Chapter 5. The Objects Of Spiritual Thoughts.
CHAPTER 5. THE OBJECTS OF SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS.
The objects of spiritual thoughts, or what they are conversant about, evidencing them in whom they are to be spiritually minded
— Rules directing us to steadiness in the contemplation of heavenly things — Motives to fix our thoughts with steadiness in them.
BEFORE I proceed to the next general head, which is the principal thing and foundation of the grace and duty inquired after, some things must be said to render what has already been insisted on, still more particularly useful. And this is to inquire what are, or ought to be, the special objects of those thoughts which, under the qualifications laid down, are the evidences of our being spiritually minded. And we may be useful to many in doing this, by helping them to fix their minds, which are apt to rove into all uncertainty.
For this has befallen us through the disorder and weakness of the faculties of our souls — that sometimes what the mind guides, leads, and directs us to, in things spiritual and heavenly, our wills and affections will not comply with, through their depravation and corruption. And so the good designs of the mind are lost. Sometimes what the will and affections are inclined to and ready for, the mind cannot lead them to accomplish, because of its weakness and inconstancy. So to will is present with us, but how to perform that will, we don't know. Thus many are barren in this duty, because they don't know what to fix upon, nor how to exercise their thoughts when they've chosen a subject for their meditations. Hence they spend their time in fruitless desires to use their thoughts to more purpose, rather than make progress in that duty itself. They tire themselves, not because they're not willing to go, but because they cannot find their way. That's why both these things will be spoken to — what are the proper objects of our spiritual thoughts, and how we may be steady in our contemplation of them. And to this purpose, I will first give some general rules, and then some particular instances by way of direction:
1. Observe the special calls of providence, and apply your minds to thoughts of the duties required in them and by them.28 There is a voice in all signal dispensations of providence: "The LORD's voice cries to the city, and the man of wisdom will see your name: hear the rod, and who has appointed it," Mic 6.9. There is a call, a cry in every
rod of God, in every chastising providence, and in this [He] makes a declaration of his name, his holiness, his power, his greatness. Every wise and substantial man will labor to discern this, and so comply with the call. God is greatly provoked when it is otherwise: "LORD, when your hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed," Isa 26:11.
If, therefore, we would apply ourselves to our present duty, we are to wisely consider what is the voice of God in his present providential dispensations in the world. Do not hearken to any who would give another interpretation of them, but they are plain declarations of his displeasure and indignation against the sins of men. Isn't his wrath in them revealed from heaven against the ungodliness of men, especially those who retain the truth in unrighteousness, or against false hypocritical professors of the gospel? Doesn't he also signally declare the uncertainty and instability of earthly enjoyments, as from life itself to a shoe strap? And also how vain and foolish it is to adhere inordinately to them? The fingers that appeared on the wall, writing the doom of Belshazzar, wrote in characters that none could read, and words that none could understand but Daniel. But the present call of God in these things, is made plain upon tablets, that whoever reads it may run. If the heavens gather black with clouds, and it thunders over us, if any who are on their journey will not believe a storm is coming, they must bear the severity of it.
Suppose, then, this to be the voice of providence; suppose there is in it these indications of the mind and will of God, as to what the duties are that we are called to by it? They may be referred to two heads:
(1.) A diligent search into ourselves, and a holy watch over ourselves, with respect to those ways and sins which the displeasure of God is declared against. We take for granted that present providences are indications of God's anger and displeasure.
But when this is done, most are apt to put on others the causes of them, and to excuse themselves. So long as they see others as more wicked and profligate than themselves, openly guilty of the crimes they abhor the thought of, they will cast all the wrath on them, and fear only that they will suffer with them. But alas! when the storm came on the ship at sea, in which there was but one person who feared God, and upon an inquiry for whose sake it came up them, the lot fell upon Jonah, 1.7. The cause of the present storm may as
well be the secret sins of professors of Christ, as the open provocations of ungodly men. God will punish severely those whom he has known, Amo 3.2. It is therefore certainly our duty to search diligently, that nothing be found resting in us, against which God is declaring his displeasure. Take heed of negligence and a false security in this. When our Savior foretold his disciples that "one of them would betray him," he alone who was guilty, was the last to ask, "Master, is it I?" Let no ground of hopes you have of your spiritual condition and acceptance with God, no sense of your sincerity in any of your duties, no visible difference between you and others in the world, impose themselves on your minds, to divert them from diligence in this duty. "The LORD's voice cries to the city, and the man of wisdom will see his name," Mic 6.9.
