Chapter 11

The Seat of Spiritual-Mindedness in the Affections. The Nature and use of them. The Ways and Means used by God himself, to call the Affections of Men from the World.

IN the Account given at the entrance of this Discourse, of what it is to be Spiritually Minded, it was reduced to there Heads.

The First, was the Habitual Frame, Disposition, and Inclination of the Mind in its Affections.

The Second, was the Usual Exercise of the Mind in its Thoughts, Meditations, and Desires about Heavenly Things.

Whereto, Thirdly was added, the Complacency of Mind in that Relish and Savour which it finds in Spiritual Things, so thought and meditated on.

The Second of these has hitherto alone been spoken to, as that which leads the way to the others, and gives the most sensible Evidence of the state enquired after. Therein consists the Stream, which rising in the Fountain of our Affections, runs into a Holy Rest and Complacency of Mind.

The first and last I shall now handle together, and therein comprehend the Account of what it is to be Spiritually Minded.

Spiritual Affections, whereby the Soul adhears to Spiritual Things, taking in such a Savour and Relish of them, as wherein it finds Rest and Satisfaction, is the peculiar Spring and Substance of our being Spiritually Minded. This is that which I shall now further explain and confirm.

The great contest of Heaven and Earth is about the Affections of the poor Worm, which we call Man. That the World should contend for them, is no wonder. It is the best that it can pretend to. All things here below, are capable of no higher Ambition, than to be possessed of the Affections of Men. And as they y under the Curse, it can do us no greater Mischief, than y prevailing in this Design. But that the Holy God should as it were ingage in the Contest, and strive for the Affections of Man, is an effect of Infinite Condiscention and Grace. This he does expresly; My Son says he, give me your Heart, Prov. 23:26. It is our Affections he asks for, and comparatively nothing else; to be sure he will accept of nothing from us without them. The most fat and costly Sacrifice will not be accepted, if it be without a Heart. All the ways and methods of the Dispensation of his Will, by his Word, all the Designs of his effectual Grace, are suited to, and prepared for this end, namely, to recover the Affections of man to himself. So he expresss himself concerning his Word. Deut. 10:12. And now Israel, What does the Lord your God require of you, but to Fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his Ways, and to Love, and to Serve the Lord your God, with all your Heart, and with all your Soul. And as to the Word of his Grace, he declares it to the same purpose, Deut. 30:6. And the Lord your God will Circumcise your Heart, and the Heart of your Seed; to Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, and with all your Soul.

And on the other side, all the Artifices of the World, all the Paint it puts on its Face, all the great Promises it makes, all the false Appearances, and Attires it clothes it self withal by the help of Satan, have no other end but, to draw, and keep the Affections of Men to it self. And if the World be preferred before God, in this address which is made to us, for our Affections, we shall justly perish with the World to Eternity; and be rejected by him whom we have rejected, Prov. 1:24, 25, 31.

Our Affections are upon the Matter our all. They are all we have to give or bestow; the only Power of our Souls, whereby, if we may give away our selves from our selves, and become anothers. Other Faculties of our Souls, even the most noble of them, are suited to receive in to our own advantage; by our Affections we can give away what we are, and have. Hereby, we give our Hearts to God, as he requirs. Wherefore to him we give our Affections, to whom we give our All, our selves, and all that we have; and to whom we give them not, what ever we give, upon the matter, we give nothing at all.

In what we do to, or for others; whatsoever is good, valuable, or praise-worthy in it, procceds from the Affections wherewith we do it. To do any thing for others without an animating Affection, is but a contempt of them, for we Judge them really unworthy, that we should do any thing for them: To give to the Poor upon their importunity, without Pity or Compassion; To supply the wants of Saints without Love, and Kindnesss, with other actings and Duties of the like Nature, are things of no value, things that recommend us neither to God nor men. It is so in general with God and the World. Whatsoever we do in the Service of God, whatever duty we perform on his Command, whatever we undergo, or suffer for his Name-Sake, if it proceed not from the cleaving of our Souls to him by our Affections, it is dispised by him, he owns us not. As if a Man would give all the Substance of his House for Love, it would utterly be coutemned, Cant. 5. It is not to be bought nor purchased with Riches; So if a man would give to God all the Substance of his House without Love, it would in like manner be dispised. And however, on the other hand, we may be diligent, industrous, and sedulous in and about the things of this World, yet, if it have not our Affections, we are not of the World, we belong not to it. They are the Seat of all Sincerity, which is the Jewel of divine and humane Conversation, the Life and Soul of every thing that is good and praise-worthy, whatever Men pretend, as their Affections are, so are they. Hypocrisy is a deceitful Interposition of the Mind, on various Reasons and Pretences, between Mens Affections and their Profession, whereby a Man appears to be what he is not. Sincerity is the open avowment of the Reality of Mens Affections, which renders them good and useful.

Affections are in the Soul, as the Helm in the Ship, if it be laid hold on by a Skilful Hand, he turns the whole Vessel which way he pleass. If God has the Powerful Hand of his Grace upon our Affections, he turns our Souls to a compliance with his Institutions, Instructions, in Mercy, Affctions, Tryals, all sorts of Providences, and holds them firm against all Winds and Storms of Temptations, that they shall not hurry them on pernitious Dangers. Such a Soul alone is tractable and pliable to all Intimations of Gods Will.

All others are stubborn and obstinate, stout Hearted and far from Righteousness. And when the World has the Hand on our Affections, it turns the Mind, with the whole Industry of the Soul to its Interest and Concerns. And it is vain to contend with any thing that has the Power of our Affections in its disposal, it will prevail at last.

On all these Considerations, it is of the highest importance to consider a right how things are stated in our Affections, and what is the prevailing bent of them. Iron sharpns Iron, so a Man sharpens the Countenance of his Friend, says the wise Man, Prov. 27:17. Every man has his Edge, which may be sharpened by outward helps and advantages. The predominant Inclination of a Mans Affections, is his Edge. According as that is set, so he cutts and works; that way, he is sharp and keen, but blunt to all other things.

Now because it must be, that our affections are either Spiritual or Earthly in a Prevailing degree, that either God has our hearts, or the World; that our edge is towards Heaven, or towards things here below: before I came to give an account of the Nature and Opperations of Spiritual Affections, I shall consider and propose some of those Arguments and Motives which God is pleased to make use of, to call off our Affections from the desireable things of this World; For as they are wightly and cogent, such as cannot be neglected without the greatest contempt of Divine Wisdom and Goodness; So they serve to press and enforce those arguments and motives, that are proposed to us to set our Affections on things that are above, which is to be Spiritually minded.

First, He has in all manner of Instances powred Contempt on the things of this World, in comparison of things Spiritual and Heavenly. All things here below were at first made beautiful and in order; and were declared by God himself to be exceeding good; and that not only in their being and nature, but in the use whereto they were designed. They were then desireable to men, and the enjoyment of them would have bin a blessing without danger of Temptation. For they were the Ordinance of God to lead us to the knowledge of him, and love to him. But since the entrance of sin, weherby the World fel under the Curse, & into the power of Satan, the things of it in his managment are become effectual means to draw off the heart and the Affections from God. For, it is the World and the things of it as sum'd up by the Apostle, Joh. 2:15, 16, that alone strive for our Affections to be the Object of them. Sin and Sathan do but woe for the World to take them off from God. By them does the God of this World, Blind the Eyes of them that believe not, and the principle way whereby he works in them, is by promises of satisfaction to all the lusts of the minds of men with a proposall of whatever is dreadful and terrible in the want of them. Being now in this State and condition, and used to this end, through the Craft of Sathan, and the folly of the minds of men: God has showed by various Instances, that they are all vain, empty, unsatisfactory, and every way to be dispised in comparison of things Eternal.

