FART I. SERMON XI. 167 be long absentfrom him, search with diligence what enemy it is that has crept in secretly, and interposes betwixt God andyou; and when you have found it, never rest, till by the aids of divine grace, you have removed the idol from your thoughts, and your soul be restored to its holy nearness to God again. I might say in general, concerning all this world, keep your hearts aloof from it, while your hands, and perhaps your heads too, are engaged in the necessary affairs of it. The nearer yoursouls are to the creatures, the farther they depart fromGod and blessedness. As a natural consequence from this thought, we may raise a VII. Reflection, Wanderings, and vain thoughts in the time ofreligious worship, are, and will be, the great burdens of a childof God ; for they clog him, and keep him down whenhe would rise to his heavenly Father; they are bars in his way to blessedness, for they hinder his approach to God. But what wretched creatures are we, if we indulge vain thoughts, and worldlyimages and idols in the house of God, without complaint, andwithout mourning ! What holy shame and repentance should it work in us, to think, that even in the place where thegreat and blessed God comes to shew his face, we should be building up walls and partitions to hide his face from us ! that we should turn away our faces from him in the hour when he comes on purpose to meet us ! I might add, as a concluding reflection, that it is a tiresome bondage to a saint, in a devout frame, to dwell so long in this body of flesh and blood. This mortal state prevents our coin- plete happiness every hour thatwe tarry in it. While we sojourn in this tabernacle, we are so much the farther from God ; while we are at home in the body, we areabsent from the Lord ; 2 Cor. v. 6. This mortal flesh is a painful veil to the lively christian, for it divides him from the sightand full enjoyment of his chosen bles- sedness. At the best we see God but darkly through.a glass . while we dwell here ; the moment of release places us in the region of spirits, whereweshall see himface to, face ; 1, Cor. xiii. 12. Thoughall these reflectionsmay afford us manyuseful rules for our practice, yet I will not finish the discourse without a few inferences which are more expressly practical. Practical Directions. -1. Give all glory to God for ever, who brings himselfso near to us : He putsus thus far in the road to happiness, when he builds his houses amongst us, when he approaches to us in his holy ordinances, when he calls, and causes us to approach to him, and gives us kind and surepromises of eternal blessedness above in his immediate presence. Let each of us join with Solomon in that noble piece of worship; 1 Kings ylii. 27, " Bqt will God indeed dwell on earth ? Behold
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