Chapter 13

The Work of the Renovation of our Affections. How differenced from any other Impression on, or Change wrought in them, and how it is Evidenced so to be. The first Instance in the Universality accompanying of Affections Spiritually renewed. The Order of the Exercise of our Affections with Respect to their Objects.

THat which is our Concernment herein, is to inquire of what Nature that Work is which has been on our own Affections, or in them, and how it differs from those, which whatever they do or effect, yet will not render us nor themselves Spiritual.

And we ought to use the best of our Diligence herein; because the great means whereby Multitudes delude and deceive their own Souls, perswading themselves that there has been an effectual Work of the Grace of the Gospel in them, is the Change that they find in their Affections which may be on many Occasions, without any Spiritual Renovation.

First, As to the temporary and Occasional Impressions in the Affections before mentioned, whether from the Word, or any other divine warning by Afflictions or Mercies, they are common to all sorts of Persons. Some there are, whose Consciences are seared with a hot Iron, Tim. 4:2. who thereon being past feeling (sensless of all Calls, Warnings, and rebukes) do give themselves over to Lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with Greediness, Eph. 4:19. Such Persons having hardned themselves in a long Course of Sin, and being given up to a Reprobate Mind, or Vile Affections in a way of Judgment, have it may be no such Impressions on their Affections on any Occasion, as to move them with a sense of things Spiritual and Eternal. They may be terrified with Danger, sudden Judgments, and other Revelations of the Wrath of God from Heaven against the Ungodliness of Men; but they are not drawn to take shelter in thoughts of Spiritual things. Nothing but Hell will awaken them to a due Consideration of themselves and things Eternal.

It is otherwise with the generality of Men who are not profligate and impudent in Sinning. For although they are in a natural Condition, and a course of Sin, in the neglect of known Duties, yet by one means or other, most frequently, by the preaching of the Word, their Affections are stirred towards Heavenly Things.

Sometimes they are afraid, sometimes they have hopes and desires about them. These put them on Resolutions, and some temporary Endeavours to change their Lives, to abstain from Sin, and to perform holy Duties. But as the Prophet complains, their Goodness is as the morning Cloud, and as the early Dew, so passs it away. Yet by means hereof, do many poor ignorant Souls deceive themselves, and cry Peace, Peace, when there is no Peace. And they will sometimes so express how they are affected with Complaints of themselves as to their long neglect of Spiritual things that others may entertain good hopes concerning them; but all comes to nothing in the Tryal.

There is no difficulty to Spiritual Light to distinguish between these occasional Impressions on the Affections, and that Spiritual Renovation of them which we inquire after. This alone is sufficient to do it, that they are all of them temporary and evanid. They abide for a while only, as our Savior speaks, and every Occasion defeats all their Efficacy. They may be frequently renewed, but they never abide. Some of them immediately pass away, and are utterly lost between the place where they hear the Word and their own habitations; and in vain shall they inquire after them again, they are gone for ever. Some have a larger Continuance, endure longer in the Mind, and produce some outward Effects; None of them will hold any Tryal, or Shock of Temptation.

Yet I have somewhat to say to those who have such Impressions on their Affections, and warning by them.

(1) Despise them not, for God is in them. Although he may not be in them in a way of Saving Grace, yet he is in them in that which may be preparatory thereto. They are not common humane accidents, but especial Divine Warnings.

(2) Labor to retain them, or a Sense of them upon your Hearts and Consciences. You have got nothing by loosing so many of them already. And if you proceed in their neglect, after a while you will hear of them no more.

(3) Put no more in them than belongs to them. Do not presently conclude that your State is good, because you have been affected at the hearing of the Word, or under a sickness, or in a danger. Hereon many think that now all is well with them, wherewith they please themselves, untill they are wholly immersed in their former security.

Secondly. We may consider the Difference that is between the Habitual Change of the Affections before described, & that Renovation by Grace which renders them Spiritual. And this is of great Concernment to us all to inquire into it with Diligence. Multitudes are herein deceived, and that to their Ruine. For they resolve their present Peace into, and build their hopes of Eternal Life on such a Change in themselves, as will not abide the Tryal. This Difference therefore is to be examined by Scripture Light, and the Experience of them that do believe. And

1. There is a double Universality with respect to the Spiritual Renovation of our Affections.

(1) That which is subjective with respect to the Affections themselves. And

(2) That which is Objective with respect to Spiritual things.

First, Sanctification extends it self to the whole Spirit, Soul and Body, 1 Thes. 5.23. When we say that we are Sanctifyed in part only, we do not say that any Part, Power or Faculty of the Soul is unsanctifyed, but only that the work is not absolutely perfect in any of them. All Sin may retain Power in some one Affection, as Anger, fear, or Love as to actual Irruptions and Effects more than in all the rest. As one Affection may be more eminently Sanctifyed in some than in others. For it may have advantages to this End from Mens natural Tempers, and various outward Circumstances. Hence some find little Difficulty in the Mortification of all other Lusts or corruptions, in Comparison of what they meet withal in some one inordinate Affection or Corruption. This it may be David had regard to, Psal. 18:23. I have known Persons shining examplarily in all other Graces, who have been scarce free from giving great Scandal by the excess of their Passions and easy Provocations thereunto. And yet they have known that the setting themselves to the sincere vigorous Mortification of that disorder, is the most eminent Pledg of their Sincerity in other things. For the Tryal of our self denyal lyes in the things that our natural Inclinations lye strongest towards. Howbeit as was said, there is no Affection where there is this Work of Renovation, but it is sanctifyed and renewed; none of them is left absolutely to the Service of Sin and Satan, And therefore whereas by reason of the advantages mentioned, Sin does greatly contend to use some of them to its Interest and Service in a peculiar manner, yet are they inabled to, & made meet for gracious Actings, and do in their proper Seasons, put forth themselves accordingly. There is no Affection of the Mind from whence the Soul and Conscience has received the greatest Dammage, that was as it were the Field wherein the Contest is managed between Sin and Grace, but has its Spiritual Use and Exercise, when the Mind is renewed.

