§ 10. Compare the glorious change thou shalt have at last, with the gracious change which the Spirit hath here wrought on thy heart. There is not the smallest sincere grace in thee, but is of greater worth than the riches of the Indies; not a hearty desire and groan after Christ, but is more to be valued than the kingdoms of the world. A renewed nature is the _very image of God; Christ dwelling in us_; and _the Spirit of God abiding in us_: It is a beam from the face of God; _the seed of God remaining us_; the only inherent beauty of the rational soul: It ennobles man above all nobility; fits him to understand his Maker's pleasure, do his will, and receive his glory. If this _grain of mustard seed_ be so precious, what is _the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God_? If a spark of life, which will but strive against corruptions, and flame out a few desires and groans, be of so much worth; how glorious then is the fountain of this life? If we are said to be _like God_, when we are pressed down with a body of sin; sure we shall be much more like God, when we have no such thing as sin within us. Is the desire after, and love of heaven so excellent; what then is the thing itself? Is our joy in foreseeing and believing so sweet; what will be the joy of full possession! How glad is a Christian when he feels his heart begin to melt and be dissolved with the thoughts of sinful unkindness? Even this sorrow yields him joy. O what then will it be, when we shall know, and love, and rejoice, and praise in the highest perfection? Think with thyself, "What a change was it, to be taken from that state wherein I was born, and in which I was rivetted by custom, when thousands of sins lay upon my score, and if I had so died, I had been damned forever? What an astonishing change, to be justified from all these enormous crimes, and freed from all these fearful plagues, and made an heir of heaven? How often, when I have thought of my regeneration, have I cried out, O blessed day! and blessed be the Lord that ever I saw it! How then shall I cry out in heaven, O blessed eternity! and blessed be the Lord that brought me to it! Did the angels of God rejoice to see my conversion? Surely they will congratulate my felicity in my salvation. Grace is but a spark raked up in the ashes, covered with flesh from the sight of the world, and sometimes covered with corruption from my own sight; but my everlasting glory will not be so clouded, nor my light be _under a bushel, but on a hill_, even upon Mount Sion, the Mount of God."
§ 11. Once more, compare the joys which thou shalt have above, with those foretastes of it which the Spirit hath given thee here. Hath not God sometimes revealed himself extraordinarily to thy soul, and let a drop of glory fall upon it? Hast thou not been ready to say, "O that it might be thus with my soul continually?" Didst thou never cry out with the martyr, after thy long and mournful expectations, "He is come, He is come?" Didst thou never, under a lively sermon of heaven, or in thy retired contemplations on that blessed state, perceive thy drooping spirits revive, and thy dejected heart lift up the head, and the light of heaven dawn on thy soul? Think with thyself, "What is this earnest to the full inheritance? Alas, all this light, that so amazeth and rejoiceth me, is but a candle lighted from heaven, to lead me thither through this world of darkness: If some godly men have been overwhelmed with joy, till they have cried out, _Hold, Lord, stay thy hand; I can bear no more_: What then will be my joys in heaven, when my soul shall be so capable of seeing and enjoying God, that though the light be ten thousand times greater than the sun, yet my eyes shall be able for ever to behold it?" Or, if thou hast not yet felt these sweet foretastes, (for every believer hath not felt them,) then make use of such delights as thou hast felt, in order the better to discern what thou shalt hereafter feel.
§ 12. (II.) I am now to shew how heavenly contemplation may be preserved from a wandering heart. Our chief work is here to discover the danger, and that will direct to the fittest remedy. The heart will prove the greatest hinderance in this heavenly employment; either, by backwardness to it;—or, by trifling in it;—or, by frequent excursions to other objects;—or, by abruptly ending the work before it is well begun. As you value the comfort of this work, these dangerous evils must be faithfully resisted.