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thou art a righteous man, thy heart has in it the very seeds thereof.

There are therefore desires, and desires to desire, as one child can reach so high, and the other can but desire to do so. Thou, if thou art a righteous man, hast desires, these desires, ready to put forth into act, when they are grown a little stronger, or when their impediment is removed.

Many times it is with our desire as it is with saffron: it will bloom, and blossom, and be ripe, and all in a night. Tell me, dost thou not desire to desire? Yea, dost thou not vehemently desire, to desire to depart and to be with. Christ? I know if thou art a righteous man thou dost. There is a man sows his field with wheat; but as he sows, soon it is covered with great clods: now, that grows as well as the rest, though it runs not upright as yet; it grows, and yet is kept down. So do thy desires; and when one shall remove the clod, the blade will soon point upwards.

I know thy mind. That which keeps thee that thou canst not yet arrive to this, to desire to depart and to be with Christ, is, because some strong doubt or clod of unbelief, as to thy eternal welfare, lies hard upon thy desiring spirit. Now let but Jesus remove this clod, and thy desires will quickly start up to be gone. I say, let but Jesus Christ give thee one kiss, and with his lips, as he kisses thee, whisper to thee the forgiveness of thy sins, and thou wilt quickly break out, and say, Nay, then, Lord, let me die in peace, since my soul is persuaded of thy salvation.

There is a man upon the bed of languishing; but, Oh! he dares not die, for all is not as he would have it betwixt God and his poor soul; and many a night he lies thus in great horror of mind. But do you think that he doth not desire, to desire to depart? Yes, yes; he also waits and cries to God to set his desires at liberty. At last, the visiter comes

and sets his soul at ease, by persuading him that he belongs to God. And what then? Oh! now let me die! welcome death!'

Now he is like the man in Essex, who, when his neighbour at his bedside prayed for him, that God would restore him to health, started up in his bed, and pulled him by the arm, and cried out, 'No, no; pray that God will take me away; for to me it is best to go to Christ.'

The desires of some good Christians are pinioned, and cannot stir, especially this sort of desires. But Christ can and will cut the cord some time or other; and then thou that wouldst, shalt be able to say, "I have a desire to depart, and to be with Jesus Christ."

Meantime be thou earnest to desire to know thy interest in the grace of God; for there is nothing short of the knowledge of that can make thee desire to depart, that thou mayst be with Christ. This is that, that Paul laid as the ground of his desires to be gone. "We know," says he, "that tabernacle were dissolved, we

if our earthly house of this have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven."

And know, that if thy desires be right, they will grow as other graces do, from strength to strength; only in this they can grow no faster than faith grows as to justification, and than hope grows as to glory.

But we will leave this and come to the second thing.

2. As the righteous men desire to be present with Jesus Christ, so they desire to be with him in that country where he is. "But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their Crod; for he hath prepared for them a city." But now they desire a better country. Here is a comparison. There was

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another country, namely, their native country, the country from whence they came out, that in which they left their friends and their pleasures. That they left for the sake of another world, which, indeed, is a better country, as is manifest from its character. It is an heavenly. As high as heaven is above the earth, so much better is that country which is an heavenly, than is this in which now

we are.

A heavenly country, where there is a heavenly Father, a heavenly host, heavenly things, heavenly visions, heavenly places, a heavenly kingdom, and the heavenly Jerusalem, for them that are partakers of the heavenly calling, and that are thus part of the heavenly things themselves.

This is a country to be desired; and therefore it is a marvel if any, except those that have lost their wits and senses, refuse to choose themselves an habitation here. Here is the mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and an innumerable company of angels: here is the general assembly and church of the first born, and God the Judge of all, and Jesus, and the spirits of just men made perfect. Who would not be here?

This is the country that the righteous desire for a habitation. "But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city.”

Mark, they desire a country, and God prepareth for them a city: he goes beyond their desires, beyond their apprehensions, beyond what their hearts could conceive to ask for.

There are none that are weary of this world, from a gracious disposition that they have to an heavenly, but God will take notice of them, will own them, and not be ashamed to own them; yea, such shall not lose their longing. They desire an handful, God gives them a seaful; they desire a

country, God prepares for them a city; a city that is an heavenly, a city that hath foundations, a city whose builder and maker is God. And all this is, that the promise to them might be fullfilled, "The desire of the righteous shall be granted." And this is the last thing propounded to be spoken to from the text.

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CHAPTER VI.

HOW RIGHTEOUS DESIRES ARE GRANTED.

WE then, in conclusion, come to inquire into WHAT IS MEANT, OR TO BE UNDERSTOOD BY THE GRANTING OF THE RIGHTEOUS THEIR DESIRES: The desire of the righteous

shall be granted."

To grant, is to yield to what is desired, to consent that it shall be even so as is requested. "The Lord hear thee in the time of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee. Send thee help from his sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all thy sacrifices. Grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfil all thy counsel."

To grant, is also to accomplish what is promised. Thus, God granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life, namely, because he had promised it by the prophets from the days of old.

To grant, therefore, is an act of grace and condescending favor; for if God is said to humble himself when he beholds things in heaven, what condescension is it for him to hearken to a sinful wretch on earth, and to tell him, Have the thing that thou desirest? A wretch I call him, if compared to him that hears him, though he is a righteous man, when considered as the new creation of God.

To grant, then, is not to part with the thing desired, as if a desire merited, purchased, earned, or deserved it; but, of bounty and good will, to bestow the thing desired upon the humble. Hence God's grants are said to be gracious ones.

I will add, that to grant is sometimes taken for giving one authority or power to do, or possess, or enjoy such and such privileges: and so it may by taken here: for the right