with David here Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and thus shall you be made partakers of this great blessing And thus I have done with this Argument The Blessedness of man or the true blessed man AFFECTIONS Rightly Placed Collos 3.2 Set your Affections on things above IN this verse the Apostle Paul doth exhort the Colâ—ssians and us by them to seek and savour spiritual things The Exhortation is expressed and answered expressed in the first verse seek those things which are above and in the second Set your affections on things above It is enforced by divers arguments the first is drawn from our Communion with Christ in his Resurrection and Ascension If ye then as I have told you in the former Chapter be r sen with Christ Seek these things that are above for Christ sitteth on the right hand of God 2. Argument is drawn from our Communion with Christ in his death Ye are dead and your Life is hid with God in Christ Therefore set your affections on things above and not on the earth 3. Argument is drawn from the danger of inordinate affection for which things sake The wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience verse 6. Therefore mortifie your Members which are on the earth Fornication Vncleanness Inordinate affection verse 5. 4. Argument is drawn from our present relation state and condition in the which ye also walked sometimes when ye lived in them But you also put off all these c. verse 7 8. So that the words of the Text are part of the Exhortation it self Set your affections on things above 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By things that are above we must not only understand Heaven the joyes and the glories of it but all spiritual and heavenly things also which are to be enjoyed and obtained here which are from above because every good and perfect gift is from above from the father of lights and whatever grace or spiritual enjoyment we have on this side Heaven is the seed of that heavenly glory Nâ—w these heavenly things we are to mind especially 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mind ye but because the Apostle had called upon us to seek these things in the former verse and there is somewhat more in this then in the former Vocabulum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 duos actus complectitur actum mentis sive intellectus de re aliqua cognantis atque actum voluntatis sive affectus rem aliquam approbantis amantis Davenantius in Collos 31. and the word doth not barely signifie to mind a thing but to mind it with savour therefore we translate it thus Set your affections on things above according therefore to our Translation of the words the Doctrine is That it is the Duty of all the Saints The Doctrine To set their affections on things above they are in a special manner for to mind the same and to savour them and they are to have their conversation in heaven their Treasure is there and therefore there is their heâ—rt to be and where our heart is there our affections will be for affections are the issues of the heart as a mans heart is so he affects and as he affects so his heart is I know it is usual with Philosophers and Divines Explication to place their affections in parte sensitiva but if we look into them we shall find that Affections in the general are these moving of the rational soul whereby the heart is â—ensibly carried out upon good or evil so as to embrace the one or refuse the other I sâ—y they are 1. The movings or motions of the reasonable soul ye shall observe therefore that when Jerusalem was much affected with the tidings of Christs birth it is said all Jerusalem was moved And when the Jews were affected with envy against Paul and the brethren it is said they were moved with envy why but because affection is the motion or moving of the soul of man 2. As it is the moving of the soul so it is that motion of the soul whereby the heart is sensibly carried out upon what is good or evil for every act or moving of the soul is not an affection the soul moves towards a thing when it enquires into it or doth will the same but every act of the Understanding and Will is not an affection but when the soul of man doth sensibly move or is sensibly carried out unto good or evil then it 's said to be affected and therefore saith the Church in the Lamentations Mine eye affecteth mine heart 3ly As the Soul must be sensibly carried out unto what is good or evil so it must embrace or refuse the same for affections are of two sorts Concupiscible and Irascible by one we follow what is good and by the other we do shun what is evil the Loâ—d hath placed several affections in the Soul but all are the Servants and Ministers of Love I Love a thing and therefore if it be absent I desire it if it be present I rejoyce and delight in it If any thing do oppose the thing that â— love then I am angry with it or do hate the same So that Love is the great wheel and as that moves all love some in a way of embracing some in a way of refusing And so you now see what these affections are which we are to set upon things above They are these motions of the Soul whereby a man is sensibly carried out unto good or evil so as to embrace or refuse the same Quest But how and in what respect are we to set our affections on things above and not on things here below What may we not at all affect the things of this life Answ Yes Ye may desire the things of this life and desire is an affection and ye may grieve at the loss of them and grief is an affection But 1. Though in a good sense ye may affect them yet ye may not affect them for themselves in reference to Christ in subordination to God ye may affect them but for themselves ye may not affect them for where do you find in all the Scripture that you are commanded to love the World and the things of the World Husbands love your Wives Wives your Husbands Parents love your Children and Children your Parents One man may and must love another But where are you commanded to love your self Implicitely indeed this is commanded Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self But where have ye an express Commandment for to love your self or where do you find in all the Word that you are advised to love your Money Non dixit nolite habere sed nolite diligere August your Gold Silver House or Land and Estate No where Surely therefore you may not affect these things for themselves 2. Though ye may affect the things that are here below yet in comparison with Spiritual and heavenly things your affections to these things is to be as
