APPENDIX. 229 haters of holiness and holy peace, and in a painful, tired body, and who have thought, said, and written so much of heaven, do yet say, with no stronger desire and joy, " It is good to be there." When I see all natural appetites desire earnestly their proper food, and even the brutes.desire their beloved company, shall my holy appetite be so dull and indifferent ? Lord, quicken it by the fuller communications of ,thy Spirit, and save me from this hated, dan- gerous disease. 29. But Peter spake he knew not what, when he talked of building tabernacles on earth, for the fruition of that which is proper to heaven. Alas! this is our common malady and folly: we would have Christ in the splendor of his glory; but we would have him here : we would seeMoses and Elias, if they will comer$, down to us : we would have that in the flesh, which flesh and blood' `' cannot possess. O, if, we knew in what land, what city, what country, what private house, we might live in the least glimpse of the heavenly glory, how joyfully should we run to such an habi- tation ! Merchants make towards.the most gainful place for trade : poor men inquire after the most fertile and delectable countries for plantation: gentlemen delight themselves with a sweet and pleas- antly-seated 'mansion ; but if saints on earth could find a place where they couldsee what. Stephen, or Paul, 'or the 'apostles saw, and have a little of heaven without dying or putting off this body, what a desirable dwelling would that seem to them ! And yet, alas! how cold are our desires of the time and place where we shall have much more! We. have Christ on earth, in the manner . and measure that we,are capable: we have here some communion with heaven, as verily (though not so sensibly) as our eye hath with the sun. God will not deny, believers their title, their ear- nest, and some first-fruits ; but whenwe would have our all, or our best on earth, ór that on earth which is proper to heaven, we know not what we desire or say. Are we, vile, dirty sinners in flesh, now fit for heavenly sights or joys? Or is this world a place for building tabernacles, where we may see the Lord, and take up our rest? What! in a world of temptations, of wickedness, of sufferings, where we are daily wrestling for our lives, and fighting, not merely against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness ofthis world, even spiritual wickedness (or wicked spirits) in high places; (above the greatest men that are their servants.) Eph. vi. 12. But that which 'is of the earth is ,earthly. Our earthly part would have an earthly felicity; but whenwe know that it is corruptible, and a dying thing, and that we have here no continuing city, both faith and reason bid us seek for one to come. The unfaithful steward had so much wit as to make sure of an-
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