It is only my

for it, thou wilt never leave me nor forsake me. love to thee which makes me complain, though not of the inconstancy, yet of the weakness of my love. The coldness of my affections, the listlessness of my devotions, my aptness to be tired and soon weary of the divinest pleasure and satisfaction, the unevenness of my temper, the sudden discomposures I feel in my spirit, are the things that often trouble me.

But I ought to remember that I am now in a body full of disorders; and that my life is a warfare which I ought patiently to accomplish. And I have great reason to bless thy name, O thou most glorious Conqueror of the devil and sin, by whose gracious aids my will standeth firm, and doth not yield or in the least consent to displease thy Majesty. By thy power I have and shall do valiantly. Thou shalt still tread down all mine enemies. My soul shall make her boast in thee, O Lord, and be glad in thy salvation. For I am continually with thee who hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

Thus will I always hope in thee, if thou wilt but be pleased mercifully to bear with my incurable infirmities; to relieve my fainting spirit in this tedious pilgrimage, and to permit me to sigh sometime and say, O when will this long contest be ended? when will this war which my passions raise in my breast be concluded, and suffer me to live in tranquillity, and enjoy the sweetest pleasures of perfect peace? Yea, when shall all thine enemies throughout the world be disarmed, and there be no more rebellions against thy most sacred authority and thy sovereign will?

O come, sweet Jesus, come, thou Lord of peace; get thyself and us the victory, that we may be more than conquerors, and triumph in thy praise. Come, and bring this troubled spirit into thy serene and undisturbed regions above. Come, and give it the wings of an angel, that I may flee away and be at rest that I may flee away from all the follies and from all the sorrows of this sinful life; and be at rest with thee, my dearest Lord.

At rest in that peaceful place, in that paradise above, where is no dangerous fruit to invite, no tempting Eve to solicit, no subtle serpent to deceive: but we shall all live like so many PATRICK, VOL. III.

gods indeed, perfectly wise and perfectly good; inviting one another only to praise and love thee with our united strength : thee, who art the first and the last; the beginner of our faith, and the finisher of our hope; the guide of our pilgrimage through the troublesome wilderness of this world, and the eternal rest of our wearied souls in that heavenly country which overflows with pleasures for evermore.

CHAP. XIV.

Two reasons more to induce us to raise our thoughts and affections to the appearing of our Lord.

VI.

AND the very first step we shall take towards our heavenly rest will be so surprising, and advance us so far above our present imperfections, that it must needs, if we seriously consider it, make this appearing of his extremely desirable. Because all good men shall have the favour then to be snatched from this earth, and carried up into the air, to meet our Lord Jesus there, when he appears in his glory.

And who is there that understands himself who would not wish to be thus translated, rather than to stay here, though it were to see our Lord come to reign with his saints a thousand years upon the earth? Which Judaical conceit (as St. Hierom truly calls it) was embraced by many great men in ancient times, as a piece of the most orthodox faith. So Justin Martyr esteemed it; and Irenæus, with many others, were very zealous for it. And if they had thought more of spiritual delights, which the saints should have in that Sabbath (as they termed it) by the presence of our Lord, St. Austin, for his part, acknowledges it would have been a tolerable opinion, to which he himself was sometimes inclined. For all good men, as I said before, would be glad to see righteousness planted more universally in the earth, and prevailing over vice and wickedness, before the dissolution of all things. And yet, even then (should we suppose them to be so happy here) they would be

Lib. xx. de Civ. Dei, c. 7. [tom. viii. col. 581.]

far more glad to behold our Lord appear in his glory to take them quite away from this earth: where, as long as they continue, they must needs be dull and heavy, cloudy and dark, and enjoy but little of him, till they quit this gross body of flesh and blood, and go up into a purer state of light, and vigorous life.

Which St. Paul hath given us hope we shall enter into at the appearing of our Lord. Who will descend from heaven with great acclamations (you heard before from 1 Thess. iv. 16.) to raise the dead and judge the world. And then his saints are not to remain any longer here, but a sudden change being made in them, both they who are then alive, and all those who are newly raised from the dead, shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the aire. There he will show himself, and not upon this earth. Thither they shall be carried up unto him, and not he come down hither unto them.

