thou hast now accomplished thy desire, thou art now arrived to the land of promise, and climbed up to the highest mountain of Almighty God's favor to mortal man in tliis vale of misery, (that is,) the sacred state of a religious life, where, by how much more thou art sequestered from the pleasures of the flattering world, the more thou enjoyest the freedom of thy spirit. Thou art now come to the house of God, in which it is better for thee to be an abject than to dwell in the courts of princes. All occasions of offending thy Creator are now taken away, thy soul is now sure not to be defiled with the pitch of evil conversation. Thy company now are terrestrial angels, who, though they live on earth, yet they have their conversation in heaven, all whose actions incite thee to nothing else but to aspire unto perfection. Thou findest here no snares to entangle thee into worldly vanities, no flatterers to applaud thee when thou dost offend, or any thing else to withdraw thy affection from the cross of Christ. Thy beloved spouse hath brought thee now into this holy desert, to recreate thy
