: set on their enjoyments: ask them what in heaven or earth should purchase one moment's interval of their bliss; ask some radiant seraph, amidst the fervency of his raptures, at what price he values his happiness and when these have named the purchase, earth and hell may try to balance mine. Let them spread the baits that tempt deluded men to ruin; let riches, honour, beauty, and bewitching pleasure, appear in all their charms, the sensuality of the present and past ages, the Persian delicacy, and the Roman pride; let them uncover the golden mines, and disclose the ruby sparkling in its bed; let them open the veins of sapphire, and show the diamond glittering on its rock; let them all be thrown into the balance, alas! their weight is too little and too light.-Let the pageantries of state be added, imperial titles, and the ensigns of Majesty; put in all that boundless vanity imagines, or wild ambition craves, crowns and sceptres, regal vestments and golden thrones,the scale still mounts- Throw in the world entire,—it is unsubstantial, and light as airy vanity. Are these thy highest boasts, O deluding world! Ye ministers of darkness, have ye nothing else to offer? Are these your utmost proposals? Are these compensations for the favour of God? Alas! that boundless word has a meaning which out joy are expressed in it. The light of his counte nance signifies more than angels can describe, or mortality imagine. And shall I quit all that an everlasting heaven means, for empty shadows? Go, ye baffled tempters, go offer your toys to madmen and fools; they all vanish under my scorn, and cannot yield so much as an amusement to my aspiring thoughts. The sun, in all his spacious circuit, beholds nothing to tempt my wishes. These winding skies in all their ample round, contain nothing equal to my desires. My ambition has far different ends, and other prospects in view; nothing below the joys of angels can satisfy me. Let me explore the worlds of life and beauty, and find a path to the dazzling recesses of the Most High. Let me drink at the fountain-head of pleasure, and derive all that I want from original and uncreated fulness and felicity. Oh divine love! let me launch out into thy pleasurable depths, and be swallowed up of thee. Let me plunge at once in immortal joy, and lose myself in the infinite ocean of happiness. Till then I pine for my celestial country; till then I murmur to the winds and streams, and tell the solitary shades my grief. The groves are conscious to my complaints, and the moon and stars listen to my sighs. By their silent lights I talk over my heavenly concerns, and give a vent to my divine affections in mortal language; then looking upward, I grow impatient to reach the milky way, the seats of joy and immortality. Come love, come life, and that bless'd day And drink the unseal'd source of thee. Oh come, I cry, thou whom my soul loveth. I would go on, but want expression, and vainly struggle with the unutterable thought. Tell me, you sons of light, who feel the force of these celestial fires, in what language you paint their sacred violence? or do the tongues of seraphs faulter? Does the language of paradise want emphasis here, and immortal eloquence fail? Surely your happiness is more perfect than all your descriptions of it. Heaven echoes to your charming notes, as far as they reach; while divine love, which is all your song, is infinite, and knows no limits of degree. or duration. Yet I would say, some gentle spirit, come and instruct me in your art; lend me a golden harp, and guide the sacred flight; let me imitate your devout strains, let me copy out your harmony; and then, Some of the fairest quire above Shall flock around my song, With joy to hear the name they love Sound from a mortal tongue. with you in your celestial style of adoration and love. I long to learn your ecstacies of worship and joy, in a language which mortals cannot pronounce, and to speak the divine passion of my soul in words which are now unspeakable. XX. Self reproof for inactivity. Is it possible, that I should one day be rapt almost into the third heavens, and ere a few weeks have passed over me, I should find myself creeping amongst the insects of the earth, and almost as meanly busied as they? Can divine love, which exalted me lately into flaming transports, so far subside and grow cool within me? Can it leave me so unactive as I now feel myself? What shall I do to shame my conscience with reproaches, and renew the flame of religious zeal and vigour ? Alas! how does the activity of men about the. little affairs of human life condemn my negligence in matters of everlasting consequence? Does the fond lover, with such anxiety and impatience, pursue the object of his wishes; and shall not divine beauty, and infinite loveliness, inflame my desires to a nobler height, and excite my languishing devotion? Are the ambitious so restless and solicitous to make themselves great, and to purchase the veneration of fools? Do they lay such mighty projects, and compass their designs with such pains and dif ficulty, for mere pageantry and gaudy trifles; and shall I, who am a candidate for heaven, a proba. tioner for celestial dignity, lose my title for want of diligence? Shall I faint in the noble strife, when God and angels are ready to assist me, and every moment's toil will be recompensed with eternal ages of rest and triumph? See, see, the moments fly, the labour shortens, and the immense reward draws near; the palm of victory, the starry crown are in view; the happy realms and fields of light entertain me with their glorious prospect. Rouse thee, my soul, to the most active pursuit of these felicities: waken all thy sprightly powers, and let it never, never be thy reproach, that the vigour and intenseness of thy labours fall short of the pretensions of thy desire; or that thy holy industry should sink so far below the fervour of those affections, which in a devout hour thou hast pronounced inexpressible. O Lord, what a mutable thing is man? what fraility works in this flesh and blood, and hangs heavy upon our better powers? It is grace, divine grace alone, can keep alive that immortal spark within us, which came first from heaven, and first taught our hears to arise and spring upward. Preserve and complete thy own work, almighty grace.. XXI. A joyful view of approaching death. O DEATH, where is thy sting? where is thy boas |