First. He did it most eminently and signally in the Life, Death, and Cross of Christ. What can be seen or found in this World, after the Son of God has spent his Life in it, not having where to lay his Head; and after he went out of it on the Cross. Had there bin ought of real worth in things here below; certainly he had enjoyed, if not Crowns and Empires which where all in his Power, yet such Goods and Posessions as men of sober reasonings, and moderate affeons do esteem a competency. But things were quite otherwise disposed, To manifest that there is nothing of value, or use in these things, but only to support nature to the performance of service to God, wherein they are serviceable to eternity: He never attained, he never enjoyed more then dayly supplies of Bread out of the Stores of Providence, and which alone he has Instructed us to Pray for, Math. 8:20. In his Cross the World proclaimed all its good qualities and all is Powers, and has given to them that believe, its naked Face to view and contemplate. Nor is it now one jot more comely, than it was when it had gotten Christ on the Cross. Hence is that inference and Conclusion of the Apostle; Gal. 6:14. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the World is Crucifyed to me, and I to the World. Since I have believed, since I have had a Sense of the Power and Vertue of the Cross of Christ, I have done with all things in this World; it is a dead thing to me, nor have I any affection for it. This is that which made the difference between the Promises of the Old Covenant and the New. For they were many of them about temporal things, the good things of this World, and this Life. Those of the New, are mostly of things Spiritual and Eternal. God would not call off the Church wholly from a regard to these things, until he had given a Demonstration of their Emptiness, Vanity, and Insufficiency in the Cross of Christ. Cor. 4:16, 17, 18.

Whither so fast my Friend? What means this rising so early, and going to Bed late, eating the Bread of Carefulness? Why this Diligence, why these Contrivances, why these savings and hoardings of Riches, and Wealth? To what end is all this Care and Councel? Alas, saith one, it is to get that which is enough in and of this World, for me and my Children, to prefer them, to raise an Estate for them, which if not so great as others, may yet be a Competency, to give them some satisfaction in their Lives, and some Reputation in the World. Fair Pretences, neither shall I ever discourage any from the exercise of Industy in their Lawful Callings. But yet I know, that with many, this is but a pretence and covering for a shameful Engagement of their Affections to the World. Wherefore, in all these things, be perswaded sometimes to have an Eye to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith; behold, how he is set before us in the Gospel, poor, despised, reproached, persecuted, nailed to the Cross, and all by this World. Whatever be your Designs and Aims, let his Cross continually interpose between your Affections and this World. If you are Believers, your hopes are within a few dayes to be with him for evermore. Unto him you must give an Account of your selves, and what you have done in this World: will it be accepted with him to declare what you have saved of this World, what you have gained, what you have preserved, and embrac'd your selves in, and what you have left behind you? was this any part of his Imployment and Business in this World; has he left us an Example for any such Course. Wherefore, no man can set his Affections on things here below, who has any regard to the pattern of Christ, or is any measure influenced with the Power and Efficacy of his Cross. My Love is Crucifyed, said an Holy Martyr of old; he whom his Soul Loved was so, and in him his Love to all things here below. Do you therefore find your Affections ready to be engag'd to, or too much intangled with the things of this World; are your Desires of encreasing them, your hopes of keeping them, your Fears of loosing them, your Love to them, and Delight in them, operative in your Minds, possessing your Thoughts, and influencing your Conversations. Turn aside a little, and by Faith contemplate the Life and Death of the Son of God; a blessed Glass will it be, where you may see what contemptible things they are which you perplex your selves about. Oh! that any of us should love or esteem the things of this World, the Power, Riches, Goods or Reputation of it, who have had a Spiritual view of them in the Cross of Christ.

It may be, it will be said that the Circumstances mentioned, were necessary to the Lord Christ, with respect to the especial Work he had to do, as the Savior and Redeemer, of the Church. And therefore it does not thence follow, that we ought to be poor, and want all things as he did. I confess it does not; and therefore, do all along make an allowance for honest Industry in our Callings. But this follows unavoidably hereon; that what he did forego and trample on, for our Sake; that ought not to be the Object of our Affections, nor can such Affections prevaile in us, if he Dwell in our Hearts by Faith.

Secondly, He has done the same in his Dealings with the Apostles, and generally with all that have been most dear to him, and instrumental to the Interest of his Glory in the World, especially since Life and Immortality were brought to Light by the Gospel. He had great work to do by the Apostles, and that of the greatest use to his Interest and Kingdom. The laying of the Foundations of the glorious Kingdom of Christ in the World, was committed to them. Who would not think that he should provide for them, if not Principalities or Popedoms, yet at least, Arch-Bishopricks, and Bishopricks, with other good Ecclesiastical Dignities and Preferments? Hereby, might they have been made meet to converse with Princes, and had been freed from the Contempt of the Vulgar: But Infinite Wisdom did otherwise dispose of them, and their Concerns in this World. For, as God was pleased to exercise them with the common Afflictions and Calamities of this Life; which he makes use of, to take off the Sweetness of present Enjoyments; so they lived and died in a Condition of Poverty, Distress, Persecution, and Reproach. God set them forth as Examples as to other ends, namely of Light, Grace, Zeal, and Holiness in their Lives, so to manifest, of how little Concernment to our own Blessedness, or an Interest in his Love, is the abundance of all things here below; as also, that the want of them all may consist with the highest Participation of his Love and Favor. Cor. 4:9.11, 12, 13. For I think that God has set forth us the Apostles Last, as it were appointed to Death. For we are made a Spectacle to the World, and to Angels, and to Men. Even to this present Hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffetted, and have no certain Dwelling-Place; and labor working with our own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we intreat; we are made as the Filth of the World, and are the off-scouring of all things to this Day. And if the Consideration thereof be not of weight with others, undoubtedly, it ought to be so with them who are called to Preach the Gospel, and are the Successors to the Apostles. There can be nothing more uncouth, absurd, and shameful, nothing more opposite to the Intimation of the Wisdom and Will of God in his dealings with those first and most honourable Dispensers of it, than for such Persons to seek and follow greedily after secular Advantages, in worldly Powers, Riches, Wealth, and Honor. Hence there has been in former Ages, and Endeavor to seperate such Persons as were by any means dedicated to the Ministry of the Gospel, from all Secular Dignities and Revenues. Yea, some maintained, that they were to enjoy nothing of their own, but were to live on Alms, or the free Contributions of the People. But this was quickly Condemned as Heresy in Wickliff and others. Yet another sort set up, that would pretend thereunto, as to themselves, though they would not obliege all others to the same Rule. This produced some Swarms of begging Fryars, whom they of the Church, who were in Possession of Wealth and Power, thought meet to laugh at and let alone; of late Years, this Contest is at an End. The Clergy have happily gotten the Victory, and esteem all due to them, that they can by any ways obtain; nor is there any greater Crime, than for a Man to be otherwise minded. But these things are not our present Concernment. From the Beginning it was not so. And it is well if in such a way, Men are able to maintaine the Frame of Mind enquired after, which is Life and Peace.

Thirdly, God continues to cast Contempt on these things, by giving always incomparably the greatest Portion of them to the vilest Men, and his own avowed Enemies. This was a Temptation under the Old Covenant, but is highly instructive under the New. None will Judge those things to be of real Value, which a Wise Man casts out dayly to Swine, making little or no use of them in his Family. Those Monsters of Men, Nero, and Heliogabalus had more Interest in, and more Power over the things in this VVorld, than ever had the best of Men. Such Villans in Nature, so pernitius to humane Society, that their not Being was the Interest of Mankind; but yet more of the VVorld poured on them, then they knew either how to Enjoy, Possess, Use, or Abuse. Look on all the principal Treasures and Powers of this World, as in the Hand of one of these Monsters, and there disposed of by Divine Providence, and you may see at what rate God values them.

At this Day, the greatest, most noble, wealthy and Fruitful Parts of the Earth, are given to the Great Turk, with some other Eastern Potentates, either Mahumetans or Pagans, who are prepared for Eternal Destruction. And if we look nearer home, we may see in whose Hands is the Power of the Chiefest Nations of Europe, and to what end it is used. The utmost of what some Christian Professors among our selves are intent and designing upon, as that which would render them wondrous happy in their own Apprehensions, put Hundreds of them together, and it would not answer the VVast made by the forementioned Beasts every Day.

Does not God proclaime herein, that the things of this World are not to be valued or esteemed? if they were so, and had a real worth in themselves, would the Holy and Righteous God make such a Distribution of them. The most of those whom he Loves, who enjoy his Favor, not only comparatively have the meanest Share of them, but are exercised with all the Evils that the Destitution and want of them can be accompanied withal? His open and avowed Enemies in the mean time, have more than they know what to do withal. VVho would set his Heart and Affections on those things which God pours into the Bosomes of the vilest Men, to be a Snare to them here, and an Aggravation of their Condemnation for ever; It seems, you may go and take the World, and take the Curse, Death and Hell along with it, and what will it profit a Man to gain the whole World and loose his own Soul. VVhat can any Man do on the Consideration hereof, who will not forego all his Hopes and Expectations from God, but retreat to the Faith of things Spiritual and Eternal, as containing an Excellency in them incomparably above all that may be enjoyed here below.