(2.) A diligent endeavor to live in a holy resignation of our persons, our lives, our families, and all our enjoyments, unto the sovereign will and wisdom of God, so that we may be ready to part with all things upon His call, without repining. This also is plainly declared in the voice of present providences. God is making wings for men's riches; he is shaking their habitations, taking away the visible defenses of their lives, proclaiming the instability and uncertainty of all things here below. And if we are not minded to contend with Him, we have nothing left to give us rest and peace for a moment, except a holy resignation of all to His sovereign pleasure.
Would you now know what you should fix and exercise your thoughts upon, so that they may be evidences of your being spiritually minded? I say, be frequently conversant in them about these things. They lie before you; they call upon you, and will find you a just employment. Count them part of your business; allow them some part of your time; do not cease until you have the testimony of your consciences, that you have, in sincerity, stated both these duties in your minds. This will never be done without many thoughts about them. Unless it is so with you, God will be greatly displeased at the neglect of His coming and call, now that it is so plain and articulate. Fear the woeful dooms recorded to this purpose, Pro 1.24-31, Isa 65:12, 66:4.29 And if any calamity, public or private, overtakes you under a neglect of these duties, you will be woefully surprised, and not know which way to turn for relief. This,
therefore, is the time and season in which you may have an especial trial and experiment as to whether you are spiritually minded or not. It is the wisdom of faith to excite and draw forth grace into exercise, according to present occasions. If this grace is habitually resident in you, it will display itself in many thoughts about these present duties.
But, alas! for the most part, men are apt to walk contrary to God in these things, as the wisdom of the flesh is contrary to Him in all things. We have a great instance with respect to these duties, especially the latter of them (resigning ourselves to God's solemn will and wisdom); for — [1.] Who makes a diligent search into and tests his own heart and ways, with respect to the procuring causes of the displeasure and judgments of God? Generally, when the tokens and evidences of these most abound, the world is full of outrageous, provoking sins.
These visibly proclaim themselves to be the causes of the "coming of the wrath of God on the children of disobedience." Hence, most men are apt to put the whole reason for present judgments on them, and to put it wholly away from themselves. Hence there is never less self-examination than when it is called for in a peculiar manner. But as I won't deny that the open, daring sins of the world are the procuring cause of the wrath of God against it in temporal judgments, so the wisest course for us is to refer them to the great judgment of the Last Day. The apostle directs us to do this, in 2The 1.6-10.30 Our duty is to consider on what account
"judgment begins at the house of God," 1Pet 4.17 and to examine ourselves with respect to it.
[2.] Again, the other part of our present duty, in compliance with the voice of providence, is a humble resignation of ourselves and all our concerns, to the will of God — setting loose our affections from all earthly, temporal enjoyments. Let us profess what we will, we neither do nor can do this, unless our thoughts are greatly exercised about the reasons and motives for doing it. For this is the way by which faith puts forth its efficacy to the mortification of self and all earthly enjoyments. That's why, without this, we cannot resign ourselves to the will of God. But alas! how many at present openly walk contrary to God in this! The ways, the
countenances, the discourses of men, evidence this. Their love for present things, their contrivances for their increase and continuance, grow and thrive under the calls of God to the contrary. So it was of old: "They ate, drank, married and were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark." Can most professors at this day give testimony to the exercise of their thoughts upon those things which would dispose them to this holy resignation? Or that they meditate on the calls of God, and from there make themselves ready to part with it all, at His time and pleasure? How can persons pretend to be spiritually minded, whose current of thoughts lies in direct contrariety to the mind of God?
