Nay, it is prepared for the poor. "Hearken, my beloved brethren,"
saith James; that is, take notice of it, "Hath not God chosen the poor
of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom?" Therefore,
take heart, and run, man.

THE SIXTH MOTIVE.--Think much of them that are gone before. First, How
really they go into the kingdom. Secondly, How safe they are in the
arms of Jesus. Would they be here again for a thousand worlds? Or if
they were, would they be afraid that God would not make them welcome?
Thirdly, What would they judge of thee, if they knew thy heart began
to fail thee in thy journey, or thy sins began to allure thee, and to
persuade thee to stop thy race? Would they not call thee a thousand
fools, and say, 'O that he did but see what we see, feel what we feel,
and taste of the dainties that we taste of! Oh! if he were one quarter
of an hour to behold, to see, to feel, to taste, and enjoy but the
thousandth part of what we enjoy, what would he do? what would he
suffer? what would he leave undone? Would he favor sin? Would he love
this world below? Would he be afraid of friends, or shrink at the most
fearful threatenings that the greatest tyrants could invent to give
him?' Nay, those who have had but a sight of these things by faith,
when they have been as far off from them as heaven from earth, yet
they have been able to say with a comfortable and merry heart, as the
bird that sings in the spring, that this and more shall not stop them
from running to heaven.

Sometimes, when my base heart hath been inclining to this world, and
to loiter in my journey towards heaven, the very consideration of the
glorious saints and angels in heaven; what they enjoy, and what low
thoughts they have of the things of this world together; how they
would befool me if they did but know that my heart was drawing back,