Inference 1. How sure and certain a thing it is, that there is a God, and a state of glory prepared i/i heaven for sanctified souls.
These things are undeniable. God hath set them before our -spiritual eyes and senses : Beside the revelation of it in the gospel, which singly makes it infallible; the Lord, for our abundant satisfaction, hath brought these tilings down to the touch and test of our spiritual senses and experiences. You that have had so many sights of God by faith, so many sweet tastes of heaven in the duties of religion, O what a confirmation and seal have you of the reality of invisible things ! You may say of heaven, and the joys above, as the apostle did of him that purchased it, 1 John i. 1. " That which our eyes have seen, and our ears have heard, and our " hands have handled,*' &c. For God hath set these things in some degree before your very eyes, and put the first-fruits of them into your own hands. The sweet relish of the joy of the Lord is upon the very palate of your souls. To this spiritual sense of the believing Hebrews, the apostle appealed, Heb. x. 34. when he said, *' Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves " that ye have in heaven a better, and an enduring substance." This kno^ving in ourselves is more certain and sweet than all the traditional reports we can get from the reports of others, 1 Pet. i. 8. " Whom having not seen ye love ; whom, though now you see " him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and " full of glory." Thei-e is more of heaven felt and tasted in this Korld than men are aware oi', it is one thing to hear of such
countries as Spain, Italy, Smyrna, by tlie cliscout-ses and reports we heard of them in our chililhood, and another thing to under- stand those countries by the rich commodities imported from them, in tlie way of our trade and commerce. O did we but know what other Christians have felt and tasted j we would not have such staggering thoughts about invisible things ! but the secret comforts of religion are, and ought to be for the most part inclosed things. Religion lays not all open ; the Christian life is a hidden life;
Infer. 2. If such a height of communion with God be attainable on earth, then most Christia?is live below the duties and comforts of Christianity.
Alas, the best of us are but at the foot of this pleasant mount Pisgah. As we are but in the infancy of our graces, so we are but in the infancy of our comforts. What a poor house is kept by many of God's own children ; living between hopes and fears, seldom tasting the riches and pleasures j the joys and comforts of assurance ! And will you know the feasons of it ? There are five things which usually keep them poor and low as to spiritual joys and comforts. (1.) The incumbrances of the world, which divert them from, or distract them in their duties of communion with God, and so keep them low in their spiritual comforts : They have so much to do on earth, that they have little time for heavenly- employments. O what a noise and din do the trifles of this world make in the heads and hearts of many Christians ! How dear do we pay for such trifles as these ? (2.) A spirit of morality creep- ing into the duties of religion, impoverishes the vital spirit thereof, like the wanton embraces of the ivy, which binds and starves \\\q tree it clasps about. Religion cannot thrive under formality; and it is diflicult to keep out formality in a settled course of duty, and much more when duties are intermitted. (3.) The business of temptations pestering the minds of many Christians, especially such as are of melancholy constitutions. How importunate and restless are these temptations with some Christians ? They can make little comfort or advantage out of duty, by reason of them. (4.) Heart- apostasy, inward decays of our first love, is another reason why our duties prosper so little. Rev. ii. 14. " Thou hast left thy first " love."" You were not wont to serve God with such coldness. (5.) In a word, spiritual pride impoverishes our comforts ; the *oys of the Spirit, like brisk wines, are too strong for our weak eads. For these causes, many Christians are kept low in spiritual comforts.
Infer. 3. How sweet and desirable is the society of the saints! ii must needs be desirable to walk with them, who walk with God, 1 John i. 3. No such companions as the saints. What benefit or pleasure
can we find in converses with sensual worldlings ? All we can carry away out of such company is guilt or grief. " All my delight (saith " David) is in the saints, and in the excellent of the earth, which " excel in virtue," Psal. xvi. 3. And their society would certainly be much more sweet, and desirable, than it is did they live more in communion with God than they do. There was a time when the communion of the saints was exceeding lovely, Mai. iii. 16. Acts ii. 46, 47. the Lord restore it to its primitive glory, and sweetness.
Infer. 4. What an unspeakable mercy is conversion, which lets the soul into such a state of spiritual pleasure ?
Here is the beginning of your acquaintance with God, the first tale of spiritual pleasures, of which there shall never be an end. All the time men have spent in the world in an unconverted state, hath been a time of estrangement and alienation from God ; when the Lord brings a man to Christ, in the way of conversion, he then begins his first acquaintance ^Axh God. Job xxii. 21. " Ac- " quaint now thyself with him, and be at peace, thereby good shall " come unto thee." This is your first acquaintance with the Lord, which will be a growing thing ; every visit you give him, in prayer increaseth your acquaintance, and begets more intimacy, and humble, holy familiarity betwixt him and you. And, O what a paradise of pleasure doth this let the soul into ! the life of religion abounds with pleasures, Psal. xvi. 11. " All his ways are ways of " pleasantness, and his paths are peace," Prov. iii. 17. Now you know where to go, and unload any trouble that presseth your hearts ; whatever prejudices and scandal Satan, and his instruments, cast upon religion, this I will affirm of it, that that man must necessarily be a stranger to true pleasure, and empty of real comfort, who is a stranger to Christ, and the duties of communion with him. It is true, here is no allowance for sinful pleasures, nor any want of spiritual pleasures. Bless God, therefore, for converting grace, you that have it, and lift up a cry to heaven for it, you that want it.