Here lies the ground of their self-deceiving: They are professors of the gospel in a peculiar manner; they judge themselves believers; they hope they will be saved and have many evidences for it. But one negative evidence will render useless a hundred that are positive. "All these things I have done," says the young man. "Yet you lack one thing," says the Savior. And the lack of that one, rendered his "all things" of no avail to him. Many things you have done, many things you do, many grounds of hope abide with you — neither you nor others doubt your condition; but are you spiritually minded? If this one thing is lacking, all the rest will not avail you; you have, indeed, neither life nor peace. And what grounds have you to judge that you are so, if the current of your thoughts lies in direct contrariety to the present calls of God? If at such a time as this, your love for the world is the same as it ever was, and perhaps increased; if your desires are strong to secure the things of this life for you and yours; if the daily contrivance of your minds is not how you may attain a constant resignation of yourselves and your all to the will of God — which will not be done without much thoughtfulness and meditations on the reasons and motives for it — then I cannot understand how you can judge yourselves to be spiritually minded.
If any therefore say they would abound more in spiritual thoughts, only they don't know what to fix them on, I propose this in the first place, as that which will lead them to the due performance of their present duties.
2. The special trials and temptations of men call for the exercise of their thoughts in a peculiar manner with respect to them. If a man
has a bodily disease, pain, or distemper, it will cause him to think much about it whether he wills it or not, at least, if he is wise he will so do. Nor will he always complain about the smart; rather, he will inquire into the causes, and seek their removal. Yet are there some distempers, such as lethargies, which in their own nature take away all sense and thoughts of themselves; and some have a slow, secret progress, such as hectic fevers, that they are not taken notice of — but both these are mortal. And will men be more negligent about the spiritual distempers of their souls, as to let temptations multiply
(which are the cause of all spiritual diseases), and take no thought about them? Isn't it to be feared that where this is so, they are such that they have, in their own nature, deprived them of spiritual sense; or else by their deceitfulness, they are leading on insensibly to death eternal? Not to have our minds exercised about these things, is to be stupidly secure, Pro 23.34,35. 31
There is, I confess, some difficulty in this matter, about how to exercise our thoughts aright about our temptations. For the great way of the prevalence of temptations is by stirring up multiplied thoughts about their objects, or what they lead to. And this is done or occasioned several ways:
(1.) From the previous power of lust in the affections. This will fill the mind with thoughts. The heart will coin imaginations in compliance with it. They are the way and means by which lust draws the heart away from duty, and entices to sin, Jas 1.14; they are at least the means by which men come to have "eyes full of adultery," 2Pet 2.14, or to live in constant contemplation of the pleasures of sin.
(2.) They arise and are occasioned by renewed representations of the object of sin. And this is twofold:
[1.] That which is real, as Achan saw the wedge of gold and coveted it, Jos 7.21; Pro 23.31.32 Against this is the prayer of the psalmist, "Turn my eyes away from beholding vanity;" Psa 119.37 and the covenant of Job, chapter 31.1.33
[2.] And that which is imaginary, when the imagination is tainted or infected by lust, and continually represents the pleasure
of sin and the actings of it to the mind. In this, men "make provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts," Rom 13.14.
(3.) From the suggestions of Satan, who uses all his wiles and artifices to stir up thoughts about that sin to which the temptation leads. And temptation seldom fails to attain its end, when it can stir up a multitude of unprofitable thoughts about its object. For when temptations multiply thoughts about sin, which proceed from some or all of these causes, and the mind has made a habit of entertaining them, those in whom they exist, lack nothing but opportunities and occasions, removing the power of outward restraints, for the commission of actual sin. When men have so devised mischief, "they practice it" when it is "in the power of their hand," Mic 2.1. It is not safe to advise such persons to have many thoughts about their temptations; these will all turn to their disadvantage.