There are some so inordinately subject to Anger and passion therein, as if they were absolutely under the Power and Dominion of it; yet do they also know how to be angry, and sin not in being angry at Sin in themselves and others. Yea what Indignation, yea what Revenge, Cor. 7:7. Yea, God is pleased sometimes to leave somewhat more than ordinary of the Power of Corruption in one Affection, that it may be an Occasion of the Continual Exercise of Grace in the other Affections. Yet are they all sanctifyed in their Degree, that which is relieved as well as that which does relieve. And therefore as the remainder of Sin in them that believe is called the old Man, which is to be crucifyed in all the Members of it, because of its adherence to the whole Person in all its Powers and Faculties; So the Grace implanted in our natures, is called the New Man, there being nothing in us that is not seasoned and affected with it. As nothing in our Natures escaped the taint of Sin, so, nothing in our Natures is accepted from the Renovation that is by Grace. He in whom any one Affection is utrerly unrenewed, has no one graciously renewed in him. Let men take heed how they indulge to any depraved Affection, for it will be an unavoidable Impeachment of their Sincerity. Think, not to say with Naaman, God be merciful to me in this thing, in all others I will be for him.

He require the whole Heart, and will have it or more. The chief work of a Christian is to make all his Affections in all their Operations subservient to the Life of God, Rom. 6:17. And he who is wise will keep a continual Watch over those wherein he finds the greatest Reluctancy thereunto. And every Affection is originally sanctifyed according to the use it is to be of, in the Life of Holiness and Obedience.

To be intire for God, to follow him wholly, to cleave to him with purpose of Heart, to have the Heart circumcis'd to love him, is to have all our Affections renewed and sanctifyed, without which we can do none of them. When it is otherwise, there is a double Heart, an Heart and a Heart which he abhors, Their Heart is divided, now shall they be found faulty, Hosea 10:2.

So it is in the other Change mentioned. What ever is or may be wrought upon our Affections when they are not Spiritually renewed; That very change as to the Degree of it, is not universal; it does not affect the whole Mind in all its Powers and Affections, until a vital prevailing Principle and habit of Grace is implanted in the Soul, Sin will not only radically adhere to all the Faculties, Powers and Affections but it will under any Change that may befall them refer the Rule and Dominion in some of them to it self. So was it with the young Man that came to our Lord Jesus Christ to know what he should do to obtain Eternal Life, Mark. 10.17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.

Thus there are many who in other things are reduced to Moderation, Sobriety and Temperance yet there remains in them the Love of Mony in a predominant Degree, which to them is the Root of all evil, as the Apostle Speaks, some seem to be Religious, but they bridle not their Tongues through Anger, Envy, Hatred, and the like, their Religion is in vain.

The most of Men in their several ways of Profession, pretend not only to Religion, but to zeal in it, yet set no Bounds to their Affections to earthly Enjoyments. Some of old who had most eminently in all other things subdued their Passions and Affections, were the greatest Enemies to, and Persecutors of the Gospel.

Some who seem to have had a mighty Change wrought in them by a Superstitious Devotion, do yet walk in the Spirit of Cain towards all the Disciples of Christ, as it is with the principal Devotionists in the Church of Rome; and elsewhere we may see some go soberly about the Persecution and Destruction of other Christians. Some will cherish one Secret Lust or other, which they cannot but know to be pernitious to their Souls. Some love the Praise, of Men, which will never permit them to be truely Spiritually Minded; so our Savior testifys of some, that they could not believe, because they loved the Praise of Men. This was the known Vice of all the antient Philosophers. They had many of them on the Principles of Reason, and by severe Exercise subdued their Affections to great Moderation about Temporary things. But in the mean time were all of them Slaves to vain glory, and the praise of men, untill by the public Observation of it, and some Contradictions in their Lives to their Pretences to Virtue, they lost that also among wise and considerative Men. And generally if men, not Spiritually renewed, were able to search themselves, they would find that some of their Affections are so far from having any change wrought in them, as that they are a quiet Habitation for Sin, where it exerciss its Rule and Dominion.

Secondly. There is an Universality that is Objective in Spiritual things, with respect to the Renovation of our Affections, that is, Affections Spiritually renewed do fix themselves upon, and cleave to all all Spiritual things in their proper places, and to their proper Ends. For the Ground and Reason of our adherence to any one of them, are the same with respect to them all. That is their Relation to God in Christ. Wherefore when our Affections are renewed, we make no choice in Spiritual things, cleaving to some, and refusing others, making use of Naamans restraint, but our adherence is the same to them all in their proper places and Degrees. And if by reason of Darkness and Ignorance, we know not any of them to be from God, as for Instance, the Observation of the Lords Day, it is of unspeakable Disadvantages to us. An equal respect is required in us to all Gods Commands. Yet there are various Distinctions in Spiritual things. And thereon a man may, and ought to value one above another, as to the Degrees of his Love and Esteem, although they are to be sincere with respect to them all.