of them I will speak of things concerning the King saith David in the 45th Psalm for my heart is inditing boiling bubling up a good matter And ye see this by experience that a man or woman loves to speak of what they affect If a mans heart be set on the World and the things thereof he loves to be speaking of them if a womans affections be set on fine â—loths and fashions she loves to be speaking of them and to hear others speaking of them for if ones affections be truly set on things above he loves to be speaking of them but now though men say they affect the best things yet they are not usually speaking of them Why But because their affections are not in truth set on them 5. â—ook what a man is deeply affected with that that he is most indulgent to and tender of he could not have a cold wind for to breath upon it Affections blind the judgment Perit judicium cum res transit in affectum Great affections take away the very judgment infirmities are no infirmities to affection love will kiss the warts of the thing affected oh its exceeding tender of the thing affected But now men are not so tender of the name of God and spiritual things Why But because their affections are not set in truth upon things above 6. If a mans affections were thus set on things that are above then he would not be put off with any slight evidence of his interest in them Look what a man doth much affect that he will have a clear evidence of his interest therein and will never be satisfied till he have a substantial and a clear evidence of it but now though men say that they do affect the best things yet they will be satisfied with slight evidences of their interest in them Why Because their affections are not truly set on things that are above Indeed men think they are because they have some affections to the better things but if all these things be true as they are most certain then surely many are Hinc colligere possumus illos omnes qui pollicentur sibi gaudia superna cum interim non omnino sapiunt superna quasi jucundo quodam somnio delectari neque unquam illis rebus saturandos qui nunquam sitire esurire ex animo solebant Dav. in Collos 3.1 2. deceived in the great matter of the right placing of their affections Quest But suppose our affections be set on things above or suppose they be not What then Answ Then is your Portion accordingly Look where your Treasure â—s there is your Portion if your Treasure be in Heaven then is your Portion there if your Treasure be in the Earth then is your Portion there And look where your heart and affections are there is your Treasure And therefore if your affections be set on things above then is your Portion there if on things below then is your Portion there Yea 2. If your affections be set on things that are above then may you know that you have an Interest in Christ and in those things above Affections are the Pulse of the Soul if a man be alive then his Pulse beats but if his Pulse beats not then is he Dead For if your affections beat after things that are above then are you alive to God but if this Pulse beats not then are you dead to God Every man is as this Pulse is alive or dead every man is as his affections are animus cujusque est quisque would ye so know whether ye be spiritually alive or dead How doth this Pulse of your affections beat I confess indeed that affectio est meretrix a man should not measure himself by any present affection nor by the degrees of his affeâ—â—ions but by the bent of his affections he should and by the savour of them though I cannot know Strong water by the colour of it yet by the tast and savour of it I may and though I cannot know my Spiritual Estate by the degree of an affection yet by the savour and bent of it I may Therefore saith the Psalmist Those that love the Lord hate Evil. By this saith the Apostle shall ye know that ye are translated from Death to Life because ye love the Brethren And if ye look into Scripture how doth the Lord distinguish the Godly from the Ungodly but by the kind and bent of their affections Psal 5 11. Let them that love thy Name rejoyce in thee Psal 1. His delight is in the law of the Lord. Psal 112 1. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord and delighteth greatly in his Commandments If therefore your affections be not drawn out and set upon things above how will ye know that ye have any Interest in them Yea 3. And if your affections be not set on things above what shall relieve you in the day of your distress Look what you most affect while you are well Terrena nec plenâ—tudinem feâ—re pâ—ssunt contâ—nenâ—i nec fulcimentum inâ—itenti nec fructum laboranti Parisiens that must be your relief when you are sick can you relieve your selves with the things here below when you are sick or count to dye But if you now set your affeâ—â—ions on things above then they will relieve you in the day of your distress 4. Then also you shall neither lose your affection nor the thing affected if you set your affections on things that are below you shall both loose the thing affected and your affections too Witness the case of Jonah's Gourd Now our affections are precious things too good to be spilt and lost lost they will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and spilt they will be if set on any thing on this side Christ but if they be set on things above you shall neither lose them nor the thing affected 5. And for the present these affections will make the ways of God easie to you Hard things are easie to great affections easie things are hard to him that hath no affection to them You see how it is with the Hunter that runs up and down all day long over Hedges through Bushes sweating and tearing himself yet with much ease and sweetness because he affects the game but if a man be put upon a work which he hath no affection to then it is hard to him though never so easie in it self So spiritually though the work of Mortification and Repentance be an hard work yet it is easie to some prayer easie reading easie meditating easie why because they have affection to these things but if your affections be not set on things that are above how shall the wayes of God be made easie and sweet unto you But besides all these things ye know that 6. God is a jealous God and though Christ be a loving Husband unto every soul that is espoused to him yet he is very jealous of mens affections What man is not jealous of his Wife when he sees
