Neither is there any thing we can conceive to be truely excellent and good but it is in him yea whatsoever perfection is possible to be it is in God Deus est bonum infinitissime infinitum Bradwardin God is such a good as is most insinitely infinite O! what folly is it then to have our hearts taken off from the infinitely-blessed God and to have them set upon little narrow things It is an expression that one of the Ancients hath to this purpose The Angels are so inflamed with divine love that all other things yea they themselves seem vile to themselves in respect of God whom they love Did we know God more we should not be so fond of other things Oh! let us turn our souls upon God the chief good there may we love freely and cannot exceed in loving him Fourthly consider the world and earthly things cannot give happiness unto men That is wise love when a man loves that which will make him happie Earthly things cannot do this You may say How doth that appear That is easily made out in few words Earthly things cannot give a man satisfaction while he hath them they cannot keep him from death they cannot comfort him in death and least of all can they be a happiness to him after death Now who would love that which will not answer the end for which he loves it The reason why men love earthly things although they will not confess it it is because they think to finde happiness in them but now that happiness that men think to finde is far from them No temporal thing will afford that to a man which he desires and expects from it Men expect satisfaction from what they do pursue but satisfaction is far from them Why should a man be fond of that which when he hath it his happiness must be in something above it and when he wants it it is possible for him to be happie without it If we had all the things in this world we could desire if we are the children of God and have indeed tasted that the Lord is gracious there is something above those things that we shall still desire Now if when we have the greatest abundance and confluence of earthly things there is something else that we desire and something else that must make us happie in the midst of these things viz. the presence of God and the enjoyment of him and that it is possible for us to be happie in those things without earthly things then there is no reason why our hearts should be so inordinately set upon these earthly things Fifthly consider the inordinate love of earthly things is a perverting of the End for which God gives us these things God never gave us the creatures that we might make them our happiness or pursue them as our last end but God gives us the creatures that we might see himself in them admire him in them and pass from them to him It is a speech of Austin The creature is to be praised for the sake of God the author and original of it not to be worshipped and adored as if it self were God All things are of him and by him and to him Rom. 11.36 All things are from God and they ought to lead to him therefore when we love the creatures as our chief good and stick in them as our last happiness we pervert the end for which they were given to us the creatures were never given for such an end but they were given for this end that we might ascend to God by them We ought to use the creatures not to enjoy them Now then do we use a thing when we use it to a farther end we ought to use the creatures in order to our enjoyment of God as our last end but we ought not to take up with them as if we had no higher end then to enjoy them Sixthly consider the inordinate love of earthly things is an argument of great ignorance and unbelief Every man would desire and love the best thing did he certainly know and believe that there are better things then these that are present to Sence he would love those things We look not to the things that are seen 2 Cor. 4. Paul knew that there were better things then those things that are seen and that these things were real and substantial and therefore his heart was carried out after these things Now because the generality of men do not see these things nor are acquainted with them therefore they desire them not The world lies before men as a fair and pleasant garden and there is many a goodly flower to be seen in it here is pleasure there is profit there is honour these captivate the eyes of men and because things invisible to the outward sences are not seen or perceived by them therefore they minde not these things But O ye sons of men how long will ye turn the glory of God into shame how long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing Psal 4.2 What folly and ignorance is it to think that there are no higher things then those which the Brutes are capable of conversing with as well as you The Brutes may have their outward senses delighted as well as you they may be taken and affected with present visible things as well as you but where are your souls in the mean time where is your intellectual part Can Reason discover nothing to you but what is present and obvious to Sence why then is the candle of the Lord set up within you What sottishness and stupidity is it to believe that there is no happiness to be found but what is to be found in this world As if the life which God lives were no happiness as iâ— so be the life which the Saints and Angels live in above were no happiness While men onely seek earthly things it is a certain signe that they are ignorant of these things Seventhly consider the inordinate love of the world and of earthly things doth greatly unfit a man for death Die we must that is certain and the time of our life here is mosâ— uncertain Now what folly is it to be found in such a frame as will certainly unfit us for death Pythagoras saith of Philosophy That it is a meditation of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Certainly the life of a Christian should be a continued meditation of death and if a Christian should always be meditating of death that he may die well die happily and die comfortably then certainly it will be his greatest folly to be taken up with those things that must greatly unfit him for death Now there is nothing that will more unfit a man for death then the inordinate love of earthly things If a mans heart lie in the world how â—oth will he be to part with the world No man is willing to part with that which he loves much When a man that is a lover of the world comes to