First. God himself, that is, as revealed in and by Christ, is in the first and chiefest place the proper and adequate Object of our Affections, as they are renewed. He is so for himself, or his own Sake alone. This is the Spring, the Center, and chief Object of our Love. He that loves not God for himself, that is, for what he is in himself, and what from himself alone, he is, and will be to us in Christ, which Considerations are inseperable, he has no true Affection for any Spiritual thing whatever. And not a few do here deceive themselves, or are deceived, which should make us the more strict and diligent in the Examination of our selves. They suppose that they love Heaven and Heavenly things, and the Duties of Divine Worships, which Persuasion maybe fall them on many Grounds and Occasions, which will not endure the Tryal. But as to God himself, they can give no Evidence that they have any Love to him, either on the account of the Glorious Excellencies of his Nature, with their natural Relation to him, and Dependance on him, nor on the account of the Manifestation of himself in Christ, and the Exercise of his Grace therein. But whatever be pretended, there is no Love to God, whereof these things are not the formal Reason, that proceed not from these Springs. And because that all men pretend that they love God, and defie them that think them so vile as not so to do, though they live in open Enmity against him, and hatred of him, it becomes us strictly to examine our selves on what grounds we pretend so to do. It is because indeed we see an Excellency, a Beauty, a desirableness in the glorious properties of his Nature, such as our Souls are refreshed and satisfyed with the thoughts of by Faith, and in whose Enjoyment our Blessedness will consist, so that we always rejoyce at the Remembrance of his Holyness; It is our great Joy and Satisfaction that God is what he is; is it from the glorious Manifestation that he has made of himself and all his Holy Excellencies in Christ, with the communication of himself to us in and by him? If it be so indeed, then is our Lord generous and gracious, from the Renovation of our Affections But if we say we love God, yet truely know not why, or upon Principles of Education, and because it is esteemed the highth of Wickedness to do otherwise, we shall be at a Loss when we are called to our Tryal. This is the first object of our Affections.

Secondly. In other Spiritual things, renewed Affections do cleave to them according as God is in them. God alone is loved for himself, all other things for him, in the measure and Degree of his presence in them. This alone gives them preeminence in renewed Affections; for Instance, God is in Christ, in the humane nature of the man Christ Jesus, in a way and manner, singular, in concern a like, incomprehensible, so as he is in the same kind in nothing else. Therefore is the Lord Christ even as to his humane Nature, the Object of our Love and Affections in such a way and Degree, as no other thing, Spiritual or Eternal but God himself is or ought to be; all other Spiritual things become so from the Presence of God in them, and from the Degree of that Presence have they their Nature and Use. Accordingly are they, or ought to be the Object of our Affections, as to the degree of their Exercise. Evidence of the Presence of God in things and Persons, are the only attractives of renewed Affections.

Thirdly, In those things which seem to stand in an equality as to what is of God in them, yet on some especial Occasions and Reasons, our Love may go forth eminently to one more than another. Some particular Truth, with the Grace communicated by it, may have been the means of our Conversion to God, of our Edification in an especial manner, of our Consolation in Distress; it cannot be, but that the Mind will have a peculiar respect to, and valuation of such Truths, and the Grace administred by them. And so it is as to Duties. We may have found such a lively Intercourse and Communion with God in some of them, as may give us a peculiar Delight in them.

But notwithstanding these Differences, Affections Spiritually renewed, do cleave to all Spiritual Things, as such. For the true formal Reason of their so doing, is the same in them all, namely God in them; only they have several ways of acting themselves towards them, whereof I shall give one Instance.

Our Savior distributes Spiritual things into those that are Heavenly, and those that are Earthly, that is comparatively so, Joh. 3:12. If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not; how shall ye believe if I tell you of Heavenly Things.

The Heavenly Things, are the deep and misterious Councels of the Will of God. These, renewed Affections cleave to with Holy Admiration and satisfactory Submission, captivating the Understanding to what it cannot comprehend. So the Apostle declares it, Rom. 11:33, 34, 35, 36. O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearcheable are his Judgments, and his Ways past finding out! for who has known the Mind of the Lord, or who has been his Councellor? Or who has first given to him, and it shall be recompenced to him again? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be Glory for ever, Amen. What the Mind cannot comprehend, the Heart does admire and adore, delighting in God, and giving Glory to him in all.

The Earthly Things intended by our Savior in that place, is the Work of God upon the Souls of Men in their Regeneration, wrought here in the Earth. Towards these the Affections act themselves with Delight, and with great Thanksgiving. The Experience of the Grace of God in and upon Believers is sweet to their Souls. But one way or other they cleave to them all, they have not a prevailing Aversation to any of them. They have a regard to all Gods Precepts, a delight in all his Councels, a Love to himself and all his Ways.

Whatever other Change is wrought on the Affections, if they be not Spiritually renewed, it is not so with them. For as they do not cleave to any Spiritual Things, in their own true proper nature, in a due manner because of the Evidences of the Presence of God in them, so there are always some of them, whereto those whose Affections are not renewed, do maintain an Aversation and an Enmity. And although this Frame does not instantly discover it self, yet it will do so upon any especial Tryal. So was it with the Hearers of our Savior, Joh. 6. There was a great Impression made on their Affections, by what he taught them concerning the Bread of God, that came down from Heaven, and gave Life to the World. For they cryed thereon, Lord evermore give us of this Bread, verse 34. But when the Mystery of it was further explained to them, they liked it not, but cryed, This is a hard Saying, who can bear it, verse 60; and thereon fell off both from him and his Doctrine, although they had followed him so long as to be esteemed his Disciples, verse 66.

I say therefore whensoever Mens Affections are not renewed, whatever other Change may have been wrought upon them, as they have no true delight in any Spiritual things, or truths, for themselves and in their own Nature, so there are some Instances, wherein they will maintain their natural Enmity and Aversation to them. This is the first difference between Affections Spiritually renewed, and those which from any other Causes may have some kind of Change wrought in them.

The seat of spiritual-mindedness in the affections. The nature and function of the affections. The ways and means God Himself uses to call the affections of people away from the world.

In the account given at the beginning of this discussion of what it means to be spiritually minded, it was organized under three headings.

The first was the habitual condition, disposition, and inclination of the mind in its affections.

The second was the regular exercise of the mind in its thoughts, meditations, and desires about heavenly things.

To these was added, third, the contentment of the mind in the relish and sweetness it finds in spiritual things as it thinks and meditates on them.

The second of these has been addressed so far, as the one that leads to the others and gives the most perceptible evidence of the condition being examined. In it consists the stream that, rising from the fountain of our affections, flows into a holy rest and contentment of mind.

The first and third I will now address together, and in doing so complete the account of what it means to be spiritually minded.