I speak only to those to whom their temptations are their affliction and their burden. And such persons also must be very careful how they allow their thoughts to be exercised about the matter of their temptation, lest it become a snare and be too hard for them. Men may begin their thoughts of any object with abhorrence and detestation; and if it is a case of temptation, they will end them in complacency and approval. The deceitfulness of sin lays hold of something or other, that lust in the mind stays upon with delight; and so it corrupts the whole frame of spirit which began the duty.
There have been instances in which persons have entered with a resolution to punish sin, and have been ensnared by the occasion, to commit the sin they thought to punish. That's why it is seldom that the mind of anyone who is exercised with an actual temptation, is able to safely conflict with it, if it entertains abiding thoughts about the matter of that sin, or of the sin to which it leads. For sin has a thousand noxious arts. 34 It is able to transfuse its poison into the affections, from everything it once made into bait, especially if it has already defiled the mind with pleasing contemplations of it. Yes, oftentimes a man has some spiritual strength, and engages it to perform his duties. But if in the midst of them, the matter of his temptation is so presented to him as to take hold of his thoughts, then in a moment, as if he had seen (as they say) Medusa's head, he is turned to stone. His spirits are all frozen; his strength is gone; all
actings of grace cease; his armor falls from him; and he surrenders himself, a prey to his temptation. Only a new supply of grace can give him any deliverance. That's why, while persons are exercised by any temptation, I advise them not to converse in their thoughts about the matter of that sin; for sometimes remembrances of the former satisfaction of their lusts, surprises them with its susceptibility to a corruption that is not yet mortified; sometimes the craft of Satan, by fixing their imagination on it, makes it too hard for them, and leads them to yield again to that sin which they would be delivered from.
But this season calls in a special way, for the exercise of the thoughts of men about the ways and means of deliverance from the snare in which they are caught, or the danger they find themselves exposed to. Think of the guilt of sin, so that you may be humbled. Think of the power of sin, so that you may seek strength against it. Don't think of the matter of sin, the things in the world that are suited to "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," 1Joh
2.16 lest you become more and more entangled. Rather, the present direction is to think much about the ways of relief from the power of your own temptation leading you to sin. But unless men are spiritually minded, they are very loath to come to this. I'm not speaking of those who love their shackles, glory in their yoke, and like their temptations well enough — those who give the most satisfactory entertainment to their minds. Such men don't well know what to do, unless it is to converse in their minds with the objects of their lusts, and continually multiply their thoughts about them. The apostle calls it "making provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." Rom
13.14 Their principal trouble is that they cannot fully yield to them, because of some outward restraints. They dwell near those fools who mock sin; and before long, they take up residence among them.
But I speak, as I said before, only of those whose temptations are their afflictions, and who groan for deliverance from them. We acquaint such persons with the great, indeed, the only way of relief in this distress, as it is expressed in Heb 2.17,18, "He is a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God; for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor those who are tempted;" and Heb 4.15,16, "We don't have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin; let us therefore come boldly to
the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Let them know that the only way for their deliverance is by acting faith in thoughts of Christ, in his power to comfort those who are tempted. Use the ways by which he administers a sufficient grace to that end; retreat to him for relief upon the urgings of temptations. But they can hardly be brought to yield to that. For they are ready to say, like the leper Naaman, "'Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?' 2Kng 5.12 Isn't it better to turn to ourselves, and to trust our own promises, resolutions, and endeavors, with such other ways of escape as are in our own power?" I will say nothing against any of these in their proper place, so far as they are warranted by Scripture rule. But this I say: none will ever be delivered from perplexing temptations, to the glory of God and their own spiritual advantage, except by acting and exercising faith in Christ Jesus, and the sufficiency of his grace for our deliverance: But when men are not spiritually minded, they cannot fix their thoughts on spiritual things. Therefore, men pine away daily under their temptations; they are ground upon them, until their breach grows great like the sea, and there is no healing it.
