steps to glory, till you have passed them all, and are there arrived. Especially you that are poor, and cannot take time in the week as you desire, see that you well improve this day; as your bodies rest from their labors, let your spirits seek after rest from God. [Footnote 351] Genesis xxiv, 63. [Footnote 352] Revelation i, 10. § 14. Besides the constant seasonableness of every day, and particularly every Lord's day, there are also more peculiar seasons for heavenly contemplation. As for instance, § 15. When God hath more abundantly warmed thy spirit with fire from above. Then thou mayest soar with greater freedom. A little labor will set thy heart a going at such a time as this; whereas, at another time; thou mayest take pains to little purpose. Observe the gales of the Spirit, and how the Spirit of Christ doth move thy spirit. _Without Christ we can do nothing_; and therefore let us be doing, while he is doing; and be sure not to be out of the way, nor asleep when he comes. When the Spirit finds thy heart, like Peter, in prison, and in irons, and smites thee, and says, _Arise up quickly and follow me_; be sure thou then arise, and follow, and thou shalt find thy _chains fall off_, and all _doors will open_, and thou wilt be at heaven before thou art aware. § 16. Another peculiar season for this duty is, when thou art in a suffering, distressed, or tempted state. When should we take our cordials, but in times of fainting? When is it more seasonable to walk to heaven, than when we know not in what corner of earth to live with comfort? Or when should our thoughts converse more above, than when they have nothing but grief below? Where should Noah's dove be but in the ark, when the waters cover all the earth, and she cannot find rest for the sole of her foot? What should we think on, but our _Father's house_, when we have not even the husks of the world to feed upon? Surely God sends thy afflictions to this very purpose. Happy art thou, poor man, if thou make this use of thy poverty! and _thou that art sick_, if thou so improve thy sickness! It is seasonable to go to the promised land, when our burdens are increased in Egypt, and our straits in the wilderness. Reader, if thou knewest what a cordial to thy griefs the serious views of glory are, thou wouldst less fear these harmless troubles, and more use that preserving, reviving remedy. _In the multitude of my_ troubled _thoughts within me_, saith David, _thy comforts delight my soul_.[353] _I reckon_, saith Paul, _that the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us._[354] _For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things