Spiritual affections — by which the soul clings to spiritual things, taking in such a relish and sweetness of them as to find rest and satisfaction in them — are the particular spring and substance of being spiritually minded. This is what I will now explain and confirm further.

The great contest between heaven and earth is over the affections of that poor creature we call man. That the world should compete for them is no surprise — it is the highest thing the world can aspire to. Everything here below has no greater ambition than to possess the affections of people. And since the world lies under the curse, no greater harm can come to us than for the world to succeed in this aim. But that the holy God should enter the contest and strive for the affections of people — this is an act of infinite condescension and grace. He does this explicitly: "My son, give me your heart," as Proverbs 23:26 says. It is our affections He asks for — and comparatively nothing else. He will certainly accept nothing from us without them. The richest and most costly sacrifice will not be accepted if it is without a heart. All the ways and methods of His dealings through His Word, and all the purposes of His effectual grace, are suited to and designed for this end: to recover the affections of people to Himself. He expresses this concerning His Word in Deuteronomy 10:12: "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul?" And concerning the Word of His grace, He declares the same purpose in Deuteronomy 30:6: "Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul."

On the other side, all the devices of the world — all the paint and cosmetic it puts on its face, all the great promises it makes, all the false appearances and costumes it dresses itself in with Satan's help — have no other purpose than to draw and hold the affections of people to itself. And if the world is preferred over God in this competition for our affections, we will justly perish with the world for eternity — rejected by the One we have rejected, as Proverbs 1:24-25 and 1:31 say.

Our affections are, in a real sense, everything we have. They are all we have to give — the only power of our souls by which, so to speak, we can give ourselves away from ourselves and become another's. The other faculties of our souls, even the most noble, are suited to receive into our own advantage. But through our affections we can give away what we are and what we have. By them we give our hearts to God, as He requires. Therefore, we give everything to the one to whom we give our affections — our very selves and all we have. And to the one to whom we do not give our affections, whatever else we give, we give nothing of substance at all.

In everything we do for others, whatever is good, valuable, or praiseworthy in it comes from the affection with which we do it. To do anything for others without animating affection is in effect to despise them — for we are silently declaring that they are not worth our heartfelt effort. To give to the poor under their pressure without pity or compassion; to supply the needs of fellow believers without love and kindness; and similar acts and duties — these are things of no real value. They commend us neither to God nor to people. The same is true in our relationship to God and the world. Whatever we do in the service of God, whatever duty we perform at His command, whatever we endure or suffer for His name — if it does not flow from our souls clinging to Him through our affections, He despises it and does not own us. As Song of Songs 5 says, if a man were to offer all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly contemned — love cannot be bought or purchased. In the same way, if a person were to offer all the wealth of his house to God without love, it would be equally despised. On the other hand, however diligent and hardworking we may be in the things of this world, if the world does not have our affections, we are not truly of the world and do not belong to it. Affections are the seat of all sincerity — the jewel of every relationship with God and people, the life and soul of everything that is truly good and praiseworthy. Whatever people may profess, they are what their affections are. Hypocrisy is the deceitful interposition of the mind — using various motives and pretenses — between a person's affections and their profession, making them appear to be what they are not. Sincerity is the open expression of the reality of a person's affections, which makes them genuine and useful.

The affections are in the soul what the rudder is to a ship: if held by a skilled hand, it turns the whole vessel wherever the helmsman chooses. If God holds the powerful hand of His grace on our affections, He turns our souls into compliance with His purposes — in mercy, afflictions, trials, and all kinds of providence — and holds them steady against all the winds and storms of temptation, so that they are not driven onto dangerous rocks. Such a soul alone is teachable and responsive to every indication of God's will.

All others are stubborn and obstinate — hardened in heart and far from righteousness. And when the world holds the hand on our affections, it turns the mind — and all the energy of the soul — toward its own interests and concerns. It is useless to contend with anything that has the power of our affections in its grip; it will prevail in the end.

Given all these considerations, it is of the highest importance to carefully examine how things stand in our affections and what their prevailing direction is. "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another," as the wise man says in Proverbs 27:17. Every person has an edge that can be sharpened by outside helps and advantages. The dominant inclination of a person's affections is his edge. In whatever direction that is set, he cuts and works sharply — but he is blunt and dull to everything else.

Since our affections must be either spiritual or earthly in the direction that dominates — since either God has our hearts or the world does, and either our edge is toward heaven or toward things below — before I address the nature and workings of spiritual affections, I will consider and set out some of the arguments and motivations that God uses to call our affections away from the desirable things of this world. These arguments are weighty and compelling — so much so that to ignore them would be to show the greatest contempt for divine wisdom and goodness. They also serve to press and reinforce the reasons and motivations set before us to set our affections on things that are above — which is to be spiritually minded.

First, God has in every kind of way poured contempt on the things of this world in comparison to things spiritual and heavenly. All things here below were at first made beautiful and in order, and were declared by God Himself to be very good — not only in their nature and being but in the purpose for which they were designed. They were then desirable to people, and the enjoyment of them would have been a pure blessing with no danger of temptation. For they were God's means to lead people to the knowledge of Him and to love for Him. But since the entrance of sin — through which the world fell under the curse and into the power of Satan — the things of the world in his hands have become effective means of drawing the heart and affections away from God. For it is the world and the things of it, as summarized by the apostle in 1 John 2:15-16, that alone compete for our affections and seek to be the object of them. Sin and Satan simply court the world on the world's behalf, seeking to draw people's affections away from God. Through them the god of this world blinds the eyes of unbelievers, and the primary way he works in them is by promising satisfaction to all the desires of people's minds while making the lack of those things seem dreadful and terrifying. The world being now in this state and used to this end — through Satan's cunning and the foolishness of the human mind — God has demonstrated through various means that all these things are vain, empty, unsatisfying, and utterly to be despised in comparison with eternal things.