I mention this only to show the weight and necessity of the duty proposed. For when men who are under the power of conviction are pressed with temptation, they will do anything rather than resort to the only efficacious relief. Some groan and cry out under their vexation from the torture they are put into, in the conflict between their temptations and their convictions; some resort to the pretended relief that any false religion offers. But to apply themselves in thoughts of faith unto Jesus Christ, whose grace alone is sufficient for all — that they will not be persuaded to.
All of us are liable to temptations. Those who are not sensible of it, are under the power of what the temptation leads to. And temptations are of two sorts: first, those that are extraordinary, when the hand of God is upon them in a peculiar manner for our rebuke. It is true, God tempts none, because temptation formally leads to sin; but He orders temptations so far as they are afflictive, and chastisements. Thus it is when He allows an especial corruption within, to fall in conjunction with an especial temptation without, to
prevail thereby. Of these, there is no doubt that any man who is not judicially hardened, may know both his disease and the remedy.
But secondly, that ordinary course of temptations with which we are exercised, needs diligent attendance for their discovery, as well as for our deliverance from them. It is to be feared that many are kept in spiritual weakness, useless, and in darkness all their days, through the power of their temptations; and yet they never know what these are or what they consist in. These "gray hairs are sprinkled on them, and yet they don't know it." Hos 7.9 Some approve themselves in the very things and ways which are their temptations. Yet in the exercise of due watchfulness, diligence, and prudence, men may know both the plague of their own hearts — in their prevailing corruptions, and the ways by which it is excited through temptation — with the occasions it makes use of, and the advantages it takes. For instance, one may be eminent in gifts, and useful or successful in his labors, which give him great acceptance with others. Such a person could hardly avoid a double temptation — First, the temptation of spiritual pride and self-exaltation. Hence the apostle will not admit "a novice" into the office of the ministry — one who is inexperienced in the ways of grace and the deceits of sin, lest he be "lifted up with pride," and "fall into the condemnation of the devil," 1Tim 3.6. He was not himself without danger of this, 2Cor
12.1-7.35 The best of men can hardly fortify their minds against the secret workings of pride upon successes and applause, unless they keep constantly balanced with thoughts of their own vileness in the sight of God.
And secondly, the temptation to be remiss as to strict and universal mortification in themselves, which they countenance by their acceptance and success above others in the ministry. It would be much desired that all ministers be careful in these things; for although some of us may not much please others, yet we may so far please ourselves as to expose our souls to these snares. And the effects of negligence in this, openly appear to the disadvantage of the gospel. Others are familiar with the world and its affairs. Negligence as to a spiritual watch, vanity in conduct, love of earthly things, with conformity to the world, will on all occasions impose themselves upon them. If they don't understand their temptations in these,
spiritual mindedness will be continually impaired in them. Those who are rich have their especial temptations, which for the most part are many, plausible, and effectual; and those who are poor have theirs also. The snares of some lie in their constitutions; of others, in their society; and of most, in the various circumstances of life.
Those who are on watch in any due measure, who exercise any wisdom or observation concerning themselves, may know where their temptations lie, and what are the advantages by which they perplex their minds and endanger their souls.
In such cases generally, men are taught the ways and means of their deliverance and preservation. To this end, there are three things required for this duty, and spiritual wisdom for them all:
(1.) To know the especial temptations from which you suffer, and by which the life of God is obstructed in you. If this is neglected, if it is disregarded, no man can maintain either life or peace, nor is he spiritually minded.
(2.) To know your remedy, your relief, in which alone it consists.
Many duties are required of us to this end, and are useful for it; but know assuredly that no one of them, not even all of them in conjunction, will bring in relief, to the glory of God and your own peace, without application by faith, to Him who "is able to succor those who are tempted." Heb 2.18
(3.) In this lies your great duty with respect to your temptations: namely, in a constant exercise of your thoughts on the love, care, compassion, and tenderness of Christ, with his ability to help, succor, and save those who believe, so as to strengthen your faith and trust in him; this will assuredly prove successful and victorious.
