what infiniteness of pains, that cannot, yet must be endured! O God, if the impotent displeasure of weak men have devised such subtle engines of revenge upon their fellow mortals, for but petty offences; how can we but think thine infinite justice and wisdom must have ordained such forms and ways of punishment, for heinous sins done. against thee, as may be answerable to the violation of thy Divine Majesty! Oh, therefore, the most fearful and deplorable condition of damned spirits, never to be ended, never to be abated! Oh those unquenchable flames! Oh that burning Tophet, deep and large, and those streams of brimstone, wherewith it is kindled! Oh that worm ever gnawing and tearing the heart, never dying, never sated! Oh ever-living death, oh ever-renewing torments! Oh never-pitied, never-intermitted damnation! From hence, O Saviour, from hence it is, that thou hast fetched my condemned soul; this is the place, this is the state, out of which thou hast snatched me up into thy heaven. Oh love and mercy, more deep than those depths from which thou hast saved me; more high than that heaven to which thou hast advanced me!

VIII. Christ's love in giving us the guard of his angels.

Now, whereas in my passage from this state of death towards the fruition of immortal glory, I am waylaid by a world of dangers, partly through my own sinful aptness to miscarriages, and partly through the assaults of my spiritual enemies; how hath thy tender love and compassion, O blessed Jesus, undertaken to secure my soul from all these deadly perils, both without and within: without, by the protection of thy blessed angels; within,

by the powerful operation of thy good Spirit, which thou hast given me! Oh that mine eyes could be opened, with Elisha's servant, that I might see those troops of heavenly soldiers, those horses and chariots of fire, wherewith thou hast encompassed me! every one of whom is able to chase away a whole host of the powers of darkness. Who am I, Lord, who am I, that, upon thy gracious appointment, these glorious spirits should still watch over me in mine up-rising and downlying, in my going out and coming in? that they should bear me in their arms, that they should shield me with their protection. Behold, such is their majesty and glory, that some of thy holiest servants have hardly been restrained from worshipping them. Yet so great is thy love to man, that thou hast ordained them to be ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation. Surely they are in nature far more excellent than man, as being spiritual substances, pure intelligences, meet to stand before the throne of thee, the King of glory. What a mercy then is this, that thou, who wouldst humble thyself to be lower than they, in the taking upon thyself our nature, art pleased to humble them in their offices, to the guardianship of man, so far as to call them the angels of thy little ones upon earth! Thou hast blessed us, and how should we bless thee for such mighty and glorious attendants!

IX. His love in giving us his Holy Spirit.

Neither hast thou, O God, merely turned us over to the protection of those tutelary spirits, but hast held us still in thine own hand; having not

so strongly defended us without, as thou hast done within; since that is wrought by thine angels, this by the Spirit. Oh the sovereign and powerful influences of thy Holy Spirit! whereby we are furnished with all saving graces, strengthened against all temptations, heartened against all our doubts and fears; enabled both to resist and overcome; and upon our victories, crowned. Oh Divine bounty, far beyond the reach of wonder! So God the Father "loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." So God the Son loved the world of his elect, that he gave unto them the Holy Spirit of promise, whereby they are sealed unto the day of redemption; whereby, according to the riches of his glory, they are strengthened with might in the inner man; by the virtue whereof, shed abroad in their hearts, they are enabled to cry, Abba, Father. Oh gifts, either of which are more worth than many worlds! yet through thy goodness, O Lord, both of them mine. How rich is my soul through thy Divine munificence! how overlaid with mercies! how safe in thine almighty tuition! how happy in thy blessed possession! Now, therefore, I dare, in the might of my God, bid defiance to all the gates of hell. Do your worst, O all ye principalities and powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickednesses in high places; do your worst, God is mine, and I am his; I am above your malice, in the right of Him whose I am. It is true, I am weak, but He is omnipotent; I am sinful, but He is infinite holiness; that power, that holiness, in his gracious application, is mine.

It is my Saviour's love that hath made this happy exchange of his righteousness for my sin; of his power for my infirmity. "Who," then, “shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us:" so as, "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Lo where this love is placed! were it our love of God, how easily might the power of a prevalent temptation separate us from it, or it from us; for, alas, what hold is to be taken of our affections, which, like unto water, are so much more apt to freeze, because they have been heated: but it is the love of God to us in Christ Jesus, which is ever as himself, constant and eternal: he can no more cease to love us, than to be himself; he cannot but be unchangeable, we cannot but be happy.

X. Our sense and improvement of Christ's love in all the former particulars; and first, in respect of the inequality of the persons.

All this, O dear Jesus, hast thou done, all this hast thou suffered for men: and oh, now for a heart that may be some ways answerable to thy mercies! Surely, even good natures hate to be in debt for love; and are ready to repay favours with interest. Oh for a soul sick of love, yea, sick unto death! why should I, how can I be any otherwise, any whit less affected, O Saviour?

This only sickness is my health, this death is my life; and not to be thus sick, is to be dead in sins and trespasses. I am rock, and not flesh, if I be not wounded by these heavenly darts. Ardent affection is apt to attract love, even where there is little or no beauty; and excellent beauty is no less apt to inflame the heart, where there is no answer of affection; but when these two meet together, what breast can hold against them? And here they are both in an eminent degree. Thou canst say even of thy poor church, (though labouring under many imperfections,)" Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck: how fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse!" And canst thou, O blessed Saviour, be so taken with the incurious and homely features of thy faithful ones; and shall not we much more be altogether enamoured of thine absolute and Divine beauty of whom every believing soul can say, "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand; his head is as the most fine gold, his eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters; his cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers; his lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh," etc. It hath pleased thee, O Lord, out of the sweet ravishments of thy heavenly love, to say to thy poor church, "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me;" but O let me say unto thee, "Turn thine eyes to me, that they may overcome me." I would be thus ravished, thus overcome; I would be thus out of myself, that I might be all in thee.

Thou lovedst me before I had a being; let me,