First, He did this most powerfully and clearly in the life, death, and cross of Christ. What value can be found in this world once the Son of God has lived in it without a place to lay His head, and has left it on a cross? If there had been anything of real worth in earthly things, He certainly would have enjoyed them — if not crowns and empires, which were entirely within His power, then at least such goods and possessions as people of sober thinking and moderate desires consider adequate. But things were arranged quite otherwise, to show that there is nothing of lasting value in these things except what sustains life for the performance of service to God — in which alone they serve eternal purposes. He never attained or enjoyed more than the daily provision of bread from the stores of providence, and this is the only provision He has instructed us to pray for, as in Matthew 6:11. In His cross, the world displayed all its supposed good qualities and all its powers, and gave to those who believe a naked and unadorned view of what it truly is. It is not one bit more attractive now than it was when it had gotten Christ upon the cross. Hence the apostle's conclusion in Galatians 6:14: "But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Since I have believed — since I have had a sense of the power and virtue of Christ's cross — I am done with all things in this world; it is a dead thing to me, and I have no affection for it. This is what made the difference between the promises of the old covenant and the new. Many of the promises of the old covenant concerned temporal things — the good things of this world and this life. Those of the new are mostly about things spiritual and eternal. God would not fully call the church away from regard for earthly things until He had given a clear demonstration of their emptiness, vanity, and insufficiency in the cross of Christ, as in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

Why such hurry, my friend? What is the point of rising early and going to bed late, eating the bread of anxious toil? Why this diligence, why these schemes, why this saving and hoarding of wealth? What is all this effort and planning for? One person answers: to secure enough of this world for myself and my children — to give them a start in life, to build an estate, to provide them some comfort and some standing in the world. These are reasonable-sounding aims, and I would never discourage anyone from the exercise of diligence in their lawful calling. Yet I know that for many, this is simply a pretense and cover for a shameful attachment of their affections to the world. Therefore, in all these things, be persuaded to sometimes fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Behold how He is set before us in the Gospel — poor, despised, mocked, persecuted, nailed to the cross, and all of this at the hands of this world. Whatever your plans and ambitions, let His cross continually stand between your affections and this world. If you are believers, your hope is that within a few days you will be with Him forever. To Him you must give an account of yourselves and of what you have done in this world. Will it be acceptable to Him to declare what you saved from this world, what you gained, what you protected and wrapped yourself in, and what you left behind? Was this any part of His work and business in this world? Has He left us an example of any such course? Therefore, no one can set his affections on things here below who has any regard for the pattern of Christ or is influenced in any degree by the power and effectiveness of His cross. "My love is crucified," said one holy martyr of old — He whom his soul loved was crucified, and with Him, his love for all things below. Do you find your affections ready to become entangled with the things of this world — your desires to increase them, your hopes to keep them, your fears of losing them, your love for them and delight in them — actively occupying your mind, possessing your thoughts, and shaping your conversations? Step aside for a moment and by faith contemplate the life and death of the Son of God. It will be a blessed mirror in which you can see what contemptible things those are that you trouble yourself about. To think that any of us could love or value the power, wealth, goods, or reputation of this world after having had a spiritual view of them in the cross of Christ!

It may be said that the circumstances described were necessary for the Lord Christ because of the particular work He had to do as Savior and Redeemer of the church. And therefore it does not follow that we ought to be poor and lack all things as He did. I agree it does not — and I have throughout allowed for honest diligence in our callings. But this does follow unavoidably: what He willingly gave up and trampled on for our sake ought not to be the object of our affections. Nor can such affections prevail in us if He truly dwells in our hearts by faith.

Second, God has done the same in His dealings with the apostles and generally with all who have been closest to Him and most useful to His glory in the world — especially since life and immortality were brought to light by the Gospel. He had great work for the apostles to do — work of the greatest importance to His kingdom. The laying of the foundations of Christ's glorious kingdom in the world was committed to them. One might think He would have provided them, if not with political power or papal authority, then at least with high church offices, dignities, and preferments — the kind of positions that would have allowed them to engage with princes and freed them from the contempt of common people. But infinite wisdom disposed things quite otherwise for them and their circumstances in this world. God both allowed them to experience the common afflictions and hardships of this life — which He uses to take away the sweetness of present enjoyment — and they lived and died in a condition of poverty, distress, persecution, and reproach. God set them forth as examples in two respects: as examples of light, grace, zeal, and holiness in their lives, and also to show how little the abundance of earthly things matters to our true blessedness or to God's love for us — and equally, that the complete lack of those things can coexist with the highest share of His love and favor. As in 1 Corinthians 4:9-13: "For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men... To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now." If this consideration carries no weight with others, it surely ought to with those who are called to preach the Gospel and are successors to the apostles. Nothing could be more absurd, shameful, and out of step with what God's wisdom and will plainly revealed through His dealings with those first and most honored ministers of the Gospel, than for such people to eagerly pursue worldly advantages — political power, wealth, riches, and honor. In earlier ages there were efforts to separate those who were in any way dedicated to the ministry of the Gospel from all secular positions and income. Some maintained that such people were to own nothing of their own but were to live on charitable contributions from the people. But this view was quickly condemned as heresy in Wycliffe and others. Another group arose who claimed to hold this position for themselves personally, though they would not bind all others to the same rule. This produced various groups of begging friars, whom the powerful and wealthy within the church thought fit to laugh at and ignore. In more recent times this dispute has ended: the clergy have happily secured the victory and consider themselves entitled to everything they can obtain by any means, and anyone who thinks differently is considered guilty of a serious offense. But these things are not our present concern. It was not so from the beginning. And it is a serious question whether, pursuing such a course, people are able to maintain the frame of mind that is life and peace.