and endeavour for the having and enjoying of that thing which we so seek after Heb. 12.15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God The word in the original is an emphatical word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 using diligent care and inspection over your selves lest any fail of the grace of God If we would therefore seek the things which are above we ought to use the uttermost care and diligence for the acquiring of these things Thus we have the Doctrine opened We come now to the Application Use The great Use which shall be made of this Doctrine shall be by way of Exhortation to exhort us all to put in practice this great duty of Heavenly-mindedness let us labour to get our hearts out of this world above this earth and to get up our hearts into Heaven where our true happiness and felicity lyes It was a familiar expression used by the ancient Church Let us lift up our hearts Sursum corda let our hearts be above our hearts should be above they should be above this lower world they should be conversant in the upper world where God and Christ the Saints and Angels are and where our true rest happiness and felicity is to he expected In the prosecution of this Use there are three things to be done 1. Give a few Motives briefly to quicken and to press us to the great duty of Heavenly-mindedness 2. Lay down some Directions for the putting in practice this duty 3. Shew what the great Impediments of Heavenly-mindedness are For Motives to quicken us to Heavenly-mindedness consider Motive 1 I. Our Regeneration and the life which we live as Christians calls u◠to Heavenly mindedness If ye be rise◠with Christ seek those things which ar◠above A Christian is one risen from the dead he is risen from the death of sin to the life of grace Now a man that is risen from the dead doth not live like other men we ought to live as those who are risen from th◠dead what an unsuitable thing were it to see a man risen from the dead to be much concerned about the affair of this world he is called to another state to another life a Christian is a man risen from the dead and therefore he ought not to converse as other men do our vocation and calling as we are Christians calls us off from sin from the world from sublunary vanities and calls us up to God to seek for our happiness and satisfaction in God 1 Cor. 1.9 God is faithful by whom ye are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord A Christian is called unto fellowship with God and Christ to have his happiness in God and Christ This is life eternal Joh. 17.3 to know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent A Christians happiness is to know God and enjoy God in Christ and therefore his heart should be where his happiness lyes Before conversion the soul seeks for happiness in the creature and in sensible things the work of conversion brings the soul off from the creature unto God in Christ Now then God and Christ being in Heaven our hearts should be where the centre lyes the end of our vocation or effectual calling was to bring us unto God in Christ as the point and centre of our rest we do not understand the end of our calling unless we know this that our calling was intended to bring us to God in Christ to take up our rest in God by Christ it is the end of our vocation that we should seek the things which are above Motive 2 II. To press us to Heavenly-mindedness consider our country is above mens hearts do naturally lye in their own Country now all the Saints of God may say Coelum nobis Patria heaven is our country It is said of the ancient Saints expresly They seek an heavenly country Heb. 11. That is a mans Country which is the place where he was born the place where he lives and where his inheritance lyes the Saints are born from above it is our Saviour's expression John 3. unless a man be born from above the Saints are born from above their original is from the Spirit of God who comes from above and their inheritance is above and they must live for ever above and therefore their hearts ought to be above whence their original was where their inheritance lyes and where they must live for ever Motive 3 III. Christ our Head is in Heaven and that is Motive sufficient to press us to Heavenly-mindedness Paul thought it so here in the Text Seek those things which are above Why so where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God As much as if he had said Christ our Head is in Heaven he is possessed of happiness and our hearts should be where our Head is look what happiness Christ as Man and Head of the Church injoys the same blessedness is destinated and appointed for us in our measure what happiness Christ as man is brought unto is but an instance what all the Saints in their measure shall be brought to Doth Christ as he is man live in the sight of God we also at last shall be brought to that sight Is Christ as he is man above misery above pain above death Is Christs humane body cloathed with glory and immortality unto the same condition shall we be brought at last So the Apostle tells us in Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile bodies and make them like unto his glorious body Now we ought to think what happiness Christ our Head enjoys and to consider that the same happiness in a degree and proportion is prepared for us Christ is entered into Heave◠as our fore-runner Heb. 6.20 and all the members shall follow the Head If Christ be in Heaven possessed of glory for us and have given us an earnest in wha◠he possesseth what we shall be brough◠unto it is an unworthy thing for 〈◊〉 to minde this earth and forge◠what our Head is possessed of for us and will bring us unto Motive 4 IV. Consider our true happines◠lyes above and it is a vain thing t◠expect it in this life This the Apostle intimates in this place You ar◠dead and your life is hid with Chris◠in God As much as if he should say You will never be happy you will never come to true happiness till yo◠come to be where Christ is till you come to enjoy what Christ enjoys your life is hid with Christ in God that is your happiness is to live as Christ lives to enjoy what Christ injoys and till you come to possess what Christ possesseth you are never happy Now then if our happiness consists in what Christ enjoys then it becomes us to study and meditate much what the happiness and glory of Christ is and what our happiness will be in conformity to what our Head enjoys we shall never be
