and surveys the land of promise, the land that floweth with milk and honey r. He longs to leave this dreary wilderness, and to " enter into the joy of his Lord." Knowing that " when his earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved, he has a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, he groans, earnestly desiring that mortality may be swallowed up of life8." If he had crowns and kingdoms in his possession, still he would account it " far better to depart and to be with Christ*." He is " looking for, and hasting to, the coming of the day of Christu;" and thus has " his conversation in heaven," while yet he remains a sojourner upon earth x. View the Christian in this frame, and confess, that the sun shining in his meri- dian strength, glorious as it is, " has no glory, by reason of the Christian's glory that excelleth." This, this, Christians, is the state in which you ought to live. Were you more habitually in this frame, your years of warfare would seem as nothing, for the greatness of the prize for which you contend y. You can scarcely conceive what an energy such a frame would give to your souls. You would soon come to Jesus with joy and wonder, like his Disciples of old, saying, " Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name :" and he in return would in- crease your confidence by saying, " I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt youz." Do but consider, how weak will Satan's temptations be, when you thus abound in hope ! how little will any thing be able to move you, when you are thus, by joyful anti- cipation, " sitting already with Christ in heavenly places a ! " Beloved brethren, this is your perfection : " you will come behind in no gift, when you are thus waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus V
r Deut. xxxiv. 1. s 2 Cor. v. 1 — 4. 4 Phil. i. 23.
u 2 Pet. iii. 12. x Phil. hi. 20.
y Alluding to Gen. xxix. 20. z Luke x. 17 — 19.
a Eph. ii. 1G. b Compare 2 Cor. xiii. 9. with 1 Cor. i. 7.