Third, God continues to pour contempt on the things of this world by always giving by far the greatest share of them to the most wicked people — His own declared enemies. This was a cause of stumbling under the old covenant but is highly instructive under the new. No one would consider things of real value what a wise man daily throws out to pigs, making little or no use of them in his own household. Those monsters of men, Nero and Heliogabalus, had more control over and more possession of the things of this world than the best of men have ever had. Such villains in their nature, so destructive to human society that their nonexistence would have been in humanity's interest — yet more of the world was poured on them than they knew how to enjoy, possess, use, or abuse. Look at the great treasures and powers of this world as held in the hand of one of these monsters — placed there by divine providence — and you can see at what rate God values them.

In our own day, the greatest, most fertile, and most valuable regions of the earth have been given to the Ottoman ruler and other eastern powers — Muslims or pagans — who are prepared for eternal destruction. And if we look closer to home, we can see whose hands hold the power of the chief nations of Europe, and to what ends that power is used. The very most that some Christian professors among us aim for and dream of — what they imagine would make them wonderfully happy — would not, if you gathered hundreds of them together, equal the waste that the kinds of rulers just mentioned generate in a single day.

Is God not declaring through this that the things of this world are not to be valued or treasured? If they had genuine worth in themselves, would the holy and righteous God distribute them in this way? Most of those He loves and who enjoy His favor not only comparatively receive the smallest portion of these things, but are also pressed with all the hardships that the lack of those things brings. His open and declared enemies, meanwhile, have more than they know what to do with. Who would fix his heart and affections on those things which God pours into the laps of the vilest people — as a snare to them in this life and an addition to their condemnation forever? It seems that in taking the world you take the curse, death, and hell along with it — and what profit is it for a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What can any person do in response to this, if he is not willing to give up all his hopes and expectations from God, except retreat to faith in things spiritual and eternal — as containing an excellence incomparably beyond all that can be enjoyed here below?

Fourth, God continues to provide constant examples of the uncertainty and unsatisfying nature of earthly things by thoroughly disappointing those who placed their hopes in them. The ways this happens are many, and the examples so multiplied, that most people in the world — unless they are like the fool in the parable who told his soul to rest for many years because his barns were full — live in constant fear and anxiety that they will quickly lose whatever they have, or else they exist under the power of a dull, false security. On this point, the wise man in Ecclesiastes 12 gives such an account that nothing can be added to it and nothing in reason or experience can contradict it. By these and similar means God pours contempt on all things here below, exposing the foolishness and deceptiveness of the promises the world uses to lure our affections to itself. This must therefore be laid as the foundation of all our thinking about whom or what we will give our affections to: God has not only declared these things insufficient to give us the rest and happiness we seek, but He has also poured contempt on them in His holy and wise ordering of them in the world.

Second, God has added to their vanity by shortening human life — reducing our time in this world to so brief and uncertain a span that it is impossible to find any solid satisfaction in what we enjoy here. As the psalmist expresses it: "Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight." From this he draws two conclusions.

First, that every person at his best estate is nothing but vanity.

Second, that every person walks in a vain show: "Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; he amasses riches and does not know who will gather them," as in Psalm 39:5-6. The uncertainty and brevity of human life make all people's striving and scheming about earthly things both vain and foolish. When people lived eight or nine hundred years, they had the opportunity to extract all the sweetness from created comforts, to accumulate vast stores of them, and to make long-range plans around them. Yet when they did so, it all ended in the violence, oppression, and wickedness that brought the flood on the ungodly world. And so it remains: the more and the longer people enjoy these things, the more — apart from the sovereign remedy of grace — they will abound in sin and provocation of God. God has reduced human life to the small portion of seventy years, adding that any extension beyond that is likely to bring only toil and sorrow. Beyond that, even that span is cut short for most by countless unexpected events and circumstances. Therefore, within those seventy years, consider how long it takes before people even begin to taste and enjoy the things of this life; how many things go wrong and wear them out before the end of their days; how few, not one in a thousand, actually reach that age; and what uncertainty surrounds every living person as to whether their life will continue even to the next day. We will see that the holy, wise God has left no such adequate season for the enjoyment of these things as would give them any real lasting value. And when on the other side we remember that this person of such brief duration in the world was made for eternity — for eternal blessedness or eternal misery, a state that depends entirely on his relationship to things above and on setting his affections on them — those who give themselves up to things below have forfeited both their reason and defied the grace of God.

Third, God has openly and plainly declared the danger that lies in these things when it comes to enjoying and using them, and how countless souls are ruined by an excessive clinging to them. For they are the substance of those temptations by which the souls of people are destroyed forever — the fuel that feeds the fire of their lusts until they are consumed by it.

People who live under the power of spiritual conviction do not fall into sin and perish eternally except through temptation — that is the swamp in which this particular plant grows. For those who live and die in the wildness of their natural state, without any restraint from conviction in their minds, they need no external temptations — only opportunities to act out their desires. But for those who are in any way convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment — so as to aim at ordering their lives with some sense of these realities — they do not fall into actual sin except through temptation. Whatever it is that causes, occasions, and overcomes a convicted person so that he sins — that is temptation. And this is therefore the great means of the ruin of people's souls.

Now, though there are many sources of temptation — many contributing causes of its effectiveness, including sin within, Satan without, and other people — the material of nearly every ruinous temptation is drawn from this world and its things. From it Satan takes all his arrows; from it corrupt people derive all their means of corrupting others; and from it comes all the fuel for sin and lust. And what makes this worse is that everything in the world contributes to this end. "All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life," as in 1 John 2:16. This is not a direct inventory of all the things that exist in the world, nor a classification of them under different categories, but rather a description of the principal sinful desires of the human mind — desires to which all the things of the world serve as fuel. Therefore, not only is the raw material of all temptations drawn from the world, but everything in the world is well suited and ready to be misused to that end. For it would be easy to show that there is nothing desirable or valuable in this entire world that cannot be traced back to a service of one or other of these desires, and made to work in the interest of temptation and sin.

