TH HE Kingdom of Heaven is like unto Leaven, which a Woman took and hid in three Measures of Meal, till the whole was leavened. Mat. xiii. 33. Whatever Use we make of our Understanding, our Will and our Body, without the Leaven of Faith and Love, is difagreeable and naufeous to God.- The Divinity united to the human Nature in Chrift, the Gospel diffufed throughout the World, the Spirit of God working in a Sinner's Heart, and the facramental Bread and Wine nourishing a Chriftian Soul: thefe are the different Sorts of Leaven which thy Wisdom, O my God, has found out, to render Man altogether fpiritual, to raise him to the Love of heavenly Things, and to make him bear fome Refemblance of thyself. How can a Heart, fo often filled with the wholefome Leaven of thy Body and Blood, O my dear JESUS, ftill retain its Heavinefs and Inclination towards the Earth? Let thy Holy Spirit, I befeech Thee, caufe mine to rife, to be united, and to cleave infeparably to Thee. Ah! give me, Lord, my Sins to mourn, Thy laft tremendous Agony, I Will open my Mouth in Parables, I will utter Things which have been kept fecret from the Foundation of the World. Mat. xiii. 35. The Myfteries, which lay hid in God from all Eternity, and in Types and Prophecies from the Foundation of the World, are at length disclosed and fulfilled in and by JESUS CHRIST. How happy are Chriftians in being born in the Times of Manifeftation, if they make a good Ufe of this Bleffing by their Faith! Let us leave the covetous Wretch to dig to the Center, after Treasures of no Duration, and the Naturalift to lofe himself in fearching into the Secrets of Nature; the Treafures and Study of a Chriftian are JESUS CHRIST and his Mysteries, which he discovers to us by his Word. Thou, JESUS, openet thy adorable Mouth, O, eternal, Wisdom, do thou inftruct me in them for this will be all in vain to me, unless Thou openest my Heart, fo as to make it throughly apprehend them. The Types bore witness to his Name, Predictions in Abundance meet To join their Bleffings on his Head: TH HEN fhall the Righteous fhine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Who hath Ears to hear, let him hear. Mat. xiii. 43. How will the Condition of the Children of God be changed in Heaven! Here they are in Obfcurity and Contempt, there they will shine forth as the Sun; here under Oppreffion, there upon the Throne of God himself; here in Poverty and Want, there in Poffeffion of the eternal Inheritance of their heavenly Father, and of all the Rights of the Children of God. --- To conceive and understand This, requires a very lively Faith; and all the Misfortunes of Men proceeds from their not conceiving it. The fmall Number of those who endeavour as they ought to attain it, fhews, that this Faith is very rare. Let us not ceafe to request it humbly of God. Lord, we long to fee thy Glory Made eternally our own, Bright as the Meridian Sun: Come, MESSIAH, Raise us to thy Father's Throne ! THE Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant-man, feeking goodly Pearls; who when he had found one Pearl of great Price, he went and fold all that he had, and bought it. Mat. xiii. 45, 46. The Sloth and Indolence of the greatest Part of Christians, with Respect to God and their own Salvation, are condemned by thofe Merchants who traverse the World and venture all upon the uncertain Profpect of temporal Advantage. --- We must feek if we would find: We muft prefer God before all Things, and be difpofed to part with them all to fecure our own Salvation. --- Woe to him, who expects to find any Thing more amiable than God, more worthy to fill his Heart, and more capable of making him happy. Have I not found that Pearl divine, That Treafure in the Field? Yet ftill it is not furely mine, My Pardon is not feal'd : The ascertaining Terms I know, JESUy ayith unto them, Have ye ESUS faith unto them, Have ye understood all these Things? They fay unto him, Yea, Lord. Mat. xiii. 51. Let us not flightly pafs over these divine Truths, if we defire to be the better for them. Let this Queftion of our bleffed Lord convince us of their Importance.---It is very proper when we read them, to call ourselves to an Account, as to the Impreffions which they make upon our Minds and Hearts, as to the Confequences which we fhould draw from them for the Regulation of our Lives, and as to that Eftrangement from worldly Lufts and Amusements which they ought to inspire into us. Midst all our various Forms, We in this Center meet, Our Hearts cemented by his Blood, Then let us walk in Light, Like Christ, whose Name we bear, And as the Pledge of endless Bliss, *Our Father's Image bear. |