Fourthly, He does continue to give perpetual Instances of their uncertainty and unsatisfactoriness in the utter Disappointment of Men that have had Expectations from them. The ways hereof are various, and the Instances so multiplyed, as that most men in the World, unless they are like the Fool in the Gospel, who had his Soul take its ease for many Years, because his Barns were full, live in perpetual Fears and Apprehensions, that they shall speedily loose whatever they enjoy; or are under the Power of a stupid Security. But as to this Consideration of them, there is such an Account given by the Wiseman, as to which nothing can be added, or which no Reason or Experience is able to contradict, Eccl. 12. By these and the like ways does God cast contempt on all things here below; discouerng the Folly and Falseness of the Promises which the World makes use of to allure our Affections to it self. This therefore is to be laid as the Foundation in all our Considerations, to what or whom we shall cleave by our Affections, that God has not only declared the Insufficiency of these things, to give us that Rest and Happiness which we seek after, but also poured Contempt upon them, in his Holy, Wise Disposal of them in the World.

Secondly, God has added to their Vanity, by shortning the Lives of Men, reducing their Continuance in this world to so short and uncertain a Season, as it is impossible they should take any solid Satisfaction in what they enjoy here below. So it is expressed by the Psalmist. Behold you have made my Dayes as an handbreadth, and my Age is nothing before these. Hence he draws two Conclusions.

First, That every Man at his best Estate, is but vanity.

Secondly, That every Man walks in a vain show; surely they are disquieted in vain, he heaps up Riches, and knows not who shall gather them. Psal. 39:5, 6. The uncertainty and shortness of the Lives of Men, render all their Endeavours and Contrivances about Earthly things, both vain and foolish. When Men lived eight or nine hundred Years, they had opportunity to suck out all the Sweetness that was in Creature Comforts, to make large Provisions of them, and to have long Projections about them. But when they had so, they all issued in that Violence, Oppression, and Wickedness, which brought the Flood on the World of Ungodly Men. And it still so abides, the more of, and the longer men enjoy these things, the more without the Soveraign Preservative of Grace, will they abound in Sin, and Provocations of God. But God has reduced the Life of Man to the small pittance of seventy Years; casting what may fall out of a longer continuance into Travel and Sorrow. Besides, that Space is shortned with the most, by various and innumerable Incidencies and Occasions. Wherefore in these seventy Years, consider how long it is before men begin to have a tast or gust of the things of this Life; how many things fall in cross, to make us weary of them before the end of our Days, how few among us, not one of a thousand, attain that Age, what is the uncertainty of all men living, as to the continuance of their Lives to the next Day. and we shall see that the holy, wise God, has left no such Season for their enjoyment, as might put a value upon them. And when on the other hand it is remembered, that this Man who is of such short continuance in this world, is yet made for Eternity, Eternal Blessedness or Misery, which State depends wholly on his Interest on things above, and setting his Affections on them, they must forfeit all their reason, as well as bid Defiance to the Grace of God, who give them up to things below.

Thirdly. God has openly and fully declared the Danger that is in these things, as to their Enjoyment and Use; and what Multitudes of Souls miscarry, by an inordinate adherence to them. For they are the matter of those Temptations, whereby the Souls of Men are ruined for ever; the Fuel that supplys the Fire of their Lusts until they are consumed by it.

Men under the Power of Spiritual Convictions, fall not into Sin, fail not eternally, but by means of Temptation; That is the mire wherein this Rush does grow. For others who live and die in the madness and wildness of Nature, without any restraint in their Minds from the Power of Convictions, they need no external Temptations, but only Opportunities to exert their Lusts. But for those who by any means are convinced of Sin, Righteousness and Judgement, so as to design the ordering of their Lives, with respect to the Sense they have of them, they fall not into actual Sin, but upon Temptations. That, whatever it be, which causs, occasions, and prevails on a convinced Person, to Sin, that is Temptation. Wherefore this is the great means of the Ruine of the Souls of men.

Now, though there are many Principles of Temptation, many Causes that actually concur to its Efficacy, as Sin, Satan, and other Men, yet the Matter of almost all ruinous Temptations is taken out of this World, and the things of it. Thence does Satan take all his Darts: Thence do evil Men derive all the ways and means whereby they corrupt others, and from thence is all the fewel of Sin, and Lust taken. And which adds to this evil, all that is in the World, contributes its utmost thereunto. All that is in the World, is the Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life. Joh. 2:16. It is not a direct formal annumeration of the things that are in the World, nor a Distribution of them under several Heads, but it is so of the principal Lusts of the Minds, of Men, whereto all the things in the World are subservient. Wherefore, not only the Matter of all Temptations is taken out of the World, but every thing that is in the World is apt & fit to abused to that end. For it were easy to show that there is nothing desirable or valuable in this whole world, but it is reducible to a Subserviency to one or other of These Lusts, and is applicable to the Interest and Service of Temptations and Sins.

When men hear of these things, hey tare apt to say, let the Dream be to them that are openly wicked, and the Interpretation of it to them that are profligate in Sin. Unto unclean Persons, Drunkards, Oppressors, proud ambitious Persons, it may be it is so; but as to them, they use the things of this World with a due moderation, so as they are no Snare to them. But to own they are used to what end soever, if the Affections of men are set upon them, one way or other, there is nothing in the World, but is thus a Snare and Temptation. However we should be very crreful how we adhere to, or under value that which is the cause and means of the ruine of multitudes of Souls. By the warnings given us hereof, does God design, as to the use of means, to teach us the vanity and danger of fixing our Affections on things below.

Fourthly, Things are so ordered in the holy wise Dispensation of Gods Providence, that it requires much Spiritual Wisdom to distinguish between the use and the abuse of these things, between a lawful care about them, and an inordinate cleaving to them. Few distinguish aright here, and therefore in these things will many find their great mistake at the last Day. The Disappointments that they will fall under, as to what concerns their earthly enjoyments and the use of them, wherewith they were intrusted, see Mat. 25.34. to the end of the Chapter.

It is granted that there is a lawful use of these things, a lawful Care and Industry about them. So it is also acknowledged, it cannot be denied, that there is an abuse of them springing from an inordinate Love, and cleaving to them. But here men deceive themselves, taking their Measures by the most crooked uncertain Rules. Some make their own Inclinations the Rule and measure of what is so lawful and allowable, some the Examples of others; some the Course of the World, some their own real or pretended necessities. They confess that there is an inordinate love of those things and an abuse of them, in excesses of various sorts, which the Scripture plainly affirms, and which Experience gives open Testimony to. But as to their State and Circumstances, their Care, Love and Industry are all allowable. That which influencs all these Persons, is Self-Love, which inveterate corrupt Affections, and false Reasonings do make an Application of to these Occasions.

Hence we have men approving of themselves as just Stewards of their Enjoyments, whil'st others judge them hard, covetous, earthly-minded; no way laying out what they are intrusted withal to the Glory of God, in any due Proportion. Others also think not amiss of themselves in this kind, who live in palpable excesses, either of Pride of Life, or Sensual Pleasures, vain Apparel and the like. So in particular, most men in their Feastings and Entertainments, walk in direct Contempt of the Rules which our Savior gives in that case; Luk. 14.12.13.14. and yet approve themselves therein.

But what if any of us should be mistaken in our Rule and Application of it to our Conditions? Men at Sea may have a fair Gale of Wind wherewith they may sail freely and smoothly for a Season, and yet insteed of being brought into a Port, be cast by it at last on destructive Shelves or Rocks.

And what if that which we esteem allowable Love, Care and Industry, should prove to be the Fruit of earthly Affections, inordinate and predominant in us; what if we miss in our measures, and that which we approve of in our selves, should be disapproved of God; we are cast for ever, we belong to the World, and with the World we shall perish.

It may be said, that if it be so difficult to distinguish between these things, namely the lawful use of things here below, and their abuse, the allowable Industry about them, and the inordinate Love of them, on the Knowledge whereof our Eternal Conditions depends, it is impossible but men must spend their time in solicitous anxiety of Mind, as not knowing when they have aright discharged their Duty.