When people hear these things, they are prone to say: let this warning apply to those who are openly wicked and dissolute in sin. For the unclean, the drunkards, the oppressors, the proud and ambitious — yes, perhaps it applies to them. But as for themselves, they use the things of this world with proper moderation, so that these things are no snare to them. But the truth is this: however these things may be used and for whatever purpose, if a person's affections are set on them, then in one way or another everything in the world becomes a snare and temptation. We should therefore be very careful about clinging to that which is the cause and means of the ruin of countless souls. Through the warnings He gives us about this, God's purpose — as far as the use of means is concerned — is to teach us the vanity and danger of fixing our affections on things below.

Fourth, things are so arranged in God's holy and wise providence that it requires great spiritual wisdom to distinguish between the lawful use and the abuse of earthly things — between a proper care about them and an excessive clinging to them. Few people make this distinction correctly, and as a result many will discover their great mistake on the last day. The disappointments they will face regarding their earthly enjoyments and their use of what was entrusted to them are illustrated in Matthew 25:34 to the end of the chapter.

It is acknowledged that there is a lawful use of these things, and a lawful care and diligence about them. It is equally acknowledged — and cannot be denied — that there is an abuse of them, arising from an excessive love and clinging to them. But people deceive themselves here, measuring things by the most crooked and unreliable standards. Some use their own inclinations as the rule and measure of what is lawful and permissible; some use the example of others; some use the common custom of the world; some use their real or supposed necessities. They acknowledge that there is an excessive love of these things and an abuse of them in various kinds of excess — as Scripture plainly affirms and experience openly confirms. But when it comes to their own situation and circumstances, they consider their care, love, and diligence all perfectly allowable. What drives all these people is self-love, reinforced by entrenched, corrupt affections and false reasoning applied to their particular circumstances.

As a result we find people who consider themselves good stewards of what they enjoy, while others judge them hard, greedy, and earthly-minded — not putting what they have been entrusted with to God's glory in any right proportion. Others also think nothing wrong with themselves in this respect while living in obvious excesses — whether of pride of life, sensual pleasures, extravagant dress, or the like. In particular, most people in their feasting and entertaining plainly ignore the rules our Savior gives on that subject in Luke 14:12-14 — yet they approve of themselves in it.

But what if any of us have been mistaken in our rule and in how we have applied it to our circumstances? Sailors at sea may have a fair wind that carries them along smoothly and freely for a time — and yet instead of bringing them into port, that very wind may cast them at last onto destructive shoals or rocks.

And what if what we consider allowable love, care, and diligence should prove to be the fruit of earthly affections — excessive and dominant in us? What if we have miscalculated, and what we approve of in ourselves God disapproves? Then we are lost forever — we belong to the world, and with the world we will perish.

Someone may say that if it is so difficult to distinguish between the lawful use and the abuse of earthly things — between proper care about them and an excessive love of them, on the right understanding of which our eternal condition depends — then people must inevitably live in constant anxious uncertainty, never knowing whether they have rightly discharged their duty.

In response, first, I am pressing these things at present for no other purpose than to show how dangerous it is for anyone to incline in their affections toward the things of this world, in which any excess is ruinous and barely detectable. Certainly no wise person will freely and frequently walk to the edge of such a cliff. He will examine his measures carefully, in case they will not hold up to the standard of the Word. A proper sense of this danger is the best protection of the soul against clinging excessively to things below. And when God in any instance — through affliction or otherwise — shows believers their transgression in this area and how they have gone too far, as in Job 38:8-9, it makes them careful going forward. They will now, if ever, be diligent not to fall under that decisive rule of 1 John 2:14.

Second, where the soul is upright and sincere, there is no need in this matter for any more anxiety or worry than there is about any other duty. But when it is biased and driven by self-love and its stronger pull toward present things, it is impossible for people to enjoy genuine peace — or to escape the severe reproach of their own consciences in those seasons when they are awakened to their duty and the examination of their condition. For such people I have nothing to offer for their relief. For others it is different, and so I will digress briefly to give some directions to those who in sincerity want to be settled in the lawful use and enjoyment of earthly things — so as not to cling to them with excessive affections.

First, always remember that you are not the absolute owners of these things but only stewards of them. With respect to other people, you may be the rightful owners of what you enjoy. But with respect to the one who is the great possessor of heaven and earth, you are only stewards. This stewardship we must give account of, as we are taught in the parable in Luke 16:1-2. Keeping this rule always in view will be a blessed guide in every instance and occasion of duty.

But if a person is entrusted with houses and large estates as a steward for the true lord and owner, and he falls into the pleasant delusion that they all belong to him and acts accordingly — it will be a terrible shock when he is called to give account of everything he received and how he used it, whether he is ready or not. And when in fact he has nothing with which to settle the account. It will be much the same at the great Day for those who forget the trust committed to them and assume they may do as they please with what they call their own.

Second, in every area of getting, enjoying, or using these things, there are sufficient clues — visible to spiritual wisdom — as to whether a person is staying within the bounds of duty or not. People are not easily deceived here, except when they are clearly under the power of corrupt affections, or when they simply refuse to examine themselves and listen to their own consciences. If a person does not know where he is exceeding, that is his own fault alone.

Honest self-examination before God — examining the condition and workings of our minds with respect to earthly things — will greatly check our corrupt inclinations and expose the foolishness of the reasoning by which we deceive ourselves into love for earthly things or justify ourselves in it. It will also bring to light the hidden principle of self-love that is the root of all this evil.

