4. Watch your hearts after holy duties. AVlien Christ had been praying and fastinc, then the devil tempted him, Mat. iv. a. After our combating with Satan in prayer, we are apt to grow secure, and ])ut our spiritual armour off, and then the devil falls on and wounds us. O if you would get to heaven, be always upon your watch-tower, set a spy, keep close sentinel in your souls ! Who would not watch when it is for a kingdom ?
9. If you would arrive at the heavenly kingdom get these three graces, which will* undoubtedly bring you thither :
(1.) Divine knowledge. There is no go- ing to heaven blindfold. In the creation, light was the first thing that was made; so it is in the new creation : knowledge is the pillar of fire that goes before us, and lights us into the heavenly kingdom. It is light that must bring us to the " inheritance of tlie saints in light," Col. i. 12.
(2.) Faith. Faith ends in salvation^ 1 Pet. i. 9., " Receiving the end of your faith, salvation." He who believes, is as sure to go to heaven, as if he were in hea- ven already. Acts xvi. 31. Faith toucheth Christ; and can he miss of heaven, who toucheth Christ? Faith unites to Christ; and, shall not the members be wl»ero the head is? All have not the same deerive of faith ; we must distinguish between the di- rect act of faith, and the reflex act, affiance and assurance ; yet the least seed and sj)ark of faith gives an un(l(»nl)to(l title to the hea-- vcnly kingdouK I am jiistilied because L believe, not because 1 know L believe.
(3.) Love to God. Heaven is prepared for those that love God. I C<n-. ii. 9. Love
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OF THE SECOND PETITION IN THE LORD'S PRAYER.
is the soul of obedience, the touch-stone of Bincerity, by our loving^ God, we may know he loves us, 1 John iv. 19. And those wliom God loves, he will lay in liis bosom. Ambrose, in his funeral oration for Theo- dosiiis, brings in the angels hovering about his departing soul, and being ready to car- ry it to heaven, asked him, " what that grace was he had practised most upon earth ?" Tlieodosius replied, " Dilexi ! Dilexi /" " I have loved ! I have loved !" and straightway he was, by a convoy of angels, translated to glory. Love is a sa- cred fire kindled in the breast ; in the flames of this fire, the devout soul ascends to heaven.
10. If we would obtain tliis heavenly kingdom, let us labour for sincerity, IVov. xxviii. 18., " Whosoever walkelh upright- ly, shall be saved." The sincere Christian may fall short of some degrees of grace, but he never falls short of the kingdom. God will pass by many failings, where the heart is right, Numb, xxiii. 21. True gold, thougli it be light, hath grains of allow- ance, Ps. li. 6., " Thou desirest truth in the inward parts." Sincerity is the sauce which seasons all our actions, and makes them sa- voury ; it is the ingredient into every grace ; it is called " faith unfeigned," 2 Tim. i. 5., and " love in sincerity," Epli. vi. 24. Coin will not go current that wants the king's stamp ; grace is not current if it be not stamped with sincerity. Glorious duties soured with hypocrisy are rej( ctcd, when gi'cat infirmities sweetened with sincerity are accepted. If any thing in the world bring us to heaven, it is sincerity. Sincerity siij- nifies plainness of heart, Ps. xxxii. 2., " In Avhose sj)irit there is no guile." The plain- er the diamond is, the richer.
(1.) Sincerity is when we serve God with our heart; we do not only worship him, but love him. Cain brought his sacrifice, but not his heart: this is (iod's delight, a sacri- fice flaming upon the altar of the heart. A sincere Christian, though he hath a double principle in liim, flesh and sj>irit, yet he hath not a double heart, his heart is for God. ' (2.) Sincerity is when we aim ])urely at God in all we do. The glory of God is more worth than the salvation of all men's souls. A sincere Christian, though he
comes short in duty, yet he takes a right aim. As the herb heliotropium turns about according to the motion of the sun, so a godly man's actions do all move towards the glory of God.