Ans. (1) I press these things at present no further, but only to show how dangerous a thing it is for any to encline in his Affections to the Things of this World, wherein an excess is ruinous, and hardly discoverable. Surely, no Wise-man will venture freely and frequently to the edge of such a Precipice. He will be jealous of his Measures, lest they will not hold by the Rule of the Word. And a due Sense hereof is the best preservative of the Soul, from cleaving inordinately to these things below. And when God in any Instance, by Afflictions, or otherwise, shews to Believers their Transgression herein, and how they have exceeded, Job. 38.8, 9. it makes them careful for the future. They will now or never be diligent, that they fall not under that peremptory Rule. Joh. 2:14.

Secondly, Where the Soul is upright and sincere, there is no need in this case of any more Solicitousness or Anxiety of Mind, than there is to or about other Duties. But when it is byased and acted by self-Love, and its more strong Inclinations to things present, it is impossible men should enjoy Solid Peace, or be freed from severe reflexions on them by their own Consciences, in such Seasons wherein they are awakened to their Duty, and the Consideration of their State; nor have I any thing to tender for their Relief. With others it is not so, and therefore I shall so far digress in this place, as to give some directions to those who in sincerity would be satisfyed in this lawful use and enjoyment of earthly things; so as not to adhere to them with inordinate Affections.

First, Remember always that you are not Proprietors, nor absolute Possessors of these things, but only Stewards of them. With respect to men, you are or may be just Proprietors of what you enjoy, with Respect to him who is the great Possessor of Heaven and Earth, you are but Stewards. This Stewardship we are to give an account of, as we are taught in the Parable, Luk. 16.1, 2. This rule always attended to, will be a Blessed Guide in all Instancss and Occasions of Duty.

But if a man be left in Trust with Houses and large Possessions, as a Steward for the right Lord, Owner, and Proprietor of them, if he fall into a pleasing Dream, that they are all his own, and use them accordingly, it will be a woful Surprisal to him, when he shall be called to account for all he has received and laid out, whether he will or no. And when indeed he has nothing to pay. It will scarce be otherwise with them at the great Day, who forget the trust which is committed to them, and suppose they may do what they will, with what they call their own.

Secondly, There is nothing in the ways of getting, enjoying or using of these things, but givs its own Evidence to Spiritual Wisdom, whether it be within the bounds of Duty or no. Men are not lightly deceived herein, but when they are evidently under the Power of corrupt Affections, or will not at all attend to themselves and the Language of their own Consciences. It is a mans own Fault alone, if he know not wherein he does exceed.

A due Examination of our selves in the Sight of God, with respect to these things, the Frame and Actings of our Minds in them, will greatly give check to our corrupt Inclinations, and discover the Folly of those Reasonings, whereby we deceive our selves into the Love of Earthly things; or justify our selves therein, and bring to Light the Secret Principle of Self-Love, which is the Root of all this evil.

Thirdly, If you would be able to make a right Judgement in this Case, be sure that you have another Object for your Affections, which has a predominant Interest in your Minds, and which will Evidence it self so to have on all Occasions. Let a Man be never so observant of himself, as to all Outward Dutys required to him, with respect to these earthly things; let him be liberal in the Disposal of them on all Occasions, let him be watchful against all Intemperance and Excesses in the use of them; yet if he has not another Object for his Affections, which has a prevailing Influence upon them, if they are not set upon the Things that are above, one way or other, it is the World that has the Possession of his Heart. For the Affections of our Minds will, and must be placed in chief, on things below, or things above; there will be a predominant Love in us; and therefore, although all our Actions should testify another Frame, yet if God, and the things of God be not the Principal Object of our Affections, by one way or other, to the World we do belong; this is that which is taught us so expresly by our Savior, Luk. 16.9, 10, 11, 12, 13. And I say to you, make to your selves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting Habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much. If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon, Who will commit to your trust the true Riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is anothert Mans, who shall give you that which is your own? No Servant can serve two Masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other; ye cannot serve God and Mammon.

Fourthly, Labor continually for the Mortification of your Affections to the things of this World. They are in the State of corrupted Nature, set and fixed on them, nor will any Reasonings or Considerations effectually divert them, or take them off in a due manner, unless they are mortifyed to them by the Cross of Christ. Whatever Change be otherwise wrought in them. it will be of no Advantage to us. It is Mortification alone, that will take them off from earthly things to the Glory of God. Hence the Apostle having given us that Charge, Set your Affections on things above, and not on things below on the Earth, Col. 3:2. Adds this, as the only way and means whereby we may do so, Mortify therefore your Members that are on the Earth. verse 5. Let no man think that his Affections will fall off from earthly things of their own accord. The keenness and sharpness of them, in many things, may be abated by the decay of their natural Powers in Age, and the like. They may be mated by frequent Disappointments, by Sicknesses, Pains and Afflictions, as we shall see immediately; or they may be willing to a Distribution of earthly Enjoyments, to have the Reputation of it, wherein they still cleave to the World, but under another shape and appearance. They may be startled by Convictions, so as to do many things gladly, that belong to another Frame. But or one pretence or other, under one appearance or other, they will for ever adhere and cleave to earthly things, unless they are mortified to them, through Faith in the Blood and Cross of Christ. Gal. 6:14. VVhatever thoughts you may have of your selves in this matter, unless you have the Experience of a work of Mortification on your Affections, you can have no refreshing ground of Assurance, that you are in any thing Spiritually-Minded.

Fifthly, In all Instances of Duty belonging to your Stewardship of earthly things, attend diligently to the Rule of the Word: without this, the Grace exhorted to, may be abused. So of old, under a pretence of a relinquishment of the things of this World, because of the danger in adhering to them, their own, Superstition, and the Craft of other men prevailed with many, to part with all they had to the Service of others, not better, it may be, not so good as themselves. This Evil wholly arose from want of attendance to the Rule of Truth, which gives no such Direction in ordinary Cases. But there is not much seen in these days, of an Excess in that kind. But on the other hand, in all Instances of Duties of this nature, most mens Minds are habitually influenced with Pretences, Reasonings, and Considerations, that turn the Scales as to what they ought to do in proportion in this Duty, on the side of the World. If you would be safe, you must in all Instances of Duty, as in works of Charity, Piety, and Compassion, give Authority in and over your Souls, to the Rule of the Word. Let neither Self nor Unbelief, nor the Custom and Example of others be heard to speak; but let the Rule alone be attended to, and to what that speaks, yeild, Obedience.

Unless these things are found in us, none of us, no man living, if it be not so with him, can have any refreshing Evidence or Assurance, that he is not under the Power of an inordinate, yea, and predominant Love to this World.

And indeed to add a little further on the Occasion of this Digression, it is a sad thing to have this Exception made against the State of any Man, on just Grounds; yea, but he loves the World. He is sober and industrious, he is constant in Dutys of Religion, it may be, an earnest Preacher of them, a man of sound Principles, and blameless as to the Excesses of Life; but he loves the World. The Question is, how does this appear? it may be, what you say, is but one of those evil Surmises which all things are filled withal. Wherefore, I speak it not at all to give countenance to the rash Judging of others, which none are more prone to, than those, who one way or other are eminently guilty themselves. But I would have every man judge himself, that we be none of us Condemned of the Lord. It notwithstanding the things mentioned, any of us do center in Self, which is supplyed and filled with the World, if we preffer Self above all other things, do aim at the Satisfaction of Self in what we do well or ill, are useless to the only Good and Blessed Ends of these earthly things, in supplying the wants of others, according to the Proportions wherewith we are intrusted; it is to be feared, that the World, and the things that are in it, have the Principal Interest in our Affections.

And the danger is yet greater with them who divert on the other Extream. Such are they, who in Pride of Life, Vanity in Apparrel, Excess in Drinking, pampering the Flesh every day, tread close on the heels of the World, if they do not also fully keep Company with it. Altogether in vain is it for such Persons to countenance themselves with an Appearance of other Graces in them, or the sedulous Performance of other Dutys. This one Rule will eternally prevail against them; If any man love the World, the Love of the Father is not in him. And by the way, let men take heed how they walk in any Instance against the known Judgement and Practise of the wiser, or more experienced sort of Christians, to their Regret and Sorrow, if not to their Offence and Scandal, or in any way whereto they win the Consent of their own Light and Conscience, by such Reasonings and Considerations, as will not hold weight in the Ballance of the Sanctuary. Yet thus, and no otherwise is it with all them, who under a Profession of Religion, do indulge, to any Excesses wherein they are conformed to the World.

