Psa. 31 : 3. "Do not abhor 
 us ; for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne 
 of thy glory : remember, break not thy covenant with 
 us." Jer. 14 : 21. Go you and do likewise. 
 
 2. Found your plea on Christ. And there are 
 four things from which you may plead with God upon 
 this account. 
 
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 381 
 
 The Lord's giving" Christ to you as your Lord 
 and your Saviour. Upon which gift, you may call 
 him your own. 
 
 The purchase of Christ, who has bought from the 
 hands of the Father all that you stand in need of. Ho 
 has bought your lives: "Ye are bought with a price." 
 1 Cor. 6 : 20. He has bought you a livelihood, has 
 purchased an inheritance and possession for you. 1 
 Peter, 1. 
 
 The interest that Christ has in the Father, being 
 the Son of God, the Son of his love, the Servant of 
 God, in whom his soul delights: "Behold my ser- 
 vant whom I have chosen, mine elect, in whom my 
 soul delighteth," Isa. 42 : 1, whose name is so pre- 
 cious and powerful with the Father, that it will carry 
 any suit, obtain any request: "Whatsoever ye shall 
 ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." 
 John 16 : 23. 
 
 The interest that you have in Christ. As he is 
 precious to his Father, so you are precious to him ; 
 as the Father can deny him nothing, so he can deny 
 Ins people nothing: "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my 
 name, that will I do." John 14 : 13. He gives you 
 commission to put his name upon all your requests, 
 and whatsoever prayer comes up with this name upon 
 it, he will procure it an answer. 
 
 Now when you are praying for any mercy, espec- 
 ially for any soul-mercy, make use of all these argu- 
 ments: "Lord, hast thou given Christ unto me, and 
 wilt thou not with him give me all things 1 stand in 
 need of? Hast thou given me the fountain, and wilt 
 
382 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 thou deny me the stream? When I beg pardon of sin, 
 when I beg power against sin, when I beg holiness, 
 is not all this granted me in thy gift of Christ to me ? 
 la Christ mine, and is not his blood mine to procure 
 my pardon, his Spirit mine to subdue my iniquities? 
 Are these mine, and wilt thou withhold them from 
 me ? 0, shall this guilt lie upon me, these sins live 
 in me, these lusts rule over me, when by giving me 
 in hand that whereof thou hast already given me a 
 grant, all this would be removed from me ? Look 
 upon Christ, Lord ; thou hast said to me, ' Look unto 
 Jesus,' and give thy servant leave to say the same to 
 thee. Look thou upon Jesus, and give out to me 
 what thou hast given me in giving him to me. Look 
 upon the purchase of Christ : do I want any thing, or 
 desire any thing but what my Lord has bought and 
 paid for, and thou hast accepted of the price ? Look 
 upon the name of Christ, which thou mayest behold 
 written upon every prayer I make; though thou may- 
 est say, ' For thy own sake thou shalt have nothing, 
 not a drop, not a crumb,' yet wilt thou say, ' Nor for 
 his name's sake neither?' Is not that name still a 
 mighty name, a precious name before the Lord ?" By 
 these hints you may learn how to plead with God 
 from any other arguments drawn from his promises, 
 your experience, etc. 
 
 Question. These arguments the saints may use 
 in prayer ; but is there no plea for poor unrenewed 
 men, that are yet in their sins, to make use of ? What 
 may they say for themselves, when they come before 
 the Lord? Have you never a word to put in their 
 
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 3S3 
 
 mouths ? they have more need of arguments than any. 
 "What shall they say ? 
 
 Answer. I shall premise that it is the duty of 
 mere natural men to pray: for, 1. Prayer is a part 
 of God's natural worship. If there were no positive 
 law requiring it, yet the law of nature enjoins it, and 
 no man is exempted from the obligation of the law 
 of nature. 2. Otherwise it were none of their sin to 
 neglect and restrain prayer; where no law is, there 
 is no transgression. Now we find in Scripture, that 
 neglect of prayer is reckoned up among wicked men's 
 sins : " They are all together become filthy, they call 
 not upon the Lord." Psa. 14 : 3, 4. Sin, though it 
 doth disable, yet doth not release from duty. 
 