EFFIGIES GVILIELMI BRIDG ME Obiit 1670 Phillip Hobnessculp BRIDGE'S REMAINS BEING VIII SERMONS Viz. 1. Of Mans Blessedness 2. Affections rightly placed 3. How to walk with God in our Calling 4. Of good and bad Company 5. The Carnality of Professors 6. What our Work is and how to be done 7. Soul resignation into the hands of God 8. The Dignity and Duty of Gods called ones By that Learned and Judicious Divine Mr. William Bridge sometimes Fellow of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge and late Preacher of the Word of God at Yarmouth Designed by himself for the Press as appears by the Marginal Notes except the Eighth Sermon which was the last that he Preached was taken exactly in Short-hand and Published by his Son-in-law after they were perused by Mr. Greenhill London Printed and are to be sold by John Hancock Senior and Junior at the Sign of the Three Bibles in Popes head Alley in Cornhill 1673. A TABLE of the Contents with a brief Collection of the principal Heads in the ensuing Sermons 1 Sermon on Psal 4.6 Many there be that say Who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us Doct. A Gracious man doth count himself fully happy in the enjoyment of God and the Light of his Countenance Page 2. The chief Particulars to be handled proposed P 3 1. There is a disposition in men to seek after happiness 2. Men generally are mistaken in the matter of their happiness placing it in strength health beauty riches honour power pleasure knowledge Moral virtues with the reasons of this mistake 1. Ignorance of the right and true notion of happiness 2. Misapplication of the true notion of happiness 3. Mens measuring their happiness by their own present want 4. Because men consider not what is spoken to them about true happiness 3. There are a generation of men who have found out this happiness P. 12. 4. True happiness doth consist in the light of Gods Countenance P. 14. 5. A man may know that God hath lifted up the light of his Countenance on him P. 16. 1. If God hath blessed him 2. If taught of God 3. If it hath out-shone our own lights 4. If satisfied with it and desirous of its increase 5. If it hath dispelled doubts and fears 6. If enabled to act eminently for God 7. If much afflicted for the want of it 8. If inflamed with love to Christ on that account 6 What shall I do that the face of God may shine upon me P. 20. 1. Be sure you take heed of all sin 2. Be upright in the desiring of it 3. Be sure you stand where God shines 4. Walk wisely and humbly towards God in the time of his absence 5. Beware of Covetousness 6. Improve mens frowns and wait for Gods shining 7. Be sure that you do not look awry upon any that are Christs 8. Live in quiet resignation of your self to God 9. Pray much for the shine of his face upon your Soul 2 Sermon on Col. 3.2 Set your affections on things above Doct. It is the duty of all the Saints to set their affections on things above P. 26. Explication 1. What these affections are 1. Motions of the reasonable Soul 2. Motions of the Soul sensibly carried out upon what is good or evil 3. So as to embrace or refuse the same 2. Whether we may not at all affect the things of this life Ans Yes But 1. Not for themselves but in subordination to God 2. In Comparison to Spiritual and Heavenly things your affections to these things is to be no affection 3. Why are we to set our affections on things above 1. If you do not you are no fit match for Christ 2. You will never own him unless you set your affections on him 3. If your affections be not set upon things above they will never be drawn off from things beneath 4. If you do not you will never press much after the knowledge and obtainment of them 5. If your affections be not thus set you will never be zealous for God 6. If they be not thus set you will never do any great thing for God 7. If they be not thus set you can never please God in any thing you do for God Application Use 1. It is an evil thing to set affections on things below and not on things above P. 33. 1. It is hard and difficult to set our affections on things above 2. It is one thing to affect things above and another thing to set affections on them 3. Many are deceived herein For 1. If they did they would not be so indifferent in the things of God 2 They would carry these things about with them in their minds and thoughts 3. They would seek them in the first place 4. They would be speaking of them and love to hear others speak of them 5. They would be more tender of the name of God and Spiritual things 6. They would clear an Evidence of an Interest in them 4. If affections are set on things above P. 38. 1. Your portion is accordingly 2. You may know that you have an Interest in Christ 3. It will most relieve you in the day of distress 4. Then you will neither loose affections nor the thing affected 5. These affections will make the ways of God easie 6. Then the jealousie of God will not be raised against you 5 What shall we do to raise affections to things above P. Ibid. 1. Get a new Heart 2. Get knowledge of things above 3. Put your selves under the most wooing discocovery of Gods love 4. Improve sensible dispensations of afflictions and enjoyments 5. Be much in Meditation 6. In case affections are unsteady 1. Take as much pains to keep them up as to raise them 2. Stir up the grace of God that is in you 3. Make use of the variety of Gods ways he hath given you 4. Study Gods Word and Works 5. Labour more and more to refine affections to things that are good 3 Sermon on 1 Cor 7.24 Brethren Let every man wherein he is called therein abide with God P. 46. Doct. It is the duty of every man to abide or walk with God in his calling P. 47. The chief particulars to be handled proposed 1. A good Calling is a great mercy P. 48. 1. It was the condition of Adam in the state of Innocency 2. Thereby a man is kept from idleness 3 From busie medling with others mâ—tters 4. A lawful calling is Gods ground 2. A man having an honest calling is to abide therein 51 1. There is in us an aptness to change or lay down our Callings 2. It is not absolutely unlawful for a man to change his Calling 1. In case a man is qualified for higher imployments 2. If he see the hand of God leading him out of his Calling 3. If the Porter that stands at the door oâ— a mans Calling let him out 4. A man may be forced to change his Calling