to be in them when we come to try them We think to finde much more good sweetness and contentment in these things then indeed we finde in them when we come to experiment what is in them Now that is a vain thing which is empty of that it promiseth that is called vain Vanum dicitur quod re ipsâ destituitur which is destitute of solidity and substance 2. They can never satisfie us now whatsoever cannot satisfie is vain Happiness lyes in satisfaction happiness consists in having all the good a man would have in having all the good that he desires while there is any good a man would have and doth desire and hath it not he is not happy Now there is no man by the enjoyment of any or all earthly things that hath all the good he would have and therefore he is far from satisfaction far from happiness Secondly Earthly things as they are vain so they are vexations the labour and travail in getting them the care and sollicitude in keeping them the fear of loosing them the grief that follows upon the loosing of them the defectiveness of something or other in them when we have the greatest abundance of them the bitternesses that are mingled with them bring a great deal of vexation into earthly things When men are carried away with inordinate love of earthly things they pierce themselves through with many sorrows Qui mundanis se implicat tela parat quibus consodiatur He that intangles himself with worldly things doth but provide darts for himself by which he is thrust through Austin in a discourse of his about the contempt of the world hath a passage to this purpose The bands of this world have a true sharpness but a false sweetness a certain grief but uncertain pleasure hard labour timerous and fearful quiet they are full of misery but empty of happiness Lastly the mordinate love of earthly things doth greatly unfit us for communion with God here and for the enjoyment of him hereafter 1. It unfits us for communion with God here God will not be assable and familiar with that person who desires prizeth loves and delights in any thing more then himself The way to enjoy most of God is to be taken more with God himself then with other things When we are more taken with God himself then with all his gifts when we are inamoured of the Lord himself and God is more sweet to us then all things that come from him this is the way to enjoy most of God Wisdom saith Prov. 8.17 I love them that love me If we love God himself more then his gifts then shall we know what it is to be loved of him Joh. 14.21 If any man love me he shall he loved of my Father and I will love him c. but if we lavish out our hearts upon earthly things and have great and admiring thoughts of them and are vigorous in our pursuit of them and God hath the least part of our thoughts and affections God cares not for such lovers neither may such expect to attain to any friendship or familiatity with him here on earth 2. The love of earthly things as it unfits us for communion with God here so it unfits us for the enjoyment of him hereafter In heaven the faculties of the soul shall be immediately acted upon God the soul will be wholly taken up in contemplating admiring loving delighting in God in praising and adoring of him Now when the heart is wholly taken up with earthly things it is altogether unfitted and indisposed for such a life The soul is coloured as it were with the objects that it converseth with and receives a tincture and an impression from them A man whose spirit is immers'd and drenched in the world will be very unfit to have the faculties of his soul carryed forth upon God The best way to have our souls suited and adapted to the future life it is to keep our spirits at as great a distance as may be from present things We should be saying often in our own souls Oh the blessed state Oh the blessed life that is above Oh to see God to love him to go to him to live with him in his eternity How sweet is that life When we are without those earthly things which we desire we should say our true life our true happiness is above where there shall be no more need or use of these things when we have the most of these things our hearts should be carried up above these things and say We expect and look for and long after another happiness a happiness that is above these things We should keep our hearts in the most reserved frame for the future life and the future state We should not suffer our spirits to mingle too far with present things Our hearts should sit so loose to present things that we may be ready to lay down these things and to take up with the happiness that is above If we suffer our spirits to launch forth too far into the world it will be a hard matter to reduce them and when the cry is made Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye forth to meet him we shall be very unfit to entertain his Call If our souls stick and be taken up in the things of time we shall be very unfit and unready to deliver them up into eternity AN APPENDIX Concerning Laying hold of eternal life 1 Tim. 6.12 Lay hold on eternal life The whole verse is read thus Fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life whereunto thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses Lay hold on eternal life LIFE is the great thing which we all desire there is nothing we fear so much as death nothing we desire so much as life This Text acquaints us what is the true life Lay hold on eternal life Amemus vitam aeternam Austin O let us love eternal life It is eternal life that is onely worth the name of life therefore since we are so fond of life since life is most pleasing to us of all other things let us love that life that is truly so This temporal life which we now live is not worth the name of life in comparison of eternal life The Text contains in it a double Gospel-precept 1. Fight the good fight of faith 2. Lay hold on eternal life It is the later of these precepts that I shall a little insist upon Lay hold on eternal life The Doctrine that offers it self to our consideration from the words is this Doctrine That it is the duty of Christians t◠lay hold of eternal life In this Point there are two things to be spoken unto 1. The Object 2. The Act. The Object is eternal life The Act is Lay hold on eternal life So that that which will bound our discourse as to the Explication of the Point will be these two things 1. To shew what
