564 CHARACTER OF A SOUND, and how great the kingdom of the devil is, in comparison with the kingdom ofChrist; that God should forsake so much of his crea- tion ; that Christianity should'not be owned in above the sixth part of the world; andPopish prideand ignorance, with the corruptions ofmany other sects, and the worldly, carnal minds of hypocrites, should rob Christ of so much of this little' part, and leave him so small a flock of holy ones; that must possess the kingdom. His soulconsenteth to the method of the Lord's prayer, as prescribing us the order of our desires. And in his prayers he seeketh first (in order of estimation and intention) the hallowing of God's name, and the coming of his kingdom, and the doing ofhis will on earth as it is done in heaven, before his daily bread, or the pardon. of his sins, or the deliverance of his soul from temptations and the evil one. Mark him in his prayers, and you shall find that he is, above other men, taken up in earnest petitions for the conversion of the heathen and infidel world, and the undeceiving of Mahometana, Jews, and heretics, and the clearingof the church from thósePapal tyrannies, and fopperies, and corruptions, which make Christianity hateful or contemptible in the eyes of the heathen and Mahometan world, and hinder their conversion. Noman so much lamenteth" the pride and covetousness, and laziness and unfaithfulness, of the, pastors of the church ; because of the doleful consequents to the gospel and the souls of men, andyet with all possible honor to the sacred office, which they thus profane.' No man so heartily lament- eth the contentions and divisions among Christians, and the doleful destruction of charity thereby. It grieveth him to see how much selfishness, pride, and malice, prevail with them that should shine as lights in a benighted world, and how obstinate and incurable they seem to be, against the plainest means, and humblest motions, for the church's edification and peace; Psal. cxx. 6, 7. cxxii. 6: Phil. ii. 1-4.. Psal. cxix. 136. Zeph. iii. IS Ezek. ix. 4. Psal. lxix. 9. John ii. 17.' He envieth not kings and great men their dominions, wealth or pleasure; nor is he at all ambitious to participate in their tremendous exaltation. But the thing that his heart is set upon is, "that the kingdoms of this world may all be- come thekingdoms of.the Lord ; " (Rev. xi. 15.) and thatthe gospel may, every where "have free course and be glorified," and the preachers of it be encouraged, or at least "be delivered' from un- reasonable, wicked men;" '2 Thess. iii. 1, 2. Little careth he who is uppermost or conquereth in the world, or who goeth away with the preferments or riches of the earth, (supposing that he fail . not of his duty to his rulers,) so that it may go well with the affairs of the gospel, and souls be but helped in the way to heaven. Let God. be honored, and souls converted and edified, and he is satis- fied. This is it that 'naked) the times good in his account : he thinketh not, as, the proud and carnal church of Rome, that the
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