 When a sinner, being struck with a sense of his 
 sin, and of his necessity of changing his way, and of 
 his utter inability to turn of himself, under the fears 
 and troubles of his heart goes to God and cries out, 
 "Lord, what shall I do? I see I am in an evil case, 
 my soul is running on in sin, and thy curse and wrath 
 I behold running on upon me: Lord, save me; Lord, 
 help me; Lord, pardon, Lord, convert me, break me 
 off from my sins, break me off from my sinful com- 
 panions; I cannot get loose, my heart is too hard, my 
 lusts are too strong, my temptations are too many 
 for me to overcome myself: Lord, help me ; turn me 
 and I shall be turned; pluck my foot out of the snare, 
 that I be not utterly destroyed ; forgive mine iniquity, 
 make me a clean heart, make me thy child, make 
 me thy servant, that I may never again yield up my- 
 self a servant to sin." To such a prayer as this, n it 
 
384 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 be hearty and in earnest, if there be no promise of 
 audience, yet at least there is a half promise. Who 
 can tell ? It may be the Lord will hear. 
 
 Consider that sinners, if they have but a heart to 
 it, have also a price in their hands; God has put 
 arguments into their mouths also, to plead with him 
 for mercy, as, 
 
 1. The grace of God, or his gracious nature — his 
 readiness to show mercy; this even strangers may 
 lay hold upon. 
 
 2. God's call or gracious invitation, "Ho, every 
 one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that 
 hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, 
 buy wine and milk, without money and without 
 price." Isaiah 55 : 1. " Look unto me, and be ye 
 saved, all the ends of the earth." "Come unto me, 
 all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
 you rest." Rise, sinner, he calleth thee: go to the 
 Lord, and when thou goest tell him, "Lord, thou hast 
 bid me come, and behold here I am; I come, Lord, 
 at thy word, I come for a little water, I come for thy 
 wine and thy milk; I have brought no price in my 
 hand, but thou hast bid me come and buy without 
 money and without price. Though I have no grace, 
 yet behold, at thy word I come for grace; though I 
 have no Christ, yet I come for Christ ; though I can- 
 not call thee Father, yet being called, I come to thee 
 as fatherless; with thee the fatherless shall find 
 mercy. If I am not thy child, may I not be made 
 thy child ? Hast thou not a child's blessing left yet 
 to bestow upon me ? Thou hast bid me come, and 
 
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 385 
 
 eome for a blessing. Bless me, even me also, Lord. 
 "Wherefore hast thou sent for me ? Shall I be sent 
 away as I came? I come at thy word; do not say, 
 Begone, out of my sight. I cannot go at thy word ; 
 I will not go ; for whither shall I go from thee ; thou 
 nast the words of eternal life ? Since thou wilt havo 
 me speak, Lord, answer ; though I dare not say, ' Be 
 just to me, a saint,' yet I do say, I will say, I must 
 say, ' Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.' " 
 
 3. Plead Christ. And there are two things in 
 Christ which sinners may plead with God. 
 
 His sufficiency. There is enough in Christ, in his 
 obedience and death, to save the worst of sinners, to 
 save the whole world of sinners. There is a fulness in 
 Christ, " It pleased the Father, that in him should all 
 fulness dwell." Col. 1 : 19. There is a fulness of 
 merit to obtain pardon, to make reconciliation for 
 whoever comes ; a fulness of the Spirit to sanctify 
 and cleanse them from their sins. " He is able to 
 save unto the uttermost all those that come unto 
 God by him." From this, sinners may reason thus 
 with the Lord : Lord, I do not come to beg that of 
 thee which cannot be had ; thou hast enough by thee ; 
 look upon Jesus that sits at thy right hand : is there 
 not righteousness enough in him to answer for all my 
 unrighteousness ; are there not riches enough in him 
 to supply my poverty? Hear, Lord; send me not 
 away without an alms, when thou hast it by thee. 
 
