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WHICH FRUIT TREES HAVE.

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thorns, and is choked; these, saith Christ, are the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, ver. 22; and but a little falls into good ground, and that undergoes a thousand dangers ere it comes to maturity: sometimes it is parched with the sun of prosperity, and sometimes nipped with the frost of adversity; the devil's temptations, and the world's allurements, often spoil the fruit; sometimes it withers for want of the dew of heaven to refresh it; sometimes it is overwhelmed with the floods of affliction. A thousand, and ten thousand are the dangers this seed of grace undergoes before it comes to maturity.

O my soul, hast thou many enemies? Christ himself had not a few. Live uprightly toward man, holily towards God. Bring forth much fruit to God, and doubtless he will wall thee in and defend thee.

O my God, mine enemies are many and subtle, powerful and malicious; be thou my defender, and let my fruit be pleasant to thy taste, and sweet to thy smell.

We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God, Acts xiv. 22.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand, Eph. vi. 12, 13.

L. THE WORLD IS NOT A RESTING PLACE.

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WHEN I had become tired with studies and other employments, and found myself recreated in my garden among the various delights which there offered themselves to my senses, and unbent the bow that was beginning to grow weak after passing my time for a season in this society, at last night approached, and my pleasures began to vanish. The birds which before delighted my ears with their melodious harmony were now gone to rest, and those herbs and flowers which before delighted my senses had now disappeared; their various colours, forms, and shapes, could no longer be distinguished, but were all dyed in one sable colour, and I was left alone. The cold air began to pierce me, and only bats and owls, those birds of the night, were my companions. This made me to consider how unpleasant this place of delights, the greatest recreation I had in the world for my body, would be to me at this time, had I no other habitation, and how unwelcome a night in it would be to me. Here I was exposed to wind and weather, liable to be wet with the dew of heaven, and to have, with Jacob, a stone for my pillow. I considered now, though I too often forgot it, the great goodness of God to the just and to the unjust, to cause his sun to shine upon

THE WORLD IS NOT A RESTING PLACE. 171

them; one sun makes a day, but the moon and all the stars make but a night; and what a mercy is it then, when the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in his wings! Mal. iv. 2. This raised my meditation a little higher, and I thought with myself, If this garden, this place of delights, be no comfortable abiding place for the body; surely then the world is no resting place for the soul. Here in the day-time of life man may take some delight, but "the night cometh, when no man can work," John ix. 4; and when all these things shall vanish, I must seek out for some better shelter, some better lodging, some better resting place for my soul. When death comes, and the sun of life is set upon me, all present delightful objects will be gone, they will forsake me, and hide their heads, and yield no delight, comfort, or refreshment; crowns and kingdoms, dirt and diamonds, will then be valued alike; these outward things can afford neither food nor medicine, neither lodging nor entertainment, neither pleasures nor profit, to the weary soul; these earthly tabernacles ere long will be dissolved, and these houses of clay, will moulder into dust, 2 Cor. v. 1; and what shall we then do, if we are no better provided? The soul here wears the body as a garment, which when it is worn out, the saints shall have a better suit, they shall be clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ; and assurance of God's love may well make such willing to die. But oh, the blindness, madness, and stupidity of man, whose care is to load himself with thick clay, and to take care what he shall eat, or what he shall drink, or

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wherewithal he shall be clothed, (Hab. ii. 6; Matt. vi. 31,) and makes no provision for the soul, but depends upon that for comfort which can do no good when good is needed. He can provide in the day for the night, in the summer for the winter, on the market-day for the whole week, and at a fair for the whole year, and yet make no provision in life for death, or in time for eternity.

O my soul, how fares it with thee, or what preparation hast thou made? Long it cannot be before night comes, where then will be thy lodging? The earth then will be to thee as the waters to Noah's dove, thou wilt find no rest here for the sole of thy foot; it is in heaven only that the weary are at rest, Job iii. 17.

O my God, enable me to clear up my interest in Christ, who is the only sanctuary for a troubled soul.

Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest : because it is polluted, Micah ii. 10.

Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come, Heb. xiii. 14.

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself, Phil. iii. 20, 21.

Printed by John Hill, Black Horse Court, Fleet Street, London.

HM

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