Third, if you want to be able to make a right judgment in this matter, be sure you have another object for your affections — one that has a dominant claim on your mind and that proves it does so on every occasion. A person may be never so careful in all outward duties concerning earthly things; he may be generous in sharing them at every opportunity; he may be watchful against all excess and intemperance in using them. Yet if he has no other object for his affections that prevails over them — if they are not set on things above — then in one way or another it is the world that has the possession of his heart. For the affections of our minds will and must be set chiefly on either things below or things above; there will be a dominant love in us. Therefore, however all our actions might seem to testify to a different condition, if God and the things of God are not the primary object of our affections, we belong to the world — this is what our Savior so plainly teaches in Luke 16:9-13: "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will 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 be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

Fourth, labor continually for the mortification of your affections to the things of this world. In our fallen nature, they are set and fixed on these things, and no amount of reasoning or reflection will effectively pull them away or redirect them properly, unless they are put to death through the cross of Christ. Any other kind of change worked in them will be of no benefit to us. It is mortification alone that will draw them away from earthly things to the glory of God. This is why, having given the command, "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth," Colossians 3:2, the apostle immediately adds this as the only way and means to do so: "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead," verse 5. Let no one think that his affections will detach from earthly things on their own. Their sharpness and intensity in many areas may be dulled by the natural decline of strength in old age and similar causes. They may be subdued by frequent disappointments, by sickness, pain, and affliction, as we will see shortly. Or they may be willing to distribute earthly enjoyments to gain a reputation for generosity — in which case they still cling to the world, only in a different form and guise. They may be shocked by conviction into doing many things gladly that seem to belong to a different frame of heart. But under one pretext or another, in one form or another, they will forever cling to earthly things unless they are put to death through faith in the blood and cross of Christ, as in Galatians 6:14. Whatever you may think of yourself in this matter, unless you have experienced a real work of mortification on your affections, you have no refreshing ground for assurance that you are in any sense spiritually minded.

Fifth, in every area of duty belonging to your stewardship of earthly things, diligently follow the rule of the Word. Without this, the grace urged here can be abused. In former times, under the pretense of renouncing the things of this world because of the danger of clinging to them, superstition and the cunning of other men persuaded many to hand over everything they had to the service of others who were no better — perhaps not as good — as themselves. This evil arose entirely from a failure to follow the rule of truth, which gives no such instruction in ordinary circumstances. We do not see much excess of that kind in these days. But on the other side, in every practical area of duty of this kind, most people's minds are habitually influenced by pretexts, reasonings, and considerations that tip the scales — in matters of what they ought to do — in favor of the world. If you want to be safe, you must in every area of duty — in acts of charity, piety, and compassion — give authority in and over your soul to the rule of the Word. Let neither self-interest nor unbelief nor the customs and examples of others be heard. Instead, attend to the rule alone, and yield obedience to what it says.

Unless these things are found in us, no one — no living person — can have any refreshing evidence or assurance that he is not under the power of an excessive and dominant love for this world.

And to add a little more on this digression: it is a sad thing when the following criticism can be justly made against any person: "He is sober and hardworking, consistent in religious duties, perhaps even an earnest preacher of them, a man of sound doctrine and blameless as to the obvious excesses of life — but he loves the world." One might ask: how does this appear? Perhaps what you are saying is merely one of those uncharitable suspicions that are so common. I do not say these things at all to encourage rash judging of others — no one is more prone to that than those who are themselves strikingly guilty in one way or another. But I want every person to examine himself, so that none of us is condemned by the Lord. If, notwithstanding all that has been said, any of us center in self — a self that is supplied and satisfied by the world — if we prefer self above all things, aim at satisfying self in whatever we do well or badly, and are useless to the only truly good and blessed ends of these earthly things in supplying others' needs in proportion to what we have been entrusted with, then it is to be feared that the world and the things in it have the primary claim on our affections.

The danger is even greater for those who go to the opposite extreme. Such are those who, in pride of life, vanity in dress, excess in drinking, and self-indulgence every day, follow close behind the world — if they are not keeping company with it outright. It is entirely useless for such people to comfort themselves with the appearance of other graces or the diligent performance of other duties. This one rule will stand against them forever: "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." And in passing, let people beware how they act in any area against the known judgment and practice of wiser and more experienced Christians — to those people's grief and sorrow, if not to their offense and scandal — or in any way for which they win their own conscience's consent only through reasoning and considerations that will not hold up in the judgment of God. Yet this, and nothing less, is the condition of all who, while professing religion, indulge in any excesses that conform them to the world.

Fifth, God creates a hedge against the excessive affection of rational and in any way enlightened people toward the things of this world, by allowing people generally to carry the use of those things — and to be carried away by the abuse of them — into behavior so filthy, degrading, and ridiculous that even reason cannot help but be horrified by it. Through these things people transform themselves into beasts and monsters, as could be illustrated by examples of every kind. This is why the wise man prayed to be protected from riches, fearing he could not manage the temptations that come with them, as in Proverbs 30:8-9.

Finally, to close this matter and show us what to expect if we set our affections on things here below so that they have a dominant place in our hearts: God has plainly and firmly determined that if this is the case, He will have nothing to do with us and will not accept those affections which we claim we can and do spare for Him and for spiritual things. Some may say or think: if we refrain from open sins, if we detest the lewdness and uncleanness of people in the world, if we are consistent in religious duties and give ourselves to walk according to the strictest form of religion — as Paul did in his Pharisaism — can we not find acceptance with God even if our hearts cling excessively to the things of this world? I say God has firmly determined the opposite. And if no other argument will prevail with us, He leaves us at last with this: go and love the world and the things in it — but know with certainty that you do so at the eternal cost of your souls, as in 1 John 2:15 and James 4. These are a few examples of the arguments and motivations God uses to deter us from fixing our affections on things here below. Most of them are drawn from the administration of His providence. Two other areas remain for consideration.

First, the methods, arguments, and enticements the world uses to draw, hold, and secure the affections of people to itself.

Second, the secret and powerful effectiveness of grace in taking the heart away from these things and turning and drawing it to God — including the arguments and motivations the Holy Spirit uses through the Word to this end, and what the decisive act of conquering grace looks like, in which the heart is finally prevailed upon to choose and cling to God in immutable love. But these things cannot be addressed in any adequate way — given their nature and importance — without a length of discussion that I cannot divert to here. I will therefore proceed to the subject that properly and particularly lies before us.