 His office — which is to bring sinners to God, to 
 make reconciliation for sinners, to make intercession 
 for transgressors. Isa. 53 : 12. " Thou hast received 
 
 Heaven Oueae it. 1 / 
 
386 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also." Psa. 68 : iH. 
 "What a strange and mighty plea is here for poor sin- 
 ners ! " 0, it is true, Lord, I am a transgressor, and 
 have been from the womb ; I have played the traitor, 
 and been a rebel against thee all my days ; but is 
 there none in heaven that will intercede for a trans- 
 gressor ? Has the Lord Jesus received no gift for this 
 poor rebel, that falls down before thee? Though I am 
 a rebel, Lord, yet I am a returning rebel: though I 
 am a rebel, yet let me receive a rebel's gift — not a 
 rebel's terrible reward, but some of those gifts which 
 Christ received for the rebellious. Does Christ make 
 intercession for transgressors, and shall not he be 
 heard ? If thou wilt not hear me who am a sinner, 
 yet wilt thou not hear Him that speaks for sinners, 
 whose blood speaks, whose mercy speaks, whose Spirit 
 speaks ? Does he speak for sinners, and yet not for 
 me ?" 
 
 4. Plead your own necessity. Sinners are neces- 
 sitous, they have nothing of value left them ; in the 
 fulness of their sufficiency they are in straits. As a 
 sinner of a hundred years is but a child, so a sinner 
 of thousands by the year is but a beggar — poor, mis- 
 erable, blind, and naked: he may feel the want of 
 nothing, and yet lack every thing that is good. Sin 
 has stripped him to the skin, stabbed him to the 
 heart; the iron has entered into his soul, it has left 
 him nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying 
 sores. It is thy case, sinner, and hast thou nothing 
 to say ? Spread thy wants and necessities before the 
 Lord, and let these speak for thee. 
 
THE DUTY OF PRAYER. 3S7 
 
 Open thy wounds and thy sores, tell him how des- 
 perately sad thy case is, tell him of the guilt that is 
 upon thy head, the curse that is on thy back, the 
 plague that is in thy heart, and let this he thy plea : 
 "G-od of compassion, look hither; behold what a poor, 
 blind, dead, hardened, unclean, guilty creature, what 
 a naked, empty, helpless, creature I am: look upon 
 my sin and my misery, and let thine eye affect thy 
 heart. One deep calls to another; a deep of misery 
 cries out to a deep of mercy. 0, my very sins, which 
 cry so loud against me, speak also for me. My misery 
 speaks; my curses, the woe and the wrath that lie 
 upon me speak; my bones speak, my perishing soul 
 speaks, and all cry in thine ears, Help, Lord God of 
 pity, help, help and heal me, help and save me ; come 
 unto mc, for I am a sinful man, Lord: I dare not 
 say as once it was said, Depart from me, for I am a 
 sinful man: come, Lord, for I am a sinful man. Thou 
 couldst never come where there is more need : who 
 have need of the physician but the sick ? Come, Lord ; 
 I have too often said, ' Depart from me,' but if thou 
 wilt not say, 'Depart,' to me, I hope I shall never 
 again say, Depart, to thee. My misery saith, Come; 
 my wants say, Come ; my guilt- and my sins say, 
 Come; and my soul saith, Come. Come, then, find 
 pardon, come and convert, come and teach, come and 
 sanctify, come and save me ; even so, come, Lord 
 Jesus." 
 
 Thus you have the sinner's plea. Poor sinner, art 
 thou willing to return from thy sins ? fear not to go 
 tc thy God. Go, and the Lord help thee, give thee 
 
388 HEAVEN OPENED. 
 
 thy heart's desire, and fulfil all thy mind ; and for thy 
 encouragement take along with thee this scripture : 
 "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye 
 upon him while he is near : let the wicked forsake his 
 way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and let 
 him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy 
 upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly 
 pardon." Isa. 55 : 6, 7. 
 
PUBLICATIONS 
 
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 $10. 
 
 13 Faley's Natural Theology and Horaa 
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 14 Olinthus Gregory's Letters on Infi- 
 delity. 
 
 15 Nelson on Infidelity. 
 
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 17 Memoir of Dr. Milnor. 
 
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 RELIGIOUS LIBRARY, 24 VOLS 
 
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