of Mr. Rutherford were these Glory glory dwells in Emmanuels land We should pray for the clearest sights and prospects that may be of the heavenly glory The clearer sights we can get of eternal things the more shall we finde our hearts crucified to the things of time and the more shall we finde our hearts carried up aloft to those things that are above even whilst we are fain to use these other things for our present necessitie We come now to the Reasons of the Doctrine why we ought to lay hold on eternal life Reason 1 1. This life is a short transient thing it soon glides and slips away How soon do we pass from one state to another from infancie to childhood from thence to youth thence to grown age and from thence to old age and death My days are swifter then a weavers shuttle Job 7.6 Swifter then a post they go away Job 9.25 This life is a vanishing thing it is an easie prospect to see to the end of it the longest life here on earth is nothing to eternity Therefore since this life is so shppery short and uncertain it is our great wisdom to set our hearts upon that life that is solid durable permanent What wisdom is it to set our hearts upon that which is not perminent We have here no continuing city Heb. 13.14 Thsi life is madeup of changes and vicissitudes and abides in no consistency it is our great concernment to minde that life which is stable and enduring Reason 2 2. Eternal life is that state that we must rest and abide in That life which we shall live in the other world will always stick and abide by us as we are then we shall ever be It is not so with us now we are not now as we shall ever be we are still changing from one state to another But eternal life is that state we shall always rest and abide in When once we are entred into eternal life we may say It shall never be otherwise with me then now it is this is the state I must take up with and thus it shall be for ever Now doth it not become us to be reaching out in our souls after this state Certainly we ought to overlook this life and the whole of our time as a little short thing and fasten our eyes upon the unchangeable state above where we must six and abide for ever We look not to the things that are seen for they are temporal but to the things which are not seen for they are eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 Reason 3 3. Eternal life is the onely true life it is the most noble and excellent life What a poor life is this life to converse with this world and the things of it in comparison of eternal life in which we shall converse with God and the holy Angels What a poor life is this life which is made up of wants of sorrows of complaints of miseries of distresses of he constant fear and expection of death in comparison of that life where there is all joy no sorrow all fulness no want all satisfaction no complaint all happiness no misery all life no death nor fear of death Oh this is the life that we should be suspiring and breathing after Reason 4 4. We ought to lay hold on eternal life because the thoughts and expection of eternal life will carry us up above the difficulties troubles and afflictions of this life He that seeth the Port before him though he be out at Sea and is tossed with waves and tmepests yet he knows if he can get safe to the Port all is quiet placid and serene there He that hatha prospect by the eye of Faith of eternal life and the heavenly Country though he be tossed up and down with many afflictions tryals and distresses here yet he knows all is tranquil and serene above Ibi nulla mors nulla aegritudo There is no sickness no death The thoughts of eternal life may well swallow up all our afflictions This life is but for a moment in eternal life there shall be none of these things to trouble or disquiet us Let us wait patiently for the blessed hope and the revelation of eternal life and we shall know these sorrows no more Reason 5 5. If we lay hold on eternal life death will be no surprise or terror to us when this life fails we shall have another life in view nay we shall feel the beginningso f another life in us This is eternal life to know thee c. Joh. 7.3 So much as we know God adhere to him rest in him live upon him and are satisfied with him we have the beginning of eternal life and this is such a life as shall never end That natural life which is in a Saint fails and must have anend Oh! but there is in his soul the seed of eternal life Joh. 4.14 The water that I shall give shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life A true Believer hath the Spirit of God an the grace of the Spirit dwelling in him and this is the seed o eternal life The Spirit of God which hath begâ—â— the knowledge of God and love to God in the soul of a Saint here on earth will continue that knowledge of God and love to God in the soul to eternity yea in eternal life this knowledge this love shall be perfected and consummated Hence is that of the Apostle Rom. 8.10 The body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness The body dies and the life of it perisheth and vanisheth away but the spirit the soul of a Saint which is the seat of Grace and the habitation of the Spirit of God continueth and lives when the life of the body ceaseth If the soul should dye with the body then grace it self must be extinct and perish But saith the Apostle the spirit is life because of righteousness The spirit of a godly man having a principle of righteousness in it continues in being and the spiritual life of it remains when the body dyes It is true the soul of a wicked man is immortal and continues to live when his body dyeth but the life which remains to a wicked man after this life being a life of misery and torment the Scripture chooseth to call it by the name of death rather then of life But a godly man enjoys an happy and a blessed life in his soul when this life ceaseth Hence is it that we read of the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 And Paul desired to be dissolved and to be with christ which was far better Phil. 1.23 Now when we feel such a life in us as cannot expire neither can be taken away from us why should we fear death Luther observes that the great cause why men fear death is a secret suspition that lyes at the bottom of their hearts Quasi non semper victuri as if they should not
