the consideration that he is going to heaven when he dies, be such a comfort to him under the toils and afflictions of the world, as it now is. The martyrs would not undergo those cruel sufferings which are brought upon them by their persecutors, with that cheerfulness in a prospect of going to heav en, did they not expect to go and be with Christ, and to enjoy God there. They would not with that cheerfulness forsake all their earthly possessions, and all their earthly friends, as many thousands of them have done, and wander about in poverty and banishment, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, in hopes of exchanging their earthly for an heavenly inheritance, were it not that they hope to be with their glorious Redeemer and heavenly Father in heaven.

If God and Christ were not in heaven, however beautiful the place be, and whatever excellent creature inhabitants there be there, yet heaven would be but an empty place, it would be but an unlovely place. The believer's heart is in heaven, because his treasure is there; and that treasure is Jesus Christ, the same that we read of in Matth. xiii. 44, which is there called "a treasure hid in a field, which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all he hath, and buyeth that field."

2. A godly man prefers God before any thing else that might be in heaven. Not only is there nothing actually in heaven, which is in his esteem equal with God; but neither is there any thing of which he can conceive as possible to be there, which by him is esteemed and desired equally with God. Those of some nations and professions suppose quite differ ent enjoyments to be in heaven, from those which the scriptures teach us to be there. The Mahometans, for instance, suppose that in heaven are to be enjoyed all manner of sensual delights, and pleasures. Many things which Mahomet hasfeigned are, to the lusts and carnal appetites of men, the most agreeable that he could devise; and he flattered his followers with promises of such enjoyments in heaven.

But the true saint, if he were to contrive such an heaven as would suit him best, could not contrive one more agreeable

to his inclination and desires, than such an one as is revealed in the word of God; an heaven of the enjoyment of the glo rious God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, where he shall have all sin taken away, and shall be perfectly conformed to God, where he shall have a perfect acquaintance with God, and shall spend an eternity in exalted exercises of love to God, and in the enjoyment of his love. Such an heaven is to the saint better than any Mahometan paradise; it is the best heaven that can possibly be; there is no happiness conceived of, that would be better, or that would appear so desirable to him, as this. If God were not to be enjoyed in heaven, but, instead of that, there were vast wealth, immense treasures of silver and gold, and great honor of such kind as men obtain in this world, and a fulness of the greatest sensual delights and pleasures; all these things would not make up for the want of God and Christ, and the enjoyment of them there. If it were empty of God, it would indeed be an empty melancholy place.

The godly have been made sensible, as to all creature enjoyments, that they cannot satisfy the soul, and that happiness is in God; and therefore nothing will content them but God. Offer a saint what you will, if you deny him God, he will esteem himself miserable. His soul thirsts for God, to come and appear before God. God is the centre of his desires; and as long as you keep his soul from its proper centre, it will The true saint sets his heart on God as the

not be at rest.

chief good.

II. It is the spirit of a godly man to prefer God before all other things on the earth.

1. The saint prefers that enjoyment of God, for which he hopes hereafter, to any thing in this world. He looketh not at the things which are seen, and are temporal, so much as at those things which are unseen and eternal, 1 Cor. iv. 18. It is but a little of God that the saint enjoys here in this world; he hath but a little acquaintance with God, and enjoys but a little of the manifestations of the divine glory and love. But God hath promised to give him himself hereafter in a full en VOL. VIII.

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joyment. And these promises of God are more precious to the saint, than the most precious earthly jewels. The gospel which contains these promises, doth therein contain greater treasures, in his esteem, than the cabinets of princes, or the mines of the Indies.

2. The saints prefer what of God may be obtained in this world before all things in the world. They not only prefer those glorious degrees of the enjoyment of God which are promised hereafter, before any thing in this world; but even such degrees as may be attained to here in the present state, though they are immensely short of what is to be enjoyed in heaven. There is a great difference in the spiritual attain ments of the saints in this world. Some attain to much greate er acquaintance and communion with God, and conformity to him, than others. But the highest attainments are very small in comparison with what is future.

The saints are capable of making progress in spiritual attainments, and of obtaining more of God than ever yet they have obtained; and they are of such a spiti, that they earnest. ly desire such further attainments.. Not contented with those degrees to which they have already attained, they hunger and thirst after righteousness, and, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby. It is their desire, to know more of God, to have more of his image, and to be enabled more to imitate God and Christ in their walk and conversation. The appetite of the soul of a godly.. man is after God and Jesus Christ, as appears by many places of scripture; as Psalm xxvii. 4. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty. of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." Psalm xlii. 1, 2. "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall I come and appear before God?" Psalm lxiii. 1. 2. "O God thou art my God, early will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in. a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power

and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." See also, Psalm lxxxiv. 1, 2, 3, and Psalm cxxx 6. "My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning."

Though every saint has not this longing desire after God to the same degree that the Psalmist had, yet they are all of the same spirit; they have a spirit earnestly to desire and long for more of God, to be nearer to him, to have more of his presence and of the light of his countenance, and to have more of God in their hearts. That this is the spirit of the godly in general, and not of some particular saints only, appears from Isa. xxvi. 8, 9, where not any particular saint, but the church in general speaks thus: "Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night, and with my spirit within me will I seek thee early."

It appears also to be the spirit of the saints in general, by some expressions of the spouse or the church in the Canticle; as chapter iii. 1, 2. "By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth; I sought him, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the city; in the streets and broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth." So chapter v. 6, 8, "I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love."

The saints are not always in the lively exercise of such a spirit; but such a spirit they have, and sometimes they have the sensible exercise of it: They have a spirit to desire God and divine attainments, more than all earthly things. They desire and seek to be rich in grace, more than they do to get earthly riches. They seek snd desire the honor which is of God, more than that which is of men, John v. 44. They desire communion with God, more than any earthly pleasures whatsoever. They are in some measure of the same spirit which the apostle expresses in Philip. iii. 8. "Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the

knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ."

3. The saint prefers what he hath already of God before any thing in this world. That which was infused into his heart at his conversion, is more precious to him than any thing which the world can afford. The knowledge and acquaintance which he hath with God, though it be but little, he would not part with for any thing that the world can afford. The views which are sometimes given him of the beauty and excellency of God, are more precious to him than all the treasures of the wicked. The relation of a child in which he stands to God, the union which there is between his soul and Jesus Christ, he values more than the greatest earthly dignity; he had rather have this, than to be the child of a prince. He would not part with the honor which God hath been pleased to put on him by bringing him so near to him, to be set upon an earthly throne, or to wear an earthly crown, though it were the most splendid that ever was worn by any earthly po

tentate.

That image of God which is instamped on his squl, he values more than any earthly ornaments. It is, in his esteem, better to be adorned with the graces of God's Holy Spirit, than to be made to shine in jewels of gold, and the most costly pearls, or to be admired for the greatest external beauty. He values the robe of the righteousness of Christ, which he hath on his soul, more than the robes of princes. The spiritual pleasures and delights which he sometimes has in God, he prefers far before all the pleasures of sin, Psalm lxxxiv. 10. "A day in thy courts is better than a thousand: I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

A saint thus prefers God before all things in this world, 1. As he prefers God before any thing else that he possesses in the world. Whatever temporal enjoyments he has, he prefers God to them all.. If he have pleasant earthly accommodations; yet it is with respect to God, and not his earth,