Then our hearts will set a high esteem on those friends or relatives who draw us to the knowledge and love of God: Then we shall prize the ministrations of the gospel in England above the riches of both the Indies; then we shall not think the ministry of the word a mean and contemptible employment, nor delight to hear scandals thrown on the persons or the characters of those who are engaged in it; for _these are the servants of the living God, who shew us the way_ to be happy. Then we shall commend those sermons, and those writings most, not that have most wit and fancy in them, but those which we feel and find to draw our hearts farthest off from sin and the creature, and bring them nearest to God; and then, if there were but one bible in the world, we should all agree to say, that there is not treasure enough in all the material creation to purchase it out of our hands. VI. Reflection. All the means of separation from God should be numbered among the instruments of real misery. Does Satan the fallen angel, solicit our youth with his flatteries; that it is time enough to mind religion yet; let us have a few more gaudy days first? Does he frighten the aged sinner with terrible falsehoods, and tempt him to an utter despair of grace? Let his wicked suggestions be renounced with disdain, and let him never prevail to keep one soul of us at a distance from God; for his first business was to divide us from God, and to ruin our happiness: And it is his daily employment to hold us fast in the chains of iniquity and death, and thus to prevent our return to God. Does the flesh allure us to pursue sinful delights? Does it awaken and charm our imagination with the flowery and fatal scenes of luxury and mirth? Do the lusts of the flesh, or the lusts of the eye, persuade us to seek happiness among them? And tempt us, at least for the present, to lay aside the thoughts of God? Let us set a strict guard upon ourselves, and watch all the avenues of sense and appetite, lest we be drawn off from the practice of piety, and the service, and the love of God, where true happiness is only to be found.