live always If I am sure to live why do I fear death If we lay hold on eternal life and finde the beginnings of that life in our souls we have that life set up in us which cannot expire Joh. 6.44 He that eats my flesh and drinks my bloud hath eternal life How can that be lost which is eternal that which is eternal cannot be lost It is a great skill to be able to distinguish between this natural life which we live in common with other men and that spiritual life which we live as Christians The natural life of a Saint is subject to death as other mens is although the curse of it be taken away but there is a life in a Saint and that is the life which he lives in and by the Spirit of God and this is such a life as cannot be extinguished We should labour for that spiritual skill as to be able to distinguish between these two kindes of life and not be without hope as other men when this natural life ceaseth we should remember there is a life in us that cannot dye If we have begun to know God to love God to live upon him and to live to him here on earth we shall not cease to know him to love him to live upon him to live to him in eternity and to eternity Vse 1 1. We come now to the Uses of this Doctrine and there are onely two that we shall make of it The first Use shall be of Reprehension If we ought to lay hold on eternal life two things are hence to be reprehended 1. That we are so much taken up in following this world and in the pursuit of temporal things 2. That we are so much addicted to the love of this life I. We are to be reprehended that we are so much taken up in following this world and in the pursuit of temporal things Lay hold on eternal life If we ought to lay hold on eternal life then we ought to live above the world and contemn it The eager pursuit of this world is most contrary to our laying hold on eternal life We cannot pursue two things at once while we are pursuing hard after the world we must needs let Heaven and Salvation go The greatest part of men think not on eternal things they live as if they were always to live here on earth they never think of a future state nor do they provide for it But if we ought to lay hold of eternal life if that ought to be the mark and scope in our eye that shews that we are far wide of that which ought to be our true mark and scope when we are wholly taken up with temporal things and neglect eternal II. We are to be reprehended that we are so much addicted to the love of this life We are commanded to love eternal life and to lay hold on that but we are found of this life and loth to part with it He is a rare soul that is satisfied with life here on earth and hath such an apprehension of the reality and excellencie of eternal life that this life groweth out of esteem with him I grant that this natural life is a blessing as other temporal blessings are but as it is possible for us to love other things too much so it is possible yea too common to love this life too much and it is the wisdom of God to imbitter this life to us by many afflictions because we are so fond of it and that he may weary us out of it and cause us to long for that which is the true life Vita longa long a infirmitas a long life is a long infirmity and we may adde Longa tentatio a long temptation What is our whole life but a life of tryals and temptations It is true we may value and prize life for these two ends 1. To work out our Salvation to make ready for the coming of the Bridegroom 2. That we may do some work and service for God that we may glorifie him upon the earth and finish the work that he hath given us to do But to be over-fond of this life meerly for lifes sake is a certain signe of unbelief It is a signe we have little knowledge of another life little acquaintance with eternal life Had we a prospect by faith of a better and more excellent life we should not be so over fond of this life Vse 2 2. By way of Exhortation to exhort us all to put the duty of the Text in practice Let us labour to lay hold on eternal life Oh! let us labour to call up our hearts from visible things to invisible from present things to future from momentary things to eternal the things of the other world are never the less real because they are out of sight Atheists think that eternal life and all future things are but a fiction but we may use to them that Speech of Cyprian In aeternam poenam serò tandem credent qui in aeternam vitam credere noluerunt Cyprian They shall believe too late to their eternal torment who would not believe to eternal life But let Atheists and Scoffers say what they please we do know or ought to know that eternal life is the greatest reality God that cannot lye hath promised us eternal life Titus 1.2 The great promise of the Gospel is eternal life 1 Joh. 2.25 This is the promise that he hath given to us eternal life Unless we make God to be a lyar we must take eternal life for the greatest reality In the prosecution of this Use I shall onely propound some Directions for the better putting in practice of this duty to shew us how we ought to lay hold of eternal life 1. Let us have great and admiring thoughts of eternal life We should labour to have our hearts raised up with the consideration of the excellencie of this life Quanta erit illa faelicitas ubi nullum erit malum nullum latebit bonum Aug. Civit. Dei. How great shall that happiness be where there shall be no evil present and no good shall be wanting where we shall be wholly taken up in the praises of God and God shall be all in all we shall see and love love and praise as Austin expresseth it This natural life which now we live is not worth the name of life in comparison of eternal life nay it deserves to be called a death rather then a life for we always carry about sin with us which is the matter cause of death But in eternal life we shall not onely be free from sorrow but from sin the cause of sorrow yea we shall be free from the possibility of sinning Mans first happiness in the state of Innocencie was posse non peccare a power not to have sinned His last happiness in Heaven is non posse peccare not to be able to sin at all Though man in his first estate was endowed with such a power