no affection but a tanquam onely as the enjoyments of this World is but a tanquam unto heavenly enjoyments and outward afflictions is but a tanquam to afflictions of the Soul So the affection that is laid out upon these things in comparison is to be but a tanquam Let him that rejoyceth be as though he rejoyced not and him that grieveth as though he grieved not saith the Apostle you may afford these outward things some relicks of your Love and so much onely as better things leave for what is too cool for God is hot enough for them Toleramus potius praesentia quam diligamus says Austin My Son saith God give me thine Heart Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul with all thy heart with all thy might and with all thy strength Surely therefore our affection to these outward things is in comparison to be as no affection But our affections are to be set and placed on things that are above not on things that are below but on things above Quest But why are we thus to set and place our affections on things that are above Ans There are many great and important reasons all which are as so many proofs of the Doctrine Demonstration 1. If you do not set your affections on Christ and the things of Christ you are no fit match for him you will not be found marriageable unto the Lord Christ that woman is not fit to be married to a man whose affections are not drawn out and knit to him and if your affections be not drawn out to Christ and the things of Christ you are no fit match for Christ Now we must all be espoused to Christ and married to him as the Church so every believer is the true Spouse of Christ but the Spouse of Christ ye cannot be unless your affections be drawn out to him 2ly As you cannot be married to Christ unless your affections be set on him and the things above so you will never own him unless your affections be set on him 'T is the duty of all the Saints to own Christ his ways his truths his ordinances He that is ashamed of me before Men him will I be ashamed off before my Father which is in Heaven saith Christ Now look what that is which a man doth much affect that he will own and not be ashamed of but if a man doth not affect a thing he will not own it but will be ashamed of it but we must own Christ here or he will not own us hereafter Surely therefore it is very fit and necessâ—ry that our affections be set on Christ and the things above 3ly If your affections be not set upon things above they will never be drawn off from things here beneath 't is the gracious affection that doth mortifie carnal affection Sin is ever truly mortified by the contrary good the joy of the World by the joy of Heaven worldly grief by Spiritual grief the Snow is not melted but by the warm Beams of the Sun and the more your hearts are warmed and drawn out with love to Christ the more your love and affections to the World will be mortified Now is it not necessary that our affections should be drawn off from things here below Surely therefore it is fit and necessary for us to set and place our affections upon Christ and the things above 4ly If your affections be not set upon things above spiritual and heavenly things you will never press much after the knowledge and obtainment of them Ye see how it is with a Child if he have no affections to his book he will never make a Schollar and so if you have no affections to the things of Christ you will never make a Schollar in the School of Christ Great is the power of affections as it 's said of Conscience Magna est vis conscientiae in utramque partem Great is the force of Conscience either way for truth or errour so I may say of affections Magna est vis affectionum in utramque partem great is the force of affections either way to put us on to evil or good Look what a man hath an affection too that he presseth after Now is it not our duty to press after the knowledge of Christ Surely therefore it is very fit and requisite that we should place our affections on things above 5ly If your affections be not thus set you will never be zealous for God for what is zeal but angred Love it is saith one Divinae Charitatis fervor the heat of divine Love Surely it is the top and extremity of affection Now is it not our duty to be zealous for Christ The zeal of thine house saith he hath eaten me up and shall the zeal of our own houses eat us up Zeal is commanded in opposition to Lukewarmness Be zealous therefore and repent saith Christ to lukewarm Laodicea but zealous we cannot be for God and the things of God unless our affections be set on things that are above 6ly If our affections be not thus set on things above you will never do any great thing for God We read of David that he gave 347. Millions 382. thousand 50â— pound in Silver and Gold of his own chaâ—ges to the building of Gods house for so the learned do compute the matter a mighty great and a vast sum but if you look into the 1st of Chron. 29. ye shall see how this came to pass that he gave such a gift v 3. it 's said I have set mine affections to the house of God and because I have set mine affections to the house of God I have of mine own proper goods given c. And what is the reason that men give and do no more now for God but because their affections are not set on the things of God but if God have done great things for us and Christ have suffered great things for us shall not we do some great things for him this ye cannot do unless your affections be thus set Surely therefore it is our duty to set our affections on things that are above 7ly If your affections be not thus set you can never please God in any thing that you do for God for as he requireth truth in the inward parts Affectum non vocem audit Deus August so he requireth that we should serve him with fervency of Spirit Affectibus appropinquamus Deum Tostat in Math. Tom. 4. fol. 97. Be fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. Rom 12.11 As if no service could be acceptable without the fervency of affection Cursed is every one that hath in his flock a Male saith Malachi and offereth a Female to God Go and offer it to thy Prince saith God Do you think that I will accept your Female affections No saith the Lord if you would have acceptance with me I must have the best and the Masculine affections from you Surely therefore it is very fit and necessary that our