The same duty is incumbent on us with respect to any urgent prevalent general temptation. There are seasons in which an hour of temptation comes on the earth, to try those who dwell in it. What if a man judged that now is such an hour, and that the power of darkness is growing in it? What if he were persuaded that a general security, coldness, deadness, and decay in grace — especially as to the vigorous actings of zeal, love, and delight in God — with an indifference to holy duties, are the effects of this hour of temptation?
I don't say determinately that it is so; let others judge as they see cause. But if anyone does so judge, undoubtedly it is his duty to be
exercised in his thoughts about how he may escape in this day of trial, and be counted worthy to stand before the Son of man. He will find it his concern to be conversant in his mind with the reasons and motives for watchfulness, and how he may obtain supplies of grace, that may effectually preserve him from such decays.
3. All things in religion, both in faith and practice, are to be the objects of such thoughts. As they are proposed or occur in our minds in great variety, and on all sorts of occasions, so we ought to entertain them in our meditations. To hear things, to have them proposed to us, may be in the way of a divine ordinance; and to let them slip out, or flow from us like water poured into a leaking vessel, is the ruin of many souls. I will therefore select some instances, as proposed before, concerning those things which I judge ought to abide and abound in the thoughts of those who would be spiritually minded.
It is our duty greatly to mind the things that are above, eternal things, both as to their reality, their present state, and our future enjoyment of them. In this consists the life of this grace and duty. To be heavenly minded — that is, to mind the things of heaven — and to be spiritually minded, is all one. Or being heavenly minded is the effect of being spiritually minded, as to its origin and essence, or as to its first proper actings. Being spiritually minded is the cause of being heavenly minded, as to its growth and degrees, and it is the evidence of it in experience. Nor do I understand how it is possible for a man to place his chief interest in things above, and not have many thoughts of them. It is the great advice of the apostle, on a supposition of our interest in Christ and conformity to him, Col 3.1,2,
"If you then are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on" — or your thoughts on, mind greatly — "things above." It becomes those who, through the virtue of the resurrection of Christ, are raised to newness of life, to have their thoughts exercised on the state of things above, with respect to the presence of Christ among them. And he instructs us in the singular use of our looking into these things, or our meditations on them:
2Cor 4.16-18, "For which cause we do not faint; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."
Not to faint under the daily decays of our outward man, and the approaches of death thereby, to bear afflictions as things that are light and momentary, to thrive under all in the inward man, are unspeakable mercies and privileges. Can you attain a better frame? Is there anything that you would more desire, if you are believers? Isn't it better to have such a mind in us than to enjoy all the peace and security that the world can afford? One principal means by which we are made partakers of these things, is a due meditation on things that are unseen and eternal. These are the things that are within the veil, on which we ought to cast the anchor of our hope in all the storms we meet with, Heb 6.19,20. We will speak more of this afterward.
Without a doubt, most Christians are greatly defective in this duty, partly for lack of light into them, partly for lack of delight in them; they think little of an eternal country. Wherever men are, they don't usually neglect thoughts of that country in which their inheritance lies. If they are absent from it for a season, they will yet labor to acquaint themselves with the principal concerns of it. But this heavenly country, Heb 11.16 in which our eternal inheritance lies, is not regarded. Men don't exercise themselves as they should with thoughts of eternal and invisible things. It would be impossible if they did so, for their minds to be so earthly, and for their affections to cling as they do to present things. Someone who looks steadily at the sun, although he cannot fully bear the brightness of its beams, yet his sight is so affected by it that when he takes his eyes off it, he can see nothing of the things about him; they are all dark to him.
And someone who looks steadily in his contemplations on things above, eternal things, though he cannot comprehend their glory, yet a veil will be cast by it on all the desirable beauties of earthly things, and take his affections away from them.