state Now want of a due consideration of these things is the cause that men are no more heavenly-minded Things that are not known are not desired are not loved are not longed after Had we a due consideration of the glory and eternity of the future state we should be more affected with it If we consider the glory of the future state either as to the privative or positive part of it we shall finde it a glorious and blessed state indeed 1. If we consider it as to the privative part to live in a state without sin without sorrow without grief or perturbation to live in such a state where there shall be no more wants no more infirmities no more imperfections to live in such a state where we shall be under no more temptations where we shall be free from death yea from the fear or possibility of death or misery to live in such a state where there shall be no more eclipses of the Light of Gods countenance where we shall be no more in danger of loosing the sight and sense of Gods love This is a glorious state if you consider it as to the privative part of it But then 2. If we consider the positive part of this state to live in such a state when we shall see God always when we shall always love him always delight in him to live in such a state where there shall be a full and perfect communication of God to the soul where there shall be perfect rest perfect satisfaction this is a blessed state indeed and then to think that there shall be no cessation no not the least interruption of this peace this joy this solace this satisfaction this must needs be a blessed and glorious state indeed Now want of the due consideration of these things is the cause why we are no more heavenly-minded Fools and slow of heart that we are we think there is no happiness no joy no comfort no life to be had but what is in this world and to be found within the confines of time whereas if we could get our hearts a little out of this world and get them up into the other world we should see there is the true life there is the true happiness there is the true consolation to be found there and there onely are these things to be found What are all the pleasures and delights and injoyments of this world in comparison of what the glorified Saints injoy in the presence of God in the sight of him and in the communication of him to their souls want of a deep solemn consideration of what is to be had and injoyed in the future life and state is a great cause why we have our hearts no more taken up with this life and state 11. Lastly the last impediment of Heavenly-mindedness that we shall mention is want of a due consideration what is our ultimate and last end We were not born to live always here on earth neither to injoy our last happiness here on earth but we were created to a blessed immortality to live in the presence of God and the holy Angels and to converse with God to all eternity Now want of a due consideration of this is that which makes us so little heavenly-minded Every wise man will minde his last end the acquiring and attaining of his last end is his uttermost perfection If man were not capable of an higher happiness nor destinated to a higher happiness then what the brutes and sensitive creatures are capable of and are destinated unto then it were his interest to minde sensible things onely but mans last end is higher then so mans last end is to attain the uttermost perfection his being is capable of Now man is indowed with an intellectual and an immortal principle which God hath put within him therefore mans last and ultimate end is to have a happiness suitable to this intellectual and immortal principle which God hath put within him Now want of a due consideration what that is by which our beings are perfected and in which we injoy our last happiness and perfection is one cause that we are no more heavenly-minded O do we think that there is no other happiness then what is to be taken in from sensible things and what is to be injoyed in this life This is a thought beneath the dignity and excellencie of our own souls this is to forget the principles of our own being and the great end we were created for Certainly our ultimate perfection is to injoy a blessed state of immortality an unchangeable state of happiness and if we observe the pulse of our own souls which way they beat and what we do naturally long for we shall finde that which we do most long for is immortality and an unchangeable state of happiness It is to be happy and unchangeably happy we naturally desire Now it is a vain thing to expect either of these in this world whilst we are here on earth neither is immortality nor an unchangeable state of happiness to be expected No this is reserved for the other world therefore there should our thoughts and desires lye If we would be heavenly-minded we should say within our selves We never expect happiness till we come into our own Country where we must spend the days of eternity we never expect happiness till we come where God and Christ is untill we come to see him be with him and enjoy him to eternity This is the last happiness God hath destinated his elect unto And this is the great happiness our souls should be suspiring and breathing after The Second Part Concerning Earthly-mindedness Col. 3.2 Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth THere are two Observations that have been propounded out of these words The first was this Observ 1 That it is the duty of Christians to seek after and to set their affections upon the things which are above If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above Observ 2 The second Observation was this That Christians ought to have their hearts taken off from the world and from earthly things and to have their hearts carried forth to an holy contempt of this world Set your affections on things above not on things upon the earth Having spoken to the main things which we intended from the former Point we come to the second That Christians ought to have their hearts taken off from the world and from earthly things c. Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth In the prosecution of this Doctrine we have three things to speak unto 1. To shew what we are to understand by earthly things 2. To shew what it is to have our hearts taken off from the world and from earthly things 3. To shew what is that holy contempt of the world that Christians should be aspiring after we ought to have our hearts taken off from the world and to be carryed forth