Fifthly, God makes a Hedge against the Excess of the Affections of men, rational and any way enlightned, to the things of this World, by suffering the Generality of men to carry the use of them, and to be carried by the abuse of them, into Actings so filthy, so abominable, so ridiculous as Reason it self cannot but abhor. Men by them transform themselves into Beasts and Monsters, as might be manifested by all sorts of Instances; hence the Wise-man prayed against Riches, lest he should not be able to manage the Temptations wherewith they are accompanied; Prov. 30:8.9.

Lastly, to close this matter, and to show us what we are to expect, in case we set our Affections on things here below, and they have thereby a predominant Interest in our Hearts, God has positively determined and declared, that if it be so, he will have nothing to do with us, nor will accept of those Affections which we pretend we can, and do spare for him, and Spiritual things. If we abstain from open Sins, if we abhor the Lewdness and Uncleanness of men in the World, if we are constant in religious Dutys, and give our selves, up to walk after the most strict sort in Religion, like Paul in his Pharisaism, may we not, will some say or think, find acceptance with God, though our Hearts cleave inordinately to the things of this VVorld? I say, God has preremptorily determined the contrary; and if other Arguments will not prevail with us, he leaves us at last to this, Go love the World and the things of it, but know assuredly? you do it to the eternal Loss of your Souls. Joh. 2:15. Jam. 4. These few Instances have I given of the Arguments and Motives whereby God is pleased to deter us from fixing our Affections on things here below. And they are most of them such only, as he maks use of in the Administation of his Providence. There are two other Heads of things, that offer themselves to our Consideration.

First, The Ways, Means, Arguings, and Enticements which the VVorld makes use of, to draw, keep, and secure the Affections of Men to it self.

Secondly, The Secret, Powerful Efficacy of Grace, in taking off the Heart from these things, turning and drawing it to God, with the Arguments and Motives that the holy Spirit maks use of, in and by the VVord to this End; and wherein we must show what is the Act of conquering Grace, wherein the Heart is finally prevailed on, to choose and adhere to God in Love immutable. But these things cannot be handled in any measure, according to their nature and importance, without such length of Discourse, as I cannot not here divert to. I shall therefore proceed to that which is the proper and peculiar Subject before us.

Various things offered for the relief, instruction, and direction of those who complain that they do not know how, and are not able, to hold their minds to holy thoughts of God and spiritual or heavenly things. Rules concerning regular spiritual meditation.

Some will say — and indeed many say this on every occasion — that in all their duty toward God there is nothing in which they are more at a loss than this one thing: fixing or exercising their thoughts and meditations on heavenly or spiritual things. They acknowledge it as a duty; they see its excellence and its inexpressible usefulness. But although they try and attempt it often, they cannot seem to achieve anything except what leaves them ashamed both of their efforts and of themselves. They find their minds unsteady, prone to wander and drift, or to be pulled toward other things — unable to stay fixed on the object they intended to meditate on. Their abilities are limited, their thinking feels barren, their memory is unreliable, and their capacity to organize their thoughts into right order is weak. For the most part they do not know what to think about, and when they do settle on something they immediately find themselves stuck and so give up. At that point other thoughts or thoughts of other things seize the opportunity to take over — and what began as spiritual meditation ends in idle, earthly wandering. For these reasons they are often too discouraged to even begin the duty, or they give it up almost as soon as they start, and count themselves fortunate if they come away no worse for the attempt — which often happens. They do not find this to be the case with their other duties. To those who are genuinely concerned about this — to whom this lack and failure is a real burden, who grieve under it and desire to be freed from it or at least comforted in their struggle with it — I offer the following.

First, the sense of the emptiness of our minds that a careful examination of this issue will produce ought to greatly humble and abase our souls. Why is it this way with us — that we cannot stay in thoughts and meditations of spiritual and heavenly things? Is it because we have no real stake in them? Perhaps they are worthless and unprofitable, so that there is no point spending our thoughts on them? In truth, they alone are truly worthwhile, useful, and desirable — everything else in comparison to them is but loss and rubbish. Or is it because the faculties and powers of our souls were not originally designed for contemplating these things and delighting in them? That too is false. They were all given to us — all created by God — for precisely this purpose, fitted with inclinations and capacity to dwell with God in all things without aversion or weariness. Nothing was so natural, easy, and pleasant to them as steady contemplation of God and His works. The cause of all this evil therefore lies at our own door. All of this, and every other evil, came upon us through the entrance of sin. Solomon captures this in his survey of all the causes and effects of vanity: "Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes," as in Ecclesiastes 7:29. Through sin, our minds — which were created in a state of blessed devotion to God — were completely turned away from Him, and not only that but filled with hostility toward Him. In this condition, the vanity that dominates the mind is both the person's sin and their punishment. It is their sin in its constant pull toward things vain, foolish, sensual, and wicked, as the apostle describes at length in Ephesians 4:17-19 and Titus 3:3. And it is their punishment in that, having been turned away from the highest Good — in whom alone true rest is found — they are filled with darkness, confusion, and restlessness, like a troubled sea that cannot be still, whose waters stir up mud and mire.

By grace our minds are renewed — changed and delivered from this condition — but only partially. The principle of vanity is no longer dominant in us to the point of alienating us from the life of God or keeping us in hostility toward Him. Those who are so renewed do not walk in the vanity of their minds as others do, as Ephesians 4:17 says. Others go through all their ways and circumstances with a constant stream of vain thoughts flowing through their minds. But the remnants of that vanity are still actively at work in us, affecting all the workings of our minds toward God with uncertainty and instability. It is like a person who receives a serious wound to a vital part of the body: the wound may heal enough that death does not follow immediately, yet it may leave him weak and lame for the rest of his life, hindering him in all the activities that require his full strength. The vanity of our minds has been cured enough to deliver us from spiritual death, but such a wound and such weakness remain that they both weaken and hinder us in all the operations of spiritual life. This is why those who have made any real progress in grace are acutely aware of this vanity as the greatest burden on their souls, and groan for such a complete renewal of their minds as would perfectly free them from it. This is primarily what they have in mind in that anguished cry of Romans 7:24: "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" They groan under a sense of it every day. Nothing troubles them more than observing how it defeats their intentions to contemplate heavenly things, how it frustrates their best resolutions to stay in the spiritual exercise of faith and love, and how it imposes on them thoughts of things that they — in themselves or in their consequences — utterly detest. Nothing do they fear more, nothing is more grievous and burdensome to them, nothing do they groan more to be delivered from. When there is war in any place, those involved must keep watch over all their enemies and all their attempts. But if they are vigilant and diligent against the enemies visible outside who openly fight against them, while neglecting those who are treacherously working within — betraying their plans and weakening their strength — they will certainly be ruined. Wise people attend first to what is within, knowing that if they are betrayed from the inside, everything they do against their open enemies is useless. In the warfare we are engaged in, we have enemies of every kind who openly and visibly fight against our souls through various temptations. It is our duty to watch against these, to contend with them, and to seek victory over them. But this internal vanity of the mind is what works in all things to betray us — weakening all our graces or hindering their proper operation, and opening the doors of our hearts to our wicked enemies. If our primary effort is not to expose, suppress, and destroy this traitor, we will not succeed in our spiritual warfare.

Since this is the root cause of all that inability of mind to steadiness in holy thoughts and meditations that you are complaining of, when you feel it, turn your attention to its source. Labor to be deeply humbled, and to walk humbly under a sense of the remaining vanity of your mind. In this way some wholesome fruit may be drawn from this bitter root, and something nourishing may come out of what seems only to devour. When you cannot stay in holy thoughts of God and your relationship to Him, and you reflect on this cause of it for the purpose of further humbling and self-abasement, your good intentions are not wasted. Let such a person say: I began to think of God, of His love and grace in Christ Jesus, of my duty toward Him — and where do I find myself now, just a few minutes later? I have wandered to the ends of the earth, into useless and earthly things; or I am so stuck that I have no inclination to continue the work I set out to do. O wretched person that I am — what a cursed enemy I have within! I am ashamed of myself, weary of myself, disgusted with myself — who will deliver me from this body of death? Such thoughts may be just as profitable to him as the ones he originally set out to have.