affections be set and placed on things that are above 8ly If your affeâ—tions be not set on things that are above how shall your heart be knit engaged and united unto God in opposition to all Apostacy If you look into Scripture you shall find there are three degrees of Apostacy First The Judgment watches Secondly The Affections cool Thirdly The Conversation grows worse Accordingly men arâ— said to Apostatize Sometimes they are said to depart from the faith 1 Tim 4.1 There is the warping of the Judgment Someâ—imes they are said to loose their first love Mat. 24. Iniquity shall abound and the love of many sâ—all grow cold there is the cooling of their affections Sometimes they are sâ—id to make shipwrack of a good Conscience to forsake the assemblies of the Saints there is the declining in the Conversation But now if a mans affections be right set they will keep both the Judgment and the Conversation ye see tâ—â—t if a thing be intangled it is more hard to loosen it then otherwise Now what is it that doth intangle the Soul and Heart of Man but his affections no man saith the Apostle that goeth to war intangleth himself that is by Purchase or Marriage So that 't is affection that intangles and the more we are affected with any thing the more we are intangled with it and the more our hearts are intangled with any thing the harder it is to part and to be loosned from it Would you not therefore part or be loosned from Christ and the things of Christ then surely you must set your affections on him and on things above Thus upon all these considerations and reasons ye see it is the duty of all the Saints to set their affections on things that are above Application Now if it be our duty to set our affections on things above and not on things here below then what an evil thing is it to set our affections on things below and not on things above Shall the Apostle in the name of the Lord command us to set our affections on things above and not on things below and shall we set our affections on things below and not on things above What is this but to walk contrary unto God And hath not he said That if we walk contrary to him that he will walk contrary to us Oh what an evil thing is it then to set our affections on things below and not on things above Object But we do set our affections oâ— things that are above for we do truly affect the best things and therefore we do set our affections on things above An w. That is well But are you sure that you do so 1 It is an hard and difficult thing thus to set our affections on things above For he that doth truly set his affections on things above hath his Sympathy and Antipathy changed look what that is which before he had an Antipathy against that he now hath a Sympathy with and that which he had a Sympathy with that he now hath an Antipathy against Now is it not an hard thing to change our Antipathies into Sympathies and our Sympathies into Antipathies Suppose a man hath an Antipathy unto some Meats as Cheese or the like is it not an hard thing to love that most which he had in Antipathy or natural hatred unto Thus it is when the affections are taken off from things below and placed on things above Surely therefore it is a very hard thing to have our affections to be thus transplanted and altered 2. It is one thing to affect the best things and to have some affections to the better things another thing to set our affections on things that are above it s said of Herod that he heard John Baptist gladly there he had some affections to the better things yet his â—ffections were not set on things above The Stony ground in the Parable receives the word with joy there is some affections to the better things yet this is the not setting of the affections on things above plainly yet it s one thing to affect the best things and another thing to set our affections on things that are above Yet 3. Many there are who are deceived herein for as some have gifts part and knowledge and thereby think they are in the state of grace when there is no such matter so some having affections to the best thingâ— think that they are godly when there is no such matter But by way of convincement in the 4th place 1. If men did truly set their affections on things that are above then they would not be so indifferent in the things of God as they are they would not so easily be put by in their endeavours after them Thâ—s setting our affections on things above is ordinarily described in Scripture by our hungring and thirsting after them As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so doth my Soul thirst after thee O God saith the Psalmist Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness Now when a man is hungry or thirsty he is not easily put by but there is an inward necessity unto the thing desired I must have drink or I dye I must have meat or I dye there is a necessity and it cannot be answered without the thing But now though men say they do affeâ—t the best things yet they are easily put by in their endeavours after them Why But because their affections are not set on things that are above 2. If mens affections were thus set on things above then they always carry these things about with them in their minds and thoughts look what a man hath set his affections upon that he carries up and down with him whereever he goes still he is thinking of it and he cannot rid his heart of it for his affections are set thereupon but now men do not carry spiritual things about with them they are not always thinking and minding of them wherever they come Why But because their affections are not truly set on them 3ly If your affeâ—â—ion were thus set upon heavenly and and spiritual things then they would seek them in the first place In the first of their age and time in the first of their day and morning in the first of their competition If a man have a mind to a Journey and his heart and affections be set upon it he will be early up in the morning to go that Journey or if he have any business to do that he hath set â—is heart upon he will do it before any other and â—o if our affections be set on heavenly things then we will mind them in the first place but now men do not seek the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness in the first place but in the last place Why Because their affections are not truly set on things that are above 4. If mens affections were thus truly set on things above then they would be speaking of them and love to hear others speaking