is in any earthly thing and when he is come to the end of that sweetne's which he did injoy he desires more therefore when a mans enjoyment hath been highest he still desires more Nothing can satisfie the soul but some transcendent good such a good as is so great as is more then the soul can take in So long as the soul is capable of taking in more it is not satisfied Now a man may take in all the delight and contentment that is to be found in earthly things and when he hath taken in all he is capable of taking in more This is clear in Solomon who made an experiment of all things under the Sun and when he had tryed all he cryed out All is vanity and vexation of spirit The capacity of the soul is too great and too big for any earthly thing to fill it and therefore when the soul hath passed from one temporal thing to another and tryed what is in one and in another it remains unsatisfied still Reas 4 4. Earthly things will not comfort a man when he comes to dye Riches avail not in the day of wrath it will be little comfort to a man when he comes to dye to think what he hath enjoyed or what he is like to leave behinde him nay if a man have placed his happiness and felicity in earthly things it will be the greatest torment to him to think that he must leave these things Come to a man that is at the point of death and who knows for certain that he shall dye shew him gold and silver bring forth his Jewels and most precious Treasures tell him of his Lands and Fossessions and how little will these things signifie Oh but tell him of everlasting happiness assure him that death shall do him no harm that there is a life beyond this and that he shall be câ—rtainly happy in that life and this will signifie something to him Reas 5 5. Earthly things are not our last happiness our last and true happiness is beyond any thing in this world Mundus non patria sed captivitas nobiâ— est The world is not our country but the place of our captivity and bondage Our last and true happiness is to live in he Divine presence to see and enjoy God in the heavens Now that which is not our last happiness deserves not to have the main of our affections that which deserves to take up our hearts is our last happiness we should be setting our hearts upon that which will continue always we should be thinking of the life we must live in the other world and how we are like to spend the days of eternity that is the state that is worth thinking of when time shall be no more when there shall be no more changes when we shall be wholly taken up in the contemplation of the first original of all things that is the state that is worth thinking of of which I can say Thus it shall be for ever that is the state that is worth thinking of of which I can say When once I am come into it there is no alteration in it Here is always joy always life always satisfaction Here is no sorrow no pain no grief no death no fear of death Reas 6 6. Earthly things have no influence as to a mans happiness so as of themselves to make him ever the happier at last It is true Temporal blessings so far as they are sanctified so far as they further a man in the ways of God and help him forward toward the heavenly Country so far they are mercies and so far they may in a sort be said to conduce to a mans last happiness but consider temporal things in themselves they have no influence upon a mans last happiness Love or hatred cannot be known by any thing under the Sun No man can conclude by the meer enjoyment of thâ—se things that he is the more beloved of God at present or that he shall have the higher place in heaven hereafter Abraham saith to the rich man Son Luk. 16.25 remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus his evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented God gives to some men their portion in this life This they shall have this is all they shall have He fills their bellies with his hid treasures but this is all they shall have he denies to them the heavenly inheritance Reas 7 7. Earthly things are so far from having an influence upon a mans last happiness as that they do many times blunt and hinder the soul in its pursuit ater eternal things Amor terrenarum viscum spiritualium The love of earthly things is as bird lime to the soul as to the pursuite of spiritual things when a poor Bird is taken in the lime-twigs his wings are pinioned that he cannot flie upward the love of earthly things pinions the wings of the soul that it cannot ascend to God and eternal things Terrenarum appetitus tenebras animarum nostrarum densat The inordinate desire of earthly things thickens the darkness of the soul the violence and impetuousness of the affections to carthly things blindes the judgement and darkens the eye of the minde when the affections are violently set upon earthly things the minde cannot see and behold the excellencie of spiritual things Nothing so great an enemy to growth in grace as the love of earthly things A man that is addicted to the love of earthly things can neither see the evil that is in sin nor the beauty that is in holiness Mundo alligati spiritualis vitii vix possunt nomen apprehendere Men that are bound and tyed fast to the world can hardly understand the name of a spiritual sin Tell a man that is immers'd and drowned in the world of spiritual sins of spiritual pride self-love inordinate affection hypocrisie formality in duty and the like he understands none of these things his conscience is so benummed through the love of the world that he is not sensible of these things And as the love of earthly things dulls the spiritual senses of the soul that a man cannot apprchend sin so it blunts the soul in the pursuit after grace and holiness the love of earthly things kills and extinguishes the love of God If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2.15 I remember it is an expression of Peter Martyr concerning Soloman What love could Solomon have for God who distributed and parted his love among a thousand wives And we may say What love can men retain for God the chief good who part and divide their love to so many lower and inferiour goods Reas 8 8. It is the depressing and debasing of the soul for a man to set his affections on earthly things The soul was made for higher things and 't is capable of higher things the soul was made for converse