It is true that we can never be fully freed from all the effects of this vanity and instability of mind in this world. Unchanging devotion to God — always, in all the powers and affections of our minds — is reserved for heaven. But great progress in conquering and expelling this vanity can be attained — more, I fear, than most people have experienced, yet what all should be striving toward. If we apply ourselves as we should to the growth of spiritual light and grace; if we labor diligently to dwell and abound in thoughts of spiritual things with love for them and delight in them; if we guard against entertaining and approving in our minds the kinds of thoughts and things that feed and confirm this vain frame — then, though not absolute perfection, a blessed degree of heavenly-mindedness can be reached, representing the closest approach to glory that is possible in this life. If a person cannot attain the physique of an athlete or strength like that of Samson, a wise person will still not neglect the means that will enable him to carry out the ordinary duties of life. In the same way, although we cannot attain perfection in this area — though we must always be pressing toward it — a wise person will still pursue such a degree of healing from this spiritual ailment as will enable him to carry out all the duties of the life of God. But if in everything else people feed the vanity of their own minds — if they allow them to wander continually after things foolish, sensual, and earthly, deliberately supply them with material for that end, and make no effort to put this evil frame to death — it is useless for them to hope or expect that their minds will ever be steady in thoughts of heavenly things. If this is the case with anyone — as it is to be feared it is with many — their first duty is to heed the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Make the tree good, and then the fruit will be good" — and not before. When the power of sanctifying grace has made the mind habitually spiritual and heavenly, thoughts of such things will come naturally and be accompanied by delight. But they will not be so until the God of peace has sanctified us completely in spirit, soul, and body, preserving us blameless until the coming of Jesus Christ.

Second, always be aware of your own inability to stir up or properly manage spiritual thoughts — thoughts of things spiritual and heavenly. In this area, people tend to assume that since they may think of what they please, they are therefore able to. Thoughts are their own, so they suppose they need no help for them regardless of what kind they are. They cannot think as they ought in spiritual things, but they do not recognize they cannot do anything at all without God's help. Nothing will convince them of this error until they are burdened by personal experience of the opposite in spiritual things. But the counsel on this point is explicitly stated by the apostle from his own experience in 2 Corinthians 3:5: "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God." He is speaking primarily of ministers of the Gospel — and specifically of those most richly furnished with spiritual gifts and graces, as he states in verse 6. If this is true of them, even with respect to the work and duties of their calling, how much more is it true of others who do not have their graces or their office? Therefore, if people disregard God's present, active grace and the supply of His Spirit — if they assume they can exercise their minds in spiritual thoughts on their own — they will simply be frustrated with themselves when they are disappointed, not understanding what the problem is, and they will spend their lives in a lifeless and fruitless condition.

By the strength of their natural abilities, people can form thoughts of God and heavenly things in their minds according to what they know of them. They can organize them according to learned methods and express them clearly to others. But even while doing all this, they may be far from being spiritually minded. For there may be in their thoughts no active exercise of faith, love, or holy delight in God — no grace at all. But these are precisely the things we are asking about — thoughts in which the graces of the Spirit are in their proper exercise. With respect to those, we have no sufficiency in ourselves; all our sufficiency must be from God. There is perhaps no truth more widely acknowledged in theory, among people of understanding and knowledge, than this — that of ourselves we can do nothing. And yet there is perhaps none more neglected in daily practice. People profess that they can do nothing of themselves, and yet go about their duties as if they could do everything.

Third, remember that I have not so far been discussing formal, scheduled meditation. That requires different rules and instructions. By formal or scheduled meditation I mean the deliberate fixing, directing, and ordering of one's thoughts upon some spiritual or divine subject, with the aim of affecting one's own heart and soul with it or with the truths it contains. This distinguishes it from studying the Word, where the primary aim is to learn the truth or to teach it to others. It is also distinct from prayer, where God Himself is the immediate object. In meditation, the goal is to affect the heart and mind with love, delight, and humility. Up to this point I have been describing only what it means to be spiritually minded — specifically in this matter of our thoughts as they flow from the habitual condition of our hearts and affections — and what the regular pattern of our thoughts ought to be with respect to all the occasions of the life of God. A person can be ready and disposed for this even while still unskilled in or incapable of formal, scheduled meditation. Scheduled meditation requires such a deliberate exercise of one's natural faculties and abilities as some — through weakness and lack of training — are simply not capable of. But what we have been urging up to this point is not beyond reach for anyone in whom the Spirit of faith and love dwells, for it is nothing more than the frequent and active exercise of those graces. So ask yourself: Do your heart and affections lead you to many thoughts of God and spiritual things? Do they spring up in you like water in a well of living water? Are you ready on every occasion to welcome such thoughts and to dwell in them as opportunity arises? Do you labor to have ready in your mind what you need for times of temptation and duty? Is God in Christ — and the things of the Gospel — the regular refuge of your soul? If so, even if you are unable to carry out a structured, formal meditation in your mind, you may still be spiritually minded.

A person may not have the capacity and ability to run a large trading business. The knowledge of all kinds of goods and markets, of the world and its nations, along with the planning and accounting required for such a trade, may be beyond his understanding, and he may quickly ruin himself by attempting it. Yet this same person may be quite capable of running a small retail shop — and may thrive just as well and build just as solid a life as those with greater capacities who pursue larger and more risky ventures. So it may be for some in this matter. Their natural mental faculties are not sufficient to enable them to engage in formal, scheduled meditation. They cannot put things into the kind of orderly structure it requires, or shape the conceptions of their mind into clear and expressive words. Yet when it comes to frequency of thoughts about God and a disposition of mind toward such thoughts, they may thrive and prove more proficient than many others with greater natural ability. However, since formal meditation is a necessary duty — and in fact the principal way our spiritual thoughts exercise themselves in a profitable manner — I will give attention to it in the following direction.

Fourth, whatever principle of grace we have in our minds, we cannot attain a ready exercise of it — whether in formal meditation or in any other form of spiritual activity — without great diligence and great difficulty.

At the beginning of this discussion it was noted that there is a difference, in this grace, between its essence, substance, and reality — which we would not deny to people despite many failures and weaknesses — and the degree of it in which it has its principal and useful exercise. This is like the difference between natural life and its activity in a weak, diseased body, versus in one of good constitution and vigorous health. Assuming, then, that the reality of this grace is planted in our minds by the Holy Spirit as a core part of that new nature which is God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works — still, for it to grow and develop, as with every other grace, our own diligent care, watchfulness, and spiritual striving in all holy duties are required. Even the most fertile ground, if left uncultivated, will not produce a useful harvest. Let no one think that this condition of a spiritual mind — with its readiness and disposition for all holy thoughts of God, Christ, and spiritual and heavenly things at all times and on all occasions — will simply come upon him and remain with him without effort. It is as reasonable to expect a poor man to become wealthy without industry, or a weak man to become strong and healthy without food and exercise, as to expect to be spiritually minded without earnest pursuit of it. What, then, is required for this? Several things can be named without which this holy condition will not be attained.

First, a continual watch must be kept in and over the soul against the invasion of vain thoughts and imaginations — especially in seasons when they are most likely to gain ground. If they are allowed to break into the mind, if we form the habit of welcoming them, if they are accustomed to dwelling within us, it is pointless to hope or desire to be spiritually minded. This is central to that duty which our Savior so frequently and emphatically charges us all with — to watch, as in Mark 13:37. Unless we keep strict watch here, we will be betrayed into the hands of our spiritual enemies, for all such vain thoughts are nothing but making provision for the flesh to fulfill its desires — even if those desires are not fulfilled in actual outward sin. This is the substance of the command given in Proverbs 4:23: "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life."

Second, carefully avoid all social settings and activities of this life that tend — under various pretenses — to draw and seduce the mind into an earthly or sensual frame. If people willingly pursue things which they have found by experience — or could learn by observation — pull their minds away from a heavenly frame toward what is contrary to it, and do not watch to avoid such things, they will reap the fruit of their own choices. In truth, the ordinary social behavior of many professing Christians among themselves and with others — walking, talking, and conducting themselves just like everyone else, being as absorbed in the world as the world itself is — has drained the inner grace of being spiritually minded and tarnished the outward glory of their profession. The example David followed shows how careful we ought to be about this, as in Psalm 39:1-3, which was already mentioned.