that her affections are placed upon another And are our affections placed upon things below what doth that do but raise the jealousie of Christ against us Jealousie is the rage of man what is it then in Christ Now therefore as you desire that the jealousie of the Lord Jesus may not be raised against you that the ways of God may be made sweet and easie to you that you may never lose your affections or the things affected that you may have a standing relief in the day of your distress that you may have full evidence of the interest in those things that are above and that your portion may lye there Oh Set your affections on things that are above and not on things on the earth Quest What shall we do that we may raise and draw up our affections unto these things above for our affections are indeed too much on things here below How shall we draw them off from them and draw them up to these better things that are above Ans You must be sure to get a new heart affections are the movings of the heart an old heart cannot move unto things that are above First therefore you must get a new heart Affestiones bonas vel malas causat voluntas bona vel malaâ— August tom 5. fol. 169. 2. Then you must get knowledge of these things that are above for ignoti nullam cupido there is no desire of unknown things nor affections to them some desire knowledge and not affections some desire affections and do not labour after knowledge Give me knowledge hearted with affections and affections headed with knowledge for as knowledge without affections make wicked men secure so affections without knowledge make Godly men scrupulous Study therefore to know more and that knowledge shall be a light and lanthorn to the feet of your affectionr 3. If you would draw up your affections unto things above then put your self under the most wooing discoveries of Gospel love Wooings towle out affections Christ wooes in the Gospel there doth the spirit also breath and these motions of the soul can never be stirred up but by the moveing of the spirit on the heart Ezek. 1.12 The living creatures went every one straight forward whether the spirit was to go Now the spirit moves in the wooing dispensations of the Gospel there then place your selves and give up your hearts unto these wooings 4. And in case that any sensible dispensation fall upon you either by affliction or enjoyment let your eye affect your heart affections are sensible movings of the so I doth the Lord therefore speak unto your soul by afflictions or Sacraments he sure that you improve these sensible dispensations to the working up of your affections unto things above 5. And be much in meditation for as reading and hearing doe beget knowledge so meditation doth beget affections either therefore you are in company or you are alone if you be in company mutual Exhortation will quicken your affections unto what is good if ye be alone then sit and meditate on the things that you have heard or read or seen or done and thus your affections will and shall be raised unto things above Quest But my affections are most unsteady though they be raised to day yet they are down to morrow what shall I do that I may so set my affections on things above that they may be settled on them Answ In case your affections have been raised Then 1. take as much pains to keep your affections up as you did to raise them up And 2. In case you feel your affections begin to ool and decline then stir up your self and the grace of God that is in you The Prophet Isaiah complains that none stirred up themselves to take hold on God The like complaint may we take up now for what is the reason that our affections dye and cool away after raisings of heart but because we doe not stir up our selves and hearts to take hold on God in case therefore that your affeâ—â—ions doe begin to abate and cool blow them up afresh and stir up your selves thereunto 3 Be sure that you make use of the varietie in the ways of God which he hath given you varietas refocillat variety is refreshing and affecting God hath given us divers ordinances to be exercised in that if we be dull and weary in one we may go to another if you be weary in prayer you may go to reading if weary in reading then go to meditating if weary in meditation you may go to conference if you will spend your self only in one duty there will grow a dulness and deadness upon you but if you exercise your self according to that variety which God hath given you your heart will be kept up with an holy freshness unto things above But 4. Because that we are much affected with new things therefore study the words and works of God much and be always digging in them then some new truth or new discovery will arise upon you which will affect your heart and ever heap up your affections unto things above And 5. In case that you have any great affections unto what is good be sure that you labour more and more to refine that affection things refined keep longest Distilled Waters keep longer then the leaves out of which the waters are distilled if ye have Rose leaves they will not keep fresh so long as the water that you distill from them those affections that you now have it may be are sweet unto you but they are as the Rose leaves somewhat of a drossier matter which doth adhere to them if you would now take those very good affections and Refine or Distil the same then would they keep the longer Go then and carry in your Rose leaves unto Gods-Still and labour more and more to refine your best affections Thus your affections shall not only be set on things above but be setled on them And my Beloved is it not a good and blessed thing to have sweet and large affections for good Surely it is a great mercy to have large affections in good and for good some of us have had large affections to the things of the world and shall we not have as large affections unto things that are above Old men generally want affections and young people doe abound therein but what will all our affections doe us good if they be set on things here below Alas we shall but lose them and the things affected too But if you set your affections on things above you shall neither lose your affections nor the things affected Wherefore let us all receive this Exhortation Set your affections on things above and not on things on the Earth How to walk with God in our Callings 1 Cor. 7.20 Brethren let every man wherein he is called therein abide with God IN this Chapter the Apostle speaks to a Case of Conscience Whether it be lawful for the Believing Wife to depart from the
