CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN. 603 things temporal worth thelookingat, in comparison of thingseternal; 2 Cor. iv. 18, He thinketh that their money and richesdo deserv- edly perlsh.with them, who think all the money in the world to be a thing comparable with grace ; Acts viii. 20. 2. And the weak Christian is ofthe same judgment and- resolu- tion in the main ; but yet the world retaineth a greater interest in his heart; it grieveth him more to lose it; it is a stronger tempta- tion to him. To deny all the preferments, and honors, and riches ofit, seemetha greater matter' to him; and he doth .it with more striving, and lessease ; and sometimes the respect of worldlythings prevailethwith him, in lesser matters, to wound his conscience, and maketh work for repentance ; and such are so entangled in worldly cares, and 'prosperity tasteth so sweet with them, that grace even languisheth andMeth into aconsumption, and almost into aswoon. Somuch do some such let -out their hearts to the world, which they renounced, and ,scrape for, it with so much care and eagerness, and contend with others about their commodities and rights, that they seem to ,the standers by to be as worldly as worldling; themselves are; and become a shame to their profession, and make ungodly persons say, ' Your godlyprofessors are as covetous as any;' 2 Tim. iv. 10. 3. But seeming Christians are the servants 'of.the world; when theyhave learnt to speak most hardly of it, it hath their hearts. Heaven', as I saidbefore, is valued but as a reserve, when they know they can keep the world no longer. They "have more sweet, and pleasing thoughts and speeches of the world, than they have of God and the world to come. It bath mostoftheir hearts when God is most preferred by their tongues. There it is that they are daily layingup their treasure; and there they must leave it at the parting hour, when theygo nakedout as theycame naked in. The love of deceitful riches choketh the word of God, and it withereth in them, and becometh unfruitful ; - Matt. xiii. 22. They go away sorrow- ful; because of their beloved riches, when they should part with all for the hopes of heaven ; (Luke xviii. 23.) yea, though they are beggars, that never have a day's prosperity in the world ; for all that, they love it better than heaven, and desire that which they cannot get, because they have not an eye of faith, to see that bet- ter world which they neglect, and therefore take it for an uncertain thing. Norare their-carnal natures suitable to it, and'therefore they mind it not; Rom, viii. 7. When a hypocrite is atthe best, he is but areligious worldling ; the world is nearer to his heart than God is but " pure religion keepeth a man unspotted of the world ; " James i. 27. XIX. 1. A Christian indeed is one that still seeth the end in all that he doth,. and that is before him'in his way, and looketh
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