Who hath preached most, or heard most, or talked most? but who hath loved most? when our account is given in, Christ will not take Sermons, Prayers, Fastings, no, nor the giving of our goods, nor the burning of our bodies in stead of love, 1 Cor. 13.1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 13. & 16.22. Ephes. 6.24. And do we love him, and yet care not how long we are from him? If I be deprived of my bosom friend, me thinks I am as a man in a wilderness, solitary, and disconsolate: And is my absence from God, no part of my trou∣ble? and yet can I take him for my chiefest friend? If I delight but in some Garden, or Walk, or Gallery, I would be much in it: If I love my Books, I am much with them, and almost unweariedly poaring on them. The food which I love▪ I would often feed on; the clothes that I love, I would often wear; the recreations which I love, I would often use them; the business which I love, I would be much employed in: And can I love God, and that above all these; and yet have no desires to be with him? Is it not a far like∣lier sign of hatred then of love; when the thoughts of our appear∣ing before God, are our most grievous thoughts; and when we take our selves as undone, because we must die and come unto him? Surely, I should scarce take him for an unfeigned friend, who were as well contented to be absent from me, as we ordinarily are to be absent from God. Was it such a joy to Jacob to see the face of Joseph in Egypt? and shall we so dread the sight of Christ in glory? and yet say we love him? I dare not conclude, that we have no love at all, when we are so loth to die. But I dare say, were our love more, we should die more willingly. Yea, I dare say, Did we love God, but as strongly, as a worldling loves his wealth, or an ambitious man his honor, or a voluptuous man his pleasure; yea, as a drunkard loves his swinish delight, or an unclean person his bruitish lust: We should not then be so exceeding loth to leave the world, and go to God. O, if this holy flame of love were throughly kindled in our brests, in stead of our pressing fears, our dolorous complaints, and earnest prayers against death, we should joyn in Davids Wilderness-lamentations, Psal. 42.1, 2. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God: My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? The truth is, As our knowledg of God, is exceeding dark, and our faith in him, exceeding feeble; so is our love to him but little, and therefore are our desires after him so dull.