11. If we would obtain the hea^'enly king- dom let us keep up fervency in duty. What is a dead form without the power? Rev. m. 16., " Because thou art luke-warm, neither hot nor cold, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Fervency puts life into duty, Roni. xii. 11., " Fervent in sj)irit serving the Lord," (Gr.) Ze&ntes, ' boiling over.' Christ prayed " yet more earnest- ly," Luke xxii. 44. When the fire on the golden censer was ready to go out, Aaron was to put more coals to the incense; pray i no- with devotion, is putting more coals to the incense. It is not formjility, but fervcncv, will bring us to heaven ; the formalist is likeEph- raim, a cake not turned, hot on one side, and dough on the other. In tlie external part of God's worship, he seems to be hot ; but as for the spiritual part of God's worship, he is cold. Oh, if you would have the kingdom of liea- A'en, keep up heat and fervour in duty ! Elijah was carried up to heaven in a fiery chariot ; if you would go to heaven, you must be carried thither in the fiery chariot of zeal ; it is violence that takes the king- dom of heaven.
12. If we would arrive at the l)cavenly kingdom, let us cherish the motions of God's Spirit in our liearts. The mariner ma> spread his sails, but the ship cannot get to the haven without a gale of wind ; so we may spread the sails of our endeavour, but we cannot get to the haven of glory, witlj- out the north and south wind of God's Spi- rit blow; how nearly therefore doth it con- cern us to make much of the motions of God's Sj)irit, motions to prayer, motions to repentance? 2 Sam. v. 24., " When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then shoushalt be- stir thyself, for then shall the Lord go out before thee:" so, when we hear, as it were a voice within us, a secret inspiration stir- ring us up to good duties, we should then bestir ourselves : while the Spirit works in us, we should work with the Spirit. INIany men have God's Spirit striving willi them, he puts good motions in their hearts and
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holy purposes ; but they, neglecting to pro- Becule these good motions, the Spirit is tliereby grieved ; and, being grieved, with- draws his assistance; and,* that assistance being gone, there is no getting to heaven. Oh make much of the motion of the Spirit, it is as much as your salvation is worth ! The Sjjirit of God is compared to fire. Acts ii. 3. : if we are careful to blow this spark, we may have fire to inflame our affections, and to light our feet into the way of peace. If we quench the Spirit by our neglecting and resisting its motions, we cut ourselves off from salvation. The Spirit of God hath a drawing power, Cant. i. 4. The blessed Spirit draws by attraction, as the loadstone the iron. In the preaching of the word, the Spirit draws the heart up to heaven in holy longings and ejaculations. Now when the Spirit is about thus to draw us, let us take heed of drawing back, lest it be to perdi- tion, Hob. X. We should do as Noah, when the dove came flying to the ark, he put forth his hand, and took it into the ark ; bo when this sweet dove of God's Sj)irit comes flying to our hearts, and brings a gracious Imj)ulse as an ollve-bi-anch of peace in its mouth, O take this dove into the ark ; entertain the Spiiit in your hearts, and it will bring you to heaven !
Quest. But how shall we know the motions of the Spirit from a delusion ?
Ans. The motions of the Spirit are always agreeable to the word. If the word be for holiness, so is the Spirit; the Spirit per- suades to nothing but what the word di- rects ; which way the tide of the word runs that way the wind of the Spirit blows.
13. We obtain the kingdom of licaAen by uniform and cheerful obedience. Obedience is the road through which we travel to hea- ven. INIany say they love God, but refuse to obey him ; doth he love the prince's per- son who slights his commands?
(1.) Obedience must be uniform, Ps. c\\\. C, " Then shall I not be ashamed," [Heb.] " I shall not blush, when I have respect to all thy commandments." As the sun goes through all the signs of the Zodiac, so we must go through all the duties of religion. If a man be to go an hundred miles, and he goes ninety-nine miles, and there stops, he comes short of the placehe is to travel to j
if, with Herod, we do many things that God commands, yet, if we die in the total neglect of any duty, we come short of the kingdom of heaven ; for instance, if a man seem to make conscience of duties of the first table, and not the duties of the second, — If he seem to be religious, but Is not just, — he is a transgressor, and is in danger to lose heaven. A good heart is like the nee- dle which points that way which the load- stone draws, so he moves that way which the word draws.