MEDITATION XXII.

THE UNION BETWEEN CHRIST AND BELIEVERS.

Spithead, May 14, 1758.

THERE is an union between Christ and believers, that every metaphor falls short of. No relation so near as he: The friend may prove false, the brother betray the brother, parents cast off the relation, and husband and wife be separated. Three strong figures hold forth this union, that of the tree and his branches, the head and his members, and eating the flesh, and drinking the blood of the Son of God. Now, what we eat and drink mixes with the mass of blood, and is so intimately assimilated with the fluids, that no power can separate it again; so, when by faith I receive the Son of God, and eat his flesh, and drink his blood, my soul partakes of the divine nature, till every power is holy, every affection heavenly, and till the life of Christ is made manifest in my body.

After this union, the soul and Christ cannot be separated; death may send the soul out of the body, but cannot send Christ out of the soul: And hereupon follows a commonness of interest. Christ renews the will, sanctifies the affections, enlightens the understanding, and claims the whole soul for his temple ; yea more, he showers down his mercies, numbers his crosses, weighs his afflictions, wherewith he himself is also afflicted, and bears his sorrows. And all of Christ is the soul's ; his righteousness, his love, his joy, his pardon, his mercy, kindness, and compassion; his protection, direction, and conduct; his favour, his power, and sympathy, his light, and glory, his crown, and throne, his felicity, and his eternity in life. Thus

the soul lives in Christ, and he in the soul. Their life is divinely interwoven; "you in me, and I in you." Hence, because he lives, they shall live also. Husband and wife must lose their relation by death; the branches may be cut off from the root, and the head, that sympathises with all, may lose some of its members: but he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, and a spirit can never be divided.

This mysterious union is bliss begun on earth, and heavenly felicity tasted below, and shall be the eternal admiration of angels, the envy of devils and damned spirits, and the wonder of the higher house.

MEDITATION XXIII.

IMPERFECT ATTAINMENTS.

HOW pitiful are our highest attainments in this imperfect state! But, O how beautiful is it for the child of grace to grow daily in grace, and in the knowledge of God! to rise step by step, till at length complete in Him who is the pattern of perfection! Let it be my continual struggle, then, that my grace, like the shining light, may shine more and more till the perfect day of glory. I can never get so near to God, but there still remains, and through eternity will remain, a distance, to be destroyed by approaching yet more near: Mine attainments can never be so high, but there remains something attainable, which I have not yet attained. "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if I may appre hend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." If this was the confession of the great apostle, what must I say, who am but just setting my head

through the shadows of the night, and peeping into the dawning of divine things?

Hence let me press vigorously towards perfection, and not be contented with one beam of his glory, seeing he is willing to reveal it all. Let me daily be drawing more near to him, till, Enoch-like, I walk with God, and have my conversation in heaven. Let me daily sit at wisdom's door, and stand at the gate of paradise, that, since as yet I cannot enter in, I may send in my faith to view the fields, the land of my Beloved, and returning, bring me the substance of the excellen cies hoped for, the evidence of the glorious things not seen. Let me walk in the mount of God, with him whose form is like the Son of God. Let the desire of my soul be to thy name, and the remembrance of thee. Let an uninterrupted communication be broken up between the fountain of life and my soul, that I may bear no more the reproach of barrenness. And from that river of life that springs from the throne of God, and of the Lamb, let me daily drink, that I may thirst no more after the vanities of time. Let me live quite above the world, above its pleasures, and above its pains, disdain its flatteries, and despise its frowns. Let grace grow from one degree unto another, till, at last, O desirable perfection! it grow to glory. Let me hold thee, and not let thee go, till thou bless me, in perfecting my attainments, and crowning my happiness with the full fruition, unclouded vision, and uninterrupted communion with Jehovah, and the Lamb, for ever

more.

MEDITATION XXIV.

ON KING'S ALLOWANCE.

May 19, 1748.

IT is surprising, that government allows the least boy the same kind and quantity of provisions that any man or any officer aboard can claim; yet, it is no more than may be expected from royal generosity, since they, in their capacity, support the same cause, undergo the same hardships, rush into the same dangers, and expose their lives, though young and tender, at the commandment, and for the honour of the King.

Even so, every child of grace that is born into the family of God, has the same ample right to all the heavenly blessings. No sooner is he a son, than he is an heir of all the fulness of the covenant. The young convert is allowed, by the King eternal, to plead the performance of all the promises, and to claim all the privileges that the aged saint can do.

Again, as nothing can be more pleasant, than to see early youth walking in the ways of holiness; so, often to such have bright manifestations of love, and large communications of grace, been given. And the love of espousals, and the kindness of youth, is a melting, a long remembered kindness. Have not some children gone off the stage, with such a gale of glory on their spirits, that aged saints have been at once astonished and ashamed?

Have not some youths, who have suffered martyrdom for the name of Jesus, been so assisted with grace, that they despised reproach, and smiled in the face of danger-been so refreshed with foretastes of glory, that they could contemn torment, and mount the scaf

fold with the same joy as if they had been going up the rounds of Jacob's ladder? And, have not some striplings on a death-bed had such a double portion of communion, that they could look on dissolution with delight, forbid their friends to pray for their recovery, and could meet their fatal moments with the same alacrity as a young prince going to the grand solemnity of his own coronation ?

MEDITATION XXV.

ON THE BLOWING UP OF A SHIP.

MANY are the appearances which death puts on, and in every one of them he is terrible. Sometimes his commission bears him to lay siege to the clay-walls for a long time, and to waste them away with a lingering consumption; and then he steals on them so insensibly, that they still entertain hopes of recovery, and believe themselves better a day or two before death. At one time he comes in flames of fire, at another time in swelling floods; and at another time, by a sudden stroke, he sweeps the man at once off the stage.

Though fire is terrible any where, yet much more so when the burning pile is surrounded by a boundless sea. It is, no doubt, a moving sight, to see a naked family, with wringing hands, and weeping eyes, deplore their all in flames! A family, just alarmed out of their midnight sleep, by the doleful cries of affrighted spectators, with no more than time to escape the burning blaze! However, by the assistance of waterengines, and a thousand friendly hands, the fire is got under, and half the house is saved; or, should all be consumed, they are still happy in the possession of