And if you well observe it, the apostle teaches you to believe that this ascent of the saints unto him will be in a very glorious manner. Just as he comes from heaven shall they go up thither; for St. Paul saith we shall be caught up in the clouds, as so many triumphal chariots sent to fetch us from this earth, and transport us to himself. Who when he stood before his judges to receive his sentence from them, thus describes his own coming to judge them ;-Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heavenf. Though now, that is, I am arraigned and condemned by you, as if I were the vilest of men; you shall one day see that I am the Son of God, by whom you shall be judged; for with amazement you shall behold me clothed with. divine majesty, and coming as the vicegerent of the supreme Lord of all, to call you to an account. For every one knows that clouds are called the chariot of Gods; and therefore his coming in the clouds of heaven can signify nothing else but his appearing in the glory and with the authority of his Father; as Lord of the world, that hath conquered all his enemies, and is come to pronounce the sentence of God upon them.

In such a splendid manner, with the like pomp and state, shall we be carried up to him, as so many princes going to g Psalm civ. 3.

d 1 Cor. xv. 52.

e Ver. 17.

f Matt. xxvi. 64.

wait upon him, and to receive the honour he will delight to confer upon us in the sight of all the world. Nay, it will be part of our honour to be conveyed to him, just as Elias, yea he himself ascended into heaven. For a chariot of fire h appeared for the transportation of the one, and a cloudi, which is the same, received the other out of the apostles' sight.

O blessed day, O happy appearing, doth an heavenly-minded Christian often think with himself, when a sight of my Saviour will draw me up to him, to be where he is! O most glorious, most beautiful spectacle, when his beams which fall upon me shall make me ascend from this earth, as the vapours do before the rays of the sun! O the joy that will fill my heart, when I shall see those gilded chariots sent from my Saviour to fetch me unto himself!

How shall I sing when I am uncooped, and let out of this cage, (wherein I am now confined,) to accompany the free people of the air in their heavenly melodies! What a pleasure will it be to look behind me, as I fly up unto Jesus, and see what a poor spot this earth is, of which I shall then have taken my leave for ever! O how glad shall I be that I am to return no more to a place so dull, so dark, and so full of miseries! How happy shall I think myself that I am gone quite away from this vile orb, which will not seem then to my exalted soul so big as a pin's head! Nay, how joyful will it make me to find that I am at last ascended up so high, as to have lost the sight of this little globe, and of all the kingdoms and empires that it contains!

O my gracious Lord, pardon me if I be sometime apt to think that thou stayest too long before thou comest to call me up unto those heavenly places. This flesh is too unwieldy a load, when I think of that aërial state. It hath made me groan ever since thou madest me believe that thou wilt bestow a lighter garment upon my soul. Heretofore indeed I fancied nothing more than a body fresh and plump, a tall and proper stature, a fair face and beautiful features; and I was prone to envy those who dwelt in such fine and goodly palaces: but ever since the time that I heard of going into the air to meet with

thee, my Lord, all the love they excite in my heart makes such habitations seem no better than stately prisons. I have looked upon myself and sweetest friends in our most healthy estate, and sighed to think that we were in chains and fetters. Nay, the best of these houses, I tell them, at certain seasons are but painted sepulchres, wherein the mind lies dead and buried.

It is thou therefore, O most blessed Lord, who hast made me to wish so earnestly for thine appearing. I owe these longings to the discovery which thou hast made to me of another and better world, whither thou intendest to transport me. And if I have a mind to begin my journey thither presently, if I would fain feel my wings so grown that they might be able to bear me up above this earth, if my soul sometimes would willingly be released from these chains, and have the freedom to leave this flesh, and if I wish withal that this flesh may be changed, and turned into a kind of spiritual being; I must ascribe it unto thee, who hast begot these desires in me, by telling me of a building of God eternal in the heavens when this earthly tabernacle is dissolved.

Thou hast revealed these things to me, that I might desire them; and who can desire them, and not wish withal that he might presently enjoy them? Let it not displease thee therefore, I beseech thee again, O my dearest Lord, if I say sometimes, I am weary of being here. Do not esteem me impatient if, in the agonies and pangs of love, I long to come up higher, and get as near as may be to thyself. Suffer me to pray thee that these walls of flesh may not long immure me and exclude me from thy face. At least open a window for my gasping soul, that I may look into the purer air, and please myself in the thoughts of the flight which I shall one day take to see thee and enjoy thee in unclouded bliss.

VII.

But there is something beyond all this to draw our affections from all things here, and to make us love and long for the coming of our Lord; and that is the crown of righteousness, which the apostle tells us, in this very place, shall then be given to all those who are thus piously disposed for it.

I cannot tell you how much is contained in these two words,