Third, place a holy restraint on the mind to keep it to the duty of spiritual thoughts and meditations, pressing it continually with a sense of their necessity and usefulness. The mind is naturally prone to pull away from purely spiritual duties, through the working of the flesh that remains in it. The more inward and purely spiritual a duty is — and the less outward benefit it offers — the more the mind will tend to resist it. This is truer of private prayer than of public worship, and truer still of meditation than of prayer. Other things will pull the mind aside — objects from without, and various stirrings of the affections from within. A holy constraint must be placed upon the mind, with a quick rejection of whatever arises to divert or disturb it. Therefore we must call upon all motivating considerations — such as the love of Christ, as in 2 Corinthians 5:14 — to hold the mind steady in its duty.

Fourth, diligently use the means to furnish the soul with that light and knowledge of heavenly things that will provide a constant supply of material for holy thoughts and meditations from within ourselves. This was addressed at length earlier. The lack of it is what keeps many people from making even the smallest progress in these duties. A person may have skill and ability for a trade, but if he has no materials to work with, he must stop and leave his work alone. So it is with the work of holy meditation: whatever the ability of a person's natural faculties — his inventiveness or memory — if he is not equipped with knowledge of spiritual and heavenly things, which are the subject matter of such meditations, he must set the work aside. This is why the apostle prays for the Colossians that the word of Christ would richly dwell in them in all wisdom, as in Colossians 3:16 — that is, that they might abound in knowledge of the mind of Christ, without which we will be unfit for this duty.

Fifth, persevere in your conflict with Satan, who by various schemes and the throwing of flaming arrows works continually to divert us from these duties. He is seldom if ever absent from such occasions. Anyone furnished to any degree with spiritual wisdom and understanding will find him more noticeably active in his craft and opposition with respect to this duty than in any other area. When we stand before the Lord in this way, he is always at our right hand ready to resist us, and his strength is often great. As noted earlier, people often set out with genuine intention to exercise themselves in holy thoughts, but end in vain imaginations — taking up with trivial things rather than continuing in this duty. Steadiness in resisting him on these occasions is a major part of our spiritual warfare. We can recognize him at work by his methods and instruments: he works through the injection of vain, foolish, or corrupt imaginations. When these begin to rise in our minds at the very times we intend to engage them in spiritual meditation, we may know with certainty where they are coming from.

Sixth, keep careful watch that no root of bitterness springs up and defiles us — that no sinful desire or corruption becomes dominant in us. When that is the case, if people make any attempt in response to their convictions to engage in these duties, they will be laboring in the fire, where all their efforts will immediately be consumed.

Seventh, a dying to the world in our affections and desires — along with moderation in pursuing the necessary things of this life — is also necessary for this. Indeed, without it no one can in any sense be said to be spiritually minded. Without it, our affections cannot be kept under the power of grace in such a way that spiritual things will always be pleasant and nourishing to us.

Some may say that if all these things are required for this, it will take up a person's entire life and time to be spiritually minded. They hope they can attain it at a lower cost and without giving up all the other pleasures and comforts of life that a strict observance of these things would demand.

My answer is this: however hard it may sound to some, I must say it — and my conscience would reproach me if I did not — that if the principal part of our time is not given to these things, then whatever we suppose, we have in reality neither life nor peace. The firstfruits of everything were to be offered to God, and in sacrifices He required the blood and the fat of the inward parts. If the best is not His, He will have nothing. The same is true of our time. Tell me, I ask you, how you can spend your time and your life better, or to better purpose — and if you can show me, I will say: go on and prosper. I know that some spend so much of their time so much worse that it is a shame to witness. Do you think you came into this world to spend all your time and energy on your work, your trade, your pleasures — on satisfying the desires of the flesh and the mind? Do you have time to eat, drink, sleep, and talk unprofitably — perhaps even harmfully — in all kinds of unnecessary social settings, but not enough time to live to God in the very essentials of that life that consists in these things? You entered this world under this law: it is appointed for all people to die once, and after that comes judgment. The reason your life here is given to you is to prepare you for that judgment. If this is neglected, if the principal part of your time is not used with this end in view, you will fall under the sentence of that judgment for eternity.

But people are prone to misunderstand this. They may think these things are meant to pull them away from their lawful work and recreation — which they are generally afraid of and unwilling to sacrifice for any spiritual condition at so high a price. They may suppose that making people spiritually minded means turning them into dull, disengaged people who pay no attention to the legitimate demands of life. But let no one be mistaken: I am not proposing something that can be easily or honestly dismissed. People are well able to defend their callings and enjoyments and to satisfy their consciences against any argument to the contrary. Yet there is a time when we are obligated to part with everything and give ourselves wholly to following Christ in all things, as in Matthew 19:21. And if we neglect or refuse that when the time comes, it is evidence that we are hypocrites. There was a time when superstition had such power over people's minds that multitudes were persuaded to abandon all — their family connections, their callings, their goods, their property — and give themselves to long pilgrimages and grueling military campaigns, in compliance with that superstition. It is no credit to our profession that we have so few examples of people parting with everything to give themselves to heavenly retreat. But that is not what I am proposing here. My aim is not to take people out of their lawful earthly callings but to bring spiritual affections and thoughts into the management of all of them. The things I have mentioned will not take away any time you can legitimately claim — rather, they will sanctify it all.

I admit that the person who dares take on a life of complete withdrawal from the world must be greatly advanced in spirituality, and must also be convinced that he is not called to a usefulness among other people that would be incompatible with such a life — for some, such a withdrawal could prove a disadvantage. Yet for those whose circumstances allow it, this is attainable. Through the proper exercise and growth of grace, people can reach such a settled heavenly-mindedness — such a freedom from attachment to all things below — as to give themselves up entirely and continually to heavenly meditation, to great advancement in all grace, and to a nearness to glory. I would hope this was the experience of many in ancient times who renounced the world entirely — including all family ties, social position, and inheritance — and withdrew to deserts and wildernesses to live in continual divine contemplation. But afterward, when great numbers whose minds were not similarly prepared — through genuine growth in grace and dying to the world — took to monastic withdrawal under the same pretenses, the devil, the world, sensual desires, superstition, and every kind of evil followed them, found them out, and took possession of them, to religion's unspeakable harm and disgrace.

Therefore this is not what I am inviting ordinary believers to. Let those who are both able and free to pursue it, receive it. The general body of Christians have lawful callings, work, and responsibilities in which they should ordinarily remain. In order that they too may live to God within those responsibilities, they would do well to consider two things.

First, diligence in one's calling is in itself highly commendable. If nothing else, it has the advantage of being a means of keeping people from those excesses of lust and self-indulgence that they are otherwise prone to fall into. And if you consider the two broad categories into which most of humanity falls — those who are hardworking in their affairs, and those who spend their time as much as possible in idleness and pleasure — the former are far more admirable and desirable. Yet even diligence in one's calling is capable of being greatly abused. An earthly mindset, greed, devouring what should be holy time devoted to duties, uselessness before God, and similar destructive vices can seize and possess people's minds. There is no lawful calling that automatically excludes the grace of being spiritually minded in those who practice it — nor any that automatically includes it. People in the most ordinary of lawful callings may be spiritually minded, and people in the highest and most distinguished positions may not be. Consider the calling of ministry: the work and duty of it call those engaged in it to have their minds and thoughts occupied with spiritual and heavenly things. They are to study those things, meditate on them, commit them to memory, and proclaim them to others. It will be said: surely such people must necessarily be spiritually minded. If they go no further than what is described, I say they must necessarily be so — in the same way that printers must necessarily be well-read in letters, since they are constantly handling them. A person may engage with great industry in all these activities and yet have a mind that is entirely remote from being spiritual. The evidence shows this happens, and the reasons for it are clear. It requires as much — if not more — watchfulness, care, and humility for a minister to be spiritually minded in the discharge of his calling as it does for any other kind of person in theirs. This is so, among other reasons, because the sheer frequency of dealing with such thoughts professionally, combined with directing them toward others in their expression, will drain them of their personal power and effect. A minister will benefit little from his own ministry if he does not first seek personal experience in his own heart of the power of the truths he teaches to others. And it is evident that this failure is as prevalent among ministers as among any other group of Christians, as every occasion of testing makes plain.