ob suas oves et greges Rei pub curam omisisse eo nomine cos accusat quod tunc sua curarint Plus pecudum balatu quam reipub cura caperentur Pet. Mart. in Judg 5. Plus pecudum balatu quam Reipublicae cura they were taken with their own particular interest more then with the publick concernments Do I therefore mind my own particular interest more then the publick concernment and in times of publick concernments or calamities do I seek to raise my self and to get a place a preferment and great things in this world then am I carnal Yet thus even thus it is with many Professors at this day Why because they are carnal possibly then great Professors may be very carnal and that is the first thing Quest Well but suppose this Doctrine be true great Professors may be very carnal How far may this carnality of Professors reach and extend 2 General Answ It may reach and extend unto all our life as a Scurfe may grow over all the body so this carnality may grow over all the body of a mans conversation and extend unto every part thereof First For will you instance in our thoughts apprehensions reasonings and conclusions Is it not a carnal thing to abound with carnal reasonings This the Disciples did before Christs Ascension therefore saith he often to them Why reason ye so amongst your selves Secondly Or will you instance in the matter of our affections Is it not a carnal thing for a man to love and savour the things of the world this Professors may possibly do witness the Parable of the Thorny ground Thirdly Or will you instance in the matter of our words Is it a carnal thing to bite and devour one another and to carry Tales between men Yet this the Galatians did If ye bite one another shall ye not be consumed one of another Gal 5.15 â—ourthly Or will you instance in the matter of our condition Is it not a carnal thing to be discontented with ones condition and to think that I can carve better for my self then God hath carved This the Israelites did when they said would God we had staid still in Aegypt Fifthly Or will ye instance in the matter of our lives and reformation of our practice Is it not a carnal thing for a man to run from one extream to another Dum vitant stulti vitia in contraria currant Yet what more ordinary then this in the way of reformation from no liberty to all liberty from prodigallity to covetousness 6ly Or will ye instance in the matter of our duties Is it not a carnal thing for a man that hears the word of God to apply it to another and not to apply it to himself saying That the Preacher met with such an one and not think of himself or to be more taken with the volubility of expression then with the spirituality of the ordinance or if a man preach the word Is it not a carnal thing to have flings and throughs at particular persons or to preach the Gospel for Hire that he may get a living thereby or to preach Christ out of envy yet this the Apostle says to the Philippians that some did in his days 7ly Or will ye instance in the matter of the enjoyments and special communion with God Is it not a carnal thing to desire incomes from God for the sweetness of them The ordinance of the Lords Supper is an ordinance wherein you enjoy much of God and have special Communion with him Yet you know how the Apostle blames the Corinthians for their carnality therein and if ye look into Luke 22.24 You shall find that even at the Lords Supper the Disciples of Christ were debating who should be greatest a carnal thing for any of them to desire greatness above the other But that this question should be started then what Carnality was here Eighthly Or will ye instance in our approach unto Christ and coming to Christ If carnality be excluded in any thing surely it will be excluded here yet says the Apostle henceforth know I no man after the flesh no not Christ himself it seems that formerly they did thus know Christ himself and were too carnal in their very knowledge of Christ but saies Christ to those that followed him Ye follow me not because of the miracles but because of the Loaves Plainly then this carnality may extend and reach unto all our actions and if there be no action that a Professor can do but this carnality may get and soak into it then surely this Doctrine is most true that possibly a great Professor may be very carnal possibly great Professors of the Gospel may be very carnal and so much for the second 3. General Quest But you will say if a Professor may be carnal and this carnality may possibly boyl up to such an height is there any difference then between the carnality of the World and of the Professors of the Gospel Answ Yes much if Professors be Godly for all Professors are not Godly For though a Professing good man may labour under much carnality and be too fleshly yet he is not born after the flesh for saith the Ap stle Paul Abraham had two sons Galat. 4.22 The one by a Bond-woman the other by a free-woman but he who was of the bond-woman was born after the flesh but he of the free-woman by the promise Which things are an Allegory for these are the two Covenants that is the legal Covenant and the Covenant of grace Now we brethren saith he verse 28. as Isaac was are the children of Promise We are born after the promise the promise comes and works grace in us we are regenerated and born again by the word of the promise and therefore though these children of Abraham may labour under much carnality yet they are not born after the flesh as carnal unregenerate men are who are the children of the bond woman and belong to the legal Covenant 2ly Though Professing good men may be very carnal yet there is a grace and goodness that doth run along therewithall for they are the smoking flax and though there may be much smoke and carnality that may offend the eyes of beholders yet there is a fire of grace and zeal that runs out therewithall What a smoke did Jonah make when he ran away from God and was froward and peevish even with God himself But though therein he was very carnal yet still there was a grace and goodness that did go along therewith Thirdly though a good man may be very carnal yet he doth not sowe to the flesh or savour and relish the things of the flesh most A carnal wicked man doth savour and relish the things of the flesh thus to be carnally minded is death saith the Apostle Rom. 8. And those that sowe to the flesh shall reap corruption Fourthly As for those that are carnal and wicked it is not so with them Though a good man may be very
