The Desire of Heaven.

To Jesus, the crown of my hope,
My soul is in haste to be gone :
Oh, bear me, ye cherubim, up,

And waft me away to his throne !

My Saviour, whom absent I love,
Whom, not having seen, I adore,
Whose name is exalted above

All glory, dominion, and power,

Dissolve Thou these bonds, that detain
My soul from her portion in Thee;
Oh, strike off this adamant chain,
And make me eternally free!

When that happy era begins;

When array'd in thy glories I shine,

Nor grieve Thee again by my sins,

Whose sorrows redeemed me from mine

Oh! then shall the vail be removed,

And around me thy brightness be pour'd;
I shall meet Thee, whom absent I lov'd;
I shall see, whom unseen I ador'd!

And then never more shall the fears,
The trials, temptations, and woes,
Which darken this valley of tears,
Intrude on my blissful repose !

They will only be signs of Thy love, 6 And themes for my wonder and praise.

Thus the stroke, which from sin and from pain
Shall set me eternally free,

Will but strengthen and rivet the chain
Which binds me, my Saviour, to Thee.

THE decays of nature somewhat tempt me to impatience. To all my moral infirmities are now added those of an enfeebled body, and a faltering understanding. Much of my time is necessarily spent in the endeavour to alleviate pain, or to arrest the progress of disease. This chamber is now nearly the whole world to me. I am cut off from the active employments of life. My friends, however kind, can do little for me. And I must expect my infirmities to increase, till I

am laid in the grave. But how refreshing it is to think what a contrast the world to which I am going will present to all this! Here, in my sinfulness, I cannot help often displeasing God; but he is able to present me faultless before his presence, with exceeding joy*. And he will do so: for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. And we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him†. I shall then be perfect. And if there be satisfaction now in the exercise of right affections, what will be the joy which I shall derive from them, when each is separately perfect, and all are justly harmonised! Here, my bodily infirmities are a constant source of weariness or solicitude: but, he Rom. viii. 29; 1 John iii. 2.

* Jude 24.

shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.-It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.-And, as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly* Here, I am often tired of my sick chamber; but there, I shall at length see the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness t. How fair that world may be, where Christ and his risen and glorified servants meet, I do not know: but if in this fallen world, where the very ground has been cursed for the sake of its guilty tenants, there is yet such exquisite beauty, in those

* Phil. iii. 21; 1 Cor. xv. 42-44, 49. † 2 Pet. iii. 13.

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