Men live and act under the power of a conviction that there is a state of immortality and glory to come. With a persuasion of this, they are greatly relieved in their sorrows, sufferings, and temptations; yet with many, it is only a reserve when they can be here no longer. But as to a daily contemplation of the nature and causes of it, or as to any
entrance into it by faith and hope, most are strangers to it. If we are spiritually minded, nothing will be more natural to us than to have many thoughts of eternal things, as those in which all our own principal concerns lie, as well as those which are excellent and glorious in themselves. The direction from this, is that we would make heavenly things (the things of the future state of blessedness and glory) a principal object of our thoughts, that we would think much about them, and that we would meditate much upon them.
Many are discouraged in this by their ignorance and darkness, by their lack of due conceptions and steady apprehensions of invisible things. Hence, one of two things befalls them when they would meditate on things above:
1. The glory of them, the glory of God in them, being essentially infinite and incomprehensible, immediately overwhelms them, and as if in a moment, puts them to an utter loss, so that they cannot frame one thought in their minds about them. Or,
2. They want skill and ability to conceive rightly about invisible things, and to dispose of them in such an order in their minds, that they may sedately exercise their thoughts about them. Both these shall be spoken to afterward. At present I will only say, that —
Whoever sincerely engages in this duty according to what he has, and abides constant in it, will make such a refreshing progress in his apprehension of heavenly things, that he will be greatly satisfied with it. We are kept in darkness, ignorance, and unsteadiness of meditations about them, not from the nature of the things themselves, but from our own sloth, negligence, and readiness to be turned aside by apprehensions of difficulties, of the lion in the way.
Therefore I will consider two things:
(1.) What the principal motives are to this duty of fixing our thoughts on the things that are above, and the advantages which we receive by doing so.
(2.) Give some directions how, and on what in particular we may exercise our thoughts on those things above [which will be covered in chapter 6].
(1.) Principal motives:
[1.] Faith will be increased and strengthened by it. Invisible things are the proper objects of faith. It is "the evidence of things not seen," Heb 11.1. Therefore, in our thoughts of them, faith is in its proper exercise, which is the principal means of its growth and increase. And two things will ensue from this:
1st. The soul will come to a more satisfactory, abiding sense of their reality. Things of the imagination, which maintain their value by darkness, will not bear a diligent search into them. They lose of their reputation on every serious inquiry. If rational men would but give themselves the liberty of free examination by their own thoughts, it would quickly cashier the fool's paradise of Mohammed, the purgatory of the Papists, and all such creatures of imagination and superstition. But where things are real and substantial, the more they are inquired into, the more they evidence their being and subsistence. Therefore, it's not every profession of a faith of a future state of blessedness that will realize it in our minds; for the most part, it is a notion that men have of heavenly things which they don't contradict, rather than any solid satisfaction in, or spiritual sense of their reality.
For these are things that "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor will enter into the heart of man to conceive," 2Cor 2.9 whose existence, nature, and real state, are not easily comprehended.
But through the continual exercise of holy thoughts about them, the soul obtains an entrance into the midst of them, finding in them both durable substance and riches. There is no way, therefore, to strengthen faith to any degree except by a daily contemplation of the things themselves. Those who don't think of them frequently will never believe them sincerely. They don't allow for any collateral evidence, where they don't evidence themselves to our souls. Faith thus exercised, as we said, will give them a subsistence — not in themselves, which they have antecedent to this, but in us, in our hearts, in the minds of those who believe. Imagination creates its own object; faith finds it prepared beforehand. It will not leave a bare notion of them in the understanding, but give them a spiritual subsistence in the heart, as Christ himself dwells in our hearts by faith. There are two things that will reveal this subsistence of them in us:
(1st.) When we find them continually ready to rise up in our minds on all occasions in which the thoughts and remembrance of them are needful and useful to us. There are many seasons (some of which will be immediately spoken to) and many duties, in which and to which the faith and thoughts of things invisible and eternal are needful for us, such that without them, we cannot fill up those seasons nor perform those duties in a due manner. If on all such occasions, from the inward frame of our minds, they present themselves to us, or, through our acquaintance and familiarity with them, and we recur in our thoughts to them, then they seem to have a real subsistence given to them in our souls. But if on those occasions in which such thoughts alone will yield us help and relief, we instead accustom ourselves to other thoughts, if those concerning them are, as it were, out of the way, and don't arise in our minds of their own accord, then we are yet strangers to this effect of faith.