Second, although diligence in any honest calling is right and good, unless people labor to be spiritually minded in the exercise of that diligence, they have neither life nor peace. All the things mentioned earlier are necessary for this — I do not see how any of them can be reduced. In fact, more is required than what has been expressed, and if this account were burned and rewritten, many additional things would need to be added. The objection based on the time required to observe these things carries no real weight. For a person can accomplish just as much work while spiritually minded as while carnal. Spiritual thoughts will hinder you in your calling no more than vain and earthly thoughts — which people of all kinds manage to find time for in the middle of their work. If you fill a container with chaff, you can still pour a great deal of water into it, which will be held in the same space alongside the chaff. Even if it is necessary for you to take in much of the world's chaff into your mind, your mind is still capable of receiving such a measure of grace as will keep it sincere toward God.

Fifth, this spiritual condition will never be maintained, nor will the duties described ever be performed as they should, unless we set aside some portion of time specifically for them. I am speaking only to those who, I assume, already set apart some daily time for holy duties such as prayer and reading the Word — and who find by experience that this serves them well. For the most part, if they lose their appointed times, they lose their duties entirely. Some have found that when the pressure of business and a flood of demands first drove them away from their fixed time for duties, it led gradually to a pattern of neglecting those duties altogether. Therefore it is wise to set apart regularly some portion of time for the exercise of our thoughts about spiritual things in the way of meditation. I will close this discussion with some specific directions for those who feel inadequate for the discharge of this duty.

First, choose and set apart a suitable time — a time that is free from other demands and distractions. Since we have a duty to redeem time for holy duties, such a season will be all the more valuable the greater the cost of setting it apart. We are never to serve God with what costs us nothing — and this applies to time as to everything else. If we allow only the leftover scraps of our time to this duty — when we have nothing else to do, and perhaps when weariness has left us fit for nothing else — we should not expect to achieve much in it. This is one powerful reason why people are so cold, formal, and lifeless in spiritual duties: the times and seasons they assign to them. When the body is exhausted from the labor and demands of the day, and the mind perhaps also made sluggish by necessary refreshment, people think themselves fit to meet with God about the weighty concerns of His glory and their own souls. This is what God condemns through the prophet in Malachi 1:8: "When you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?" Both natural law and all the laws of holy worship require that we serve God with the best we have, just as all the fat of the inward parts was to be offered in sacrifice. Shall we think of offering to God time in which we would not be fit to appear before an earthly ruler? Yet such, in my view, are the seasons — especially evening seasons — that most people choose for the duties of holy worship. It would be worth reflecting on how little of the choicest of your time you have freely offered to God beyond what He has claimed for Himself by eternal law — so that you may be stirred to greater diligence in the future. Therefore, if you are serious about this duty, choose for it the seasons when you are most fit — when the natural energy of your spirit is most free and alert. Some may say that this may be the very time when the demands of the world are calling most urgently for your attention. I say that is exactly the season I would recommend. If you can discipline your mind to redeem that time for God at that cost, your efforts will be fruitful. But do not simply trust to whatever times present themselves. Do not take them up at random. Let the time itself be a freewill offering to God — taken from the top of the pile, from the choicest part of your useful time.

Second, preparation of the mind in proper reverence of God and spiritual things is required before this duty begins. When we enter into this duty by rushing into thoughts of heavenly things without due reverent preparation, we will quickly find ourselves at a loss. See the rule given in Ecclesiastes 5:1-2. The grace to serve God with reverence and godly fear is required in everything we do with Him — and in this duty especially, since our engagement with Him is immediate and particular. Make it your first aim, therefore, to get your heart deeply affected with an awesome reverence of God and a holy regard for the heavenly nature of the things you intend to meditate on. This will compose your mind, and the roots of other thoughts — whether vain or earthly — that are prone to arise and pull you away from this duty will be driven out. The principles of these contrary thoughts are like Jacob and Esau: they struggle in the same womb, and often Esau comes out first and seems for a time to hold the birthright. When various thoughts are contending in our minds — some pulling toward this world and some toward another — the worldly ones may win for a season. But where a proper reverence of God has cast out the slave woman and her children — that is, the workings of the flesh in its vain thoughts and imaginations — the mind will be free to exercise itself in spiritual things.

Third, earnest desires for a renewed taste and sense of spiritual things are required. If we enter this duty merely from a conviction of its necessity — if we set ourselves to it simply because we think we ought to and it would be wrong to neglect it entirely — we should not expect to be fruitful in it. But when the soul has at some point tasted that the Lord is good, when its meditations on Him have been sweet, when spiritual things have had a flavor and richness in the mind and affections — and when the soul comes to this duty with earnest desire for the same experience again, and indeed for more of it — then it is on the path of genuine progress. This will also give us the perseverance to press through to the end of what we undertake, since we know from prior experience what is to be found there, if we dig and search for it as for treasure.

If you think this duty can be properly carried out in some other way; if you think it is not worth all this effort and preparation — then judge by your past experience whether it would not be better to stop attempting it altogether and leave it alone. It is better to lie quietly on the ground than to keep trying to rise and never once succeed. Remember how many failed attempts you have made at it — and how they have all come to nothing, or to something just as useless as nothing. I cannot promise that in this way you will always succeed — but I am afraid you will never succeed in this duty without things of the same kind and purpose as what I have described.

After this preparation, if you still find yourself troubled and unable to continue comfortably in spiritual thoughts to your refreshment, take these two directions for your relief.

First, cry and sigh to God for help and relief. Lament the darkness, weakness, and instability of your mind, groaning inwardly for deliverance. And if your intended meditations end in nothing more than a renewed and gracious sense of your own weakness and insufficiency, along with a turning to God for fresh supplies of strength, they are by no means lost as far as spiritual account goes. Hezekiah's thoughts in his meditation did not seem to have much order or coherence when he expressed them: "Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; my eyes look wistfully to the heights; O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security," as in Isaiah 38:14. When the soul labors sincerely for communion with God but sinks into fragmented, confused thoughts under the weight of its own weakness — yet looks to God for relief — its chattering and mourning will be accepted by God and will be profitable to the one who offers it.

Second, fill in the gaps of your broken thoughts with brief prayers that arise spontaneously, responding to either the subject you were meditating on or to your failure in handling it. So it was with Hezekiah in the example just mentioned: where his own meditations were weak and fragmented, he cried out in the middle of them, "O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security." Meditation is properly understood as a blend of spiritual perception of God and heavenly things — held in the thoughts and conceptions of the mind — together with desires and prayers that flow from it.

It is good and profitable to have a specific intended subject in mind when entering meditation. I have explained at length earlier what things are the proper objects of thought for those who are spiritually minded. These may also be considered more deliberately as subject matter for formal meditation. Such subjects may be drawn from a recent personal spiritual experience, from some warning God has given us, from something that particularly struck us in reading or hearing the Word, from what we find the present condition and state of our mind and soul requires — or, serving as a supply for all of these most frequently, the person and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When something of this kind is specifically chosen before the time of meditation, and a time is set aside with it in view, the mind will be held in place and kept from wandering after various subjects — a tendency through which it loses itself and brings nothing to completion.

Finally, do not be discouraged by the sense that what you are able to attain in this duty is so small and feeble as to be not worth continuing. Do not be worn down by the difficulties you meet with in performing it. In this matter you are dealing with the One who will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick — the One whose will it is that no one should despise the day of small things. And if there is a willing mind in this duty, it is accepted according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. The person who can bring to this treasury only the small coins of broken desires and brief prayers — if those are his best — will not fall behind those who bring from their greater abundance of ability and skill. To give up and stop because we cannot rise to the height we were aiming for is a fruit of pride and unbelief. The person who finds that all his continual efforts at holy, fixed meditation gain him nothing but a living, active sense of his own unworthiness is gaining enough from all his effort. But ordinarily it will not remain at that level: consistency in the duty will develop ability for it. Those who conscientiously persist in its performance will grow in light, wisdom, and experience until they are able to carry it out with great benefit. These few plain directions may perhaps be of some use to weaker Christians when they find in themselves an inability for this duty — in which those who are spiritually minded ought to be especially exercised.