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy strength and with all thy mind Here are four Alls. There is no abatement then in our Gospel times Now if this be the mind and will of God is not this reason enough for us I have read of one Bishop in the Primitive Times whose name was Quodvulteus that is Quod vult Deus What God will And indeed methinks that this should be the name of every Christian Quodvulteus What-God-will We all profess our selves the Children of Abraham He went blindfold into Gods Commandments and subscribed to a Blanck Now we have Commandment for this both in the Old and New Testament It is Scriptural Secondly As is is Scriptural so it is a rational thing that we should do Gods work with all our might For is it not a reasonable thing that we should give God his due his own 1. Now all our might is Gods due Non est devotionis says Prosper It is not matter of devotion to give all unto God within a little sed fraudis est it 's matter of fraud to keep a little from God 2. And is it not a reasonable thing for us to love God who hath loved us and given himself for us and to us Who is the proper Object of our love and altogether lovely Who only gives the affection of love and the thing loved and who only can recompense your love with love again Now it is the only measure of true Love to know no measure Non amat qui non zelat 3. And is it not a reasonable thing that we should do Gods work as fully as our own Now if you have any business to do in the world you will turn every stone you will do it with all your might Have you not sinn'd with all your might and shall your sins be crying sins and your prayers whispering prayers Will you run when the world calls and wil you creep when God calls You will not bear it that a man speak to you when you speak to another and will you bear it that the world should speak to you while you speak to God But Fourthly Is it not a reasonable thing that we should do that work with all our might which is our only work and the work which we came into the world for Now we did not come inâ—o the world to get riches or credit We hâ—ve nothing here to do but to serve the Lord all other things are subordinate to that And if you look into Scriptuâ—e you shall find that the Lord only stands upon this work Thou shalt worship the â—ord and him onely shalt thou serve onely let your conversation be as becometh c. Here doth the onely stand Yea says Solomon this is the whole of man Eccles 12.13 Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole of man The word duty is not in the Original But fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole of man Now is it not rational that we should give God his due That we should love God That we should do his work as fully as our own That we should do that work with all our might which is our onely work Surely therefore it 's very rational that we should do Gods work with all our might Yet Thirdly As it is rational that we should do thus so it is a dangerous thing not to do it For cursed is every one that doth the work of the Lord negligently Sloth and the Curse grow together upon one stalk The Jewish Rabbins do observe that there is a threefold Amen that is not right which say they is followed with a threefold answerable punishment There is Amen amputatum Amen acceleratum and Amen Pupillare or Orban Amen Amputatum Amen when a man doth cut short his duty and say Amen unto half duty Amen acceleratum Is when he doth huddle over his duty and say Amen to an hastened duty Amen Pupillare As when a man doth perform his duty without understanding heart and doth say Amen to he knows not what Now say they If a man shall cut short his duty God shall cut short his comforts If a man shall hasten and huddle over his duty God will hasten and not prolong his days And if a man shall perform his duty without heart and understanding then his Children shall be Orphans as his duty was without heart and knowledge so his Children shall be without Parents Thus they express the punishment of doing Gods work negligently but ye know what the Prophet Malachy saith Cursed is every one that hath in his Flock a Male and offers a corrupt thing to God as if he should say Cursed is that man or woman who hath Masculine affections for the world and Female affections for the work of God O now if it be the will and mind of God that we should do his work with all our might a rational thing to do so And a dangerous thing not to do it Then surely it is our duty and matter of great concernment to do the work that God hath given us to do with all our might Why But will some say this seems contrary to Scripture Reason and our own Judgment to Scripture for the Scripture saith Vse the world as if you used it not To Reason for the Magistrate is to do Justice and if he do it with all his might there will be summum jus and summum jus is summa injuria and to our own Judgment for according to our own principles we are able to do nothing but according to this Text and Doctrine there is something in the power of our hand to do How can this therefore agree either with Scripture Reason or our own Judgment and Principles Yes very well for doth the Scripture say that we are to use the world as if we used it not and doth it say here whatever is in the power of thine hand to do do it withall thy might Then put these together and what is the result but this That we should use all our skill and might to use the world as if we used it not And as for the reâ—son about the Magistrate though the Magistrate is to do justice yet he is to shew mercy also if he have righteousness in the one hand he is to have mercy in the other I will sing of mercy and judgment saith David Seneca tells us that many punishments are as much disparagement to the Magistrate as many Funerals are to the Physician Ye know that Moses was the first Magistrate that Israel had and did not he doe justice yes yet he was the meekest man upon earth Why so but to shew that the dispensations of justice will grow very well upon the disposition of meekness And as for our own principles and Judgment who doth not say and say true That every man hath power to do more then he doth and what if I should say with some That God will