whereby they deceive others, and most of all themselves ; such may be the world's saints, but devils in Christ's account. Have not I chosen twelve, and one of you is a devil ? And truly, of all devils, none so bad as the professing devil, the preaching, praying devil. O sirs, be plain-hearted ; religion is as tender as your eye, it will not be jested v/ith : remember the vengeance which fell on Belshazzar, while he caroused in the bowls of the sanctuary. Religion and the duties of it are consecrated things, not made for thee to drink thy lusts out of. God hath remarkably appeared in discovering and confounding such as have prostituted sacred things to worldly ends. Jezebel fasts and prays, the better to devour Naboth's vineyard, but was devoured by it. Absalom was as sick till lie had ravished his father's crown, as his brother Amnon till he had done the like to his sister ; and to hide his treason he puts on a religious cloak, and therefore begs leave to go and pay his vow in Hebron, when he had another game in chase : and did he not fall by the hand of his hypocrisy ? Of all men, their judgment is indorsed with most speed, who silver over worldly or wicked enterprises with heavenly semblances. Of this gang were those, 2 Pet. ii. '3, concerning whom the apostle saith, 'Their damnation slumbers not;' and those, Ezek. xiv. 7, 8, to whom God saith, ' I the Lord will answer him by myself, and I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people, and ye shall know that I a,n the Lord.'
Use 2. Secondly, Try whether they be heavenly things or earthly thou chiefly pursuest. Certainly, friends, we need not be so ignorant of our soid's state and affairs, did we oftener converse with oiu- thoughts, and observe the haunts of our hearts. We soon can tell what dish pleaseth our palate best ; and may you not tell whether heaven or earth be the most savoury meat to your souls ? And if you should ask how you might know whether heaven be the prize you chiefly desii-e, I would put you only upon this double trial.
First, Art thou uniform in thy pursuit? Dost thou contend for heaven, and that which leads to heaven also? Earthly things God is pleased to retail; all have some, none have all. But in heavenly treasure he will iu)t break the whole piece, and cut into remnants. If thou wilt have heaven, thou must have Christ ; if Christ, thou must like his service as well as his sacrifice; no holiness, no happiness. If God would cut off" so much as would serve men's turns, he might have customers enough : Balaam himself likes one end of the piece, ' he would die like a righteous man,' though live like a wizard as he was. No, God will not deal with such peddling merchants ; that man alone is for God, and God for him, who will come roundly up to God's offer, and take all off" his hands. One fitly compares holiness and happiness to those two sisters, Leah and Rachel. Happiness, like Rachel, seems the fairer, (even a carnal heart may tall in love with that,) but holiness, like Leah, is the elder, and beautiful also; though in this life it appears with some disadvantage, her eyes being bleared with tears of repentance, and her face furrowed with the works of mortification : but this is the law of that heavenly country, ' That the younger sister must not be bestowed before the elder.' We cannot enjoy fair Rachel, (heaven and hap- piness,) except we first embrace tender-eyed Leah, (holiness,) with all her severe duties of repentance and mortification. Now, sirs, how like you this method ? Art thou content to marry Christ and his grace, and then serving an hard appren- ticeship in temptations both of prosperity and adversity, endiu-ing the heat of the one, and the cold of the other, to wait till at last the other be given into thy bosom ?
Secondly, If indeed heaven and heavenly things be the prize thou wrestlest for, thou wilt discover a heavenly deportment of heart, even in earthly things. Wherever you meet a Christian he is going to heaven ; heaven is at the bottom of his lowest actions. Now observe thy heart in three particulars ; in getting, in using, and in keeping earthly things, whether it be after a heavenly manner.
First, In getting earthly things. If heaven be thy chief prize, then thou wilt be ruled by a heavenly lav,' in the gathering of these. Take a carnal wretch, and what his heart is set on he will have, though it be by hook or crook. A lie fits Gehazi's mouth well enough, so he may fill his pockets by it. Jezebel dares mock God, and murder an innocent man, for an acre or two of ground. Absalom, regnnndi causa, what will he not do? God's fence is too low to keep a graceless heart in bounds, wlien the game is before him ; but a soul that hath heaven in
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