after eternal life The more our desires run out in one chanel the less will they run out in another Did we covet to live with God more to be admitted into the Divine presence to live in that state in which the Saints and Angels live we should covet other things less this is the truely noble covetousness we cannot covet this too much to live with God in his eternity Oh let us love eternal life If we have right thoughts of the future life and the future state we shall see nothing worth desiring and coveting in comparison of that state 7. Let us pray for a holy contentation of spirit with our present state This is the Directiou which the Apostle insinuates Heb. 13.5 Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with the things which you have Contentation with our present state would prevent covetousness the reason why our desires are immoderate is because we are not content with Gods allewance Divine providence is never overseen Divina providentia not potest falli never mistaken Divine Wisdom measures out to every man what is best and if we could think so that would keep our desires from being too violent and impetuous after these things Lastly let us set before us the example of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ he is the highest Pattern of holiness in every kinde Christ when he was in the world he was Lord of all yet he possessed little and as he possessed little of the world so he did not covet and seek after the things of the world His heart was wholly taken up in glorifying the Father and in finishing the work which he had given him to do he minded not gold or silver lands or possessions his heart was set upon other things True it is that having taken to himself not onely our nature but also the infirmities of it he used the things of the world in his passage as things accommodate unto that state of Humiliation unto which he had voluntarily subjected himself yet a little sufficed him of these things that were necessary for the support of nature so far was he from designing to heap up wealth and riches and from seeking great things for himself in the world Use 3 3. Of Admonition To admonish us not to set our hearts upon the world and earthly things This is the counsel which the Spirit of God gives us 1 Joh. 2.15 Love not the world nor the things of the world This Admonition is most solemn if this solemn Admonition which the Spirit of God gives us will not bear weight in our conscience what little hope can we have that any other Admonitions should take place Vae tibi si amaveris condita deserueris Creatorem pulcra tibi sunt sed quanto pulcrior est qui ista formavit Aug. if so clear and express a Prohibition Love not the word do not bear sway with us what should Wo to thee saith Austin if thou love created things and forsake the Creator these things seem beautiful unto thee but how much more beautiful is he that made these things We are all of us too prone to fall into the love of the world and of earthly things When first we left God in our Apostacie in Adam we fell from God into the creature and there we have stuck ever since and it must be the mighty power of divine Grace to recover us out of the creature and to bring us back to God the love of the world is the great temptation to most of us I often think of the last counsel which an holy man gave a little before his death as he was drawing on toward his dissolution he called his Relations to him and gave them this as his last advice Make sure of Christ saith he and take heed of the world I have found that my greatest enemy If the world be our greatest enemy we have need to watch so much the more against it That which we shall do more in the prosecution of this Use is to propound several Considerations to take us off from the love of the world and earthly things First Consider the love of the world and of earthly things is a great wrong and injury done to God Aug. He that loves the creatures more then God offends the Creator We cannot love the world too much but we must of necessity love God too little No man can serve two masters So much as our love is let forth inordinately upon the creature it must of necessity be withdrawn from God Now this is the highest Sacriledge and Injustice Sacriledge to rob God of that which is his due Injustice to give that to the creature which is not due to it Secondly consider the Soul was made for greater things the Soul being an immortal and an eternal principle was made to converse with eternal things and to seek for happiness in eternal things Therefore when we love temporal things and pursue them as our happiness we forget the true nobleness and dignity of our own souls That which doth distinguish us from the Brutes is an intellectual principle whereby we are capable of contemplating and pursuing something that is eternal the Brutes minde present things It is the property of Sence to minde something present and to go no further When we onely minde and pursue present things we depress our selves beneath our own species and bring our selves as it were into the rank of Brutes and sensitive creatures Thirdly consider there are greater things for us to love there is a greater and fairer happiness that lies before us we have God and Christ to love there are eternal things that lie before us Non satiat animam nisi incorruptibilis gaudii vera certa aeternitas Aug. Serò te amavi pulchritudo tam antiqua tam nova serò te amavi Aug. Nothing satisfieth the soul but the true and certain eternity of that joy which is not corruptible Who would fix his eyes upon a Glow-worm that hath the Sun to look upon I have loved thee to late saith Austin O thou that art so ancient a beauty and so new and fresh a beauty I have loved thee too late We have the living and eternal God to love and yet we love dying things Well may we wonder at our selves that having the infinite and eternal God whom we might make the object of our affections we should take up with things so far short of him What are a few drops compared to the Ocean what are a few weak rays in comparison of the Sun what are all the creatures in comparison of the Creator God is an infinite Sea of perfection there are no bounds nor limits to his perfections In God there is all good that is desirable all perfection imaginable all perfection possible Do we desire life he is the fountain of life Do we desire wisdom he is the fountain of wisdom Do we desire holiness he is the fountain of holiness