MEDITATION L.
MEDITATION L.
ON HEARING A RUMOR OF PEACE.
Spithead, July 19, 1755.
With what a cheerful countenance did the greater part appear to hear the report of peace! These poor fellows, some of whom were drafted and pressed into the battlefield, some to the warship—now worn out with war, and long absent from their nearest relations, and their dearest friends—exult at the very thought of peace, and feel an inward satisfaction that refreshes every power.
How then, O my soul! who is engaged in a more cruel war, carried on by more bloody foes, pursued without intermission, with all the rage of the roaring lion of hell, the cunning of the old serpent, and vigilance of the pit; the outcome of which is of much greater importance than the struggles for empire, or the strife of kings; how should you rejoice at that eternal peace which shall take place when all your foes shall fall before you, and death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed forever!
Then you shall not only depart the field with safety and honor—but come off more than conqueror through him who loved you!
Are men so fond to leave the battlefield, and taste the sweets of peace! What madness then by sin to rise in rebellion against Heaven, and maintain a war against God, to stubbornly charge against him, and defy Omnipotence himself—who can crush worlds with a frown, and punish the most stubborn offenders!
How pleasant for the man that has been often in danger and death, who has long heard the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, who has been covered with wounds and blood, and been daily beset by cruel bloodthirsty foes—to dwell in peace, and walk at safety, to heighten his present happiness by the remembrance of his past danger, assured that he shall never more be in a state of war—but spend his days in peace and quiet!
Even so, the soul that has been often in danger from spiritual death, has long heard the sound of Sinai's trumpets, the curses of the fiery law, and war denounced from Jehovah's throne—has not only been sore buffeted and wounded—but accounted itself free among the dead, being daily beset by sin, and its outbreakings, Satan and his temptations; how sweet for such a soul to be filled with peace and joy in believing, to have the guarantee of pardoned sin, and acceptance through the Beloved.
And, instead of storms and tempests from Sinai—to have the blessing out of Zion. In a word, to have the full assurance of unchangeable love, and endless felicity, and that, in a little while, all the enemies of his salvation, as they are now chained, so shall never vex him more—but he shall sing the riches of grace, and the righteousness of Jesus, world without end.
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