(2dly.) They are realized for us, they have a subsistence in us, when the soul continually longs to be in them. When they have given such a relish to our hearts, as the first fruits of glory, that we cannot help but desire on all opportune occasions to be in the full enjoyment of them, then faith seems to have had its effectual work upon us. For lack of these things, many among us walk in disconsolation all their days.
2dly. It will gradually give the heart an acquaintance with the especial nature and use of these things. General thoughts and notions of heaven and glory fluctuate up and down in the mind, and very little influence the mind to other duties; but assiduous contemplation will give the mind such distinct apprehensions of heavenly things, as to duly affect it with their glory.
The more we discern of the glory and excellence of them in their own nature — of their suitableness to ours, as our only proper rest and blessedness; as the perfection and complement of what has already begun in us by grace; of the restless tendency of all gracious dispositions and inclinations of our hearts towards their enjoyment — the more faith will be established in its clinging to them. So, in the contemplation of these things consists the principal food of faith, by which it is nourished and
strengthened. And we are not to expect much work where there is no provision of proper food for those who labor. No wonder we find our faith is faint and weak in the work it has to do (which oftentimes is great and weighty), if we neglect to guide it daily to that which would administer strength to it.
[2.] It will give life and exercise to the grace of hope. Hope is a glorious grace, to which blessed effects are ascribed in the Scripture; and it is an effectual operation for the support and consolation of believers. By hope we are purified, sanctified, and saved. And to sum up the whole of its excellency and efficacy, it is a principal way of the working of Christ as inhabiting us: Col 1.27,
"Christ in you, the hope of glory." Where Christ evidences his presence with us, he gives us an infallible hope of glory; he gives us an assured pledge of it, and works our souls into an expectation of it. Hope in general is but an uncertain expectation of a future good which we desire; but as it is a gospel grace, all uncertainty is removed from it, which would keep us from the advantage intended in it. It is an earnest expectation proceeding from faith, trust, and confidence, accompanied with longing desires of enjoyment. It is from mistaking its nature that few Christians labor after it, exercise themselves toward it, or have the benefit of it. For they suppose that to live by hope infers a state not only beneath the life of faith and all assurance in believing, but also exclusive of them. They think that hoping to be saved, is a condition of men who have no grounds for faith or assurance; but this is to turn a blessed fruit of the Spirit into a common affection of our nature. Gospel hope is a fruit of faith, trust, and confidence; indeed, the height of the actings of all grace, issues in a wellgrounded hope; nor can it rise any higher, Rom 5.2-5. 36
Now, the reason why men have no more use of, and no more benefit by this excellent grace, is because they don't abide in thoughts and contemplation of the things that are hoped for. The especial object of hope is eternal glory, Col 1.27; Rom 5.2. The peculiar use of it is to support, comfort, and refresh the soul in all trials, under all weariness and despondencies, with a firm expectation of a speedy entrance into that glory, with an earnest desire for it. That's why, unless we acquaint ourselves by continual meditation, with the reality and nature of this glory, it is
impossible for it to be the object of a vigorous, active hope, such as the one by which the apostle says, "we are saved." Rom 8.24 Without this [hope of glory], we can have neither that evidence of eternal things, nor that valuation of them, nor that preparedness in our minds for them, that would keep us in the exercise of gracious hope about them.
Suppose various persons engaged in a voyage to a most remote country, in which all of them apprehend they will have a place of rest, and an inheritance provided for them. Under this apprehension they all set upon their voyage, to possess what is so prepared. However, some of them have only a general notion of these things; they know nothing specific concerning them, and they are so busy about other affairs, that they have no leisure to inquire into these things; nor do they suppose they can come to any satisfactory knowledge of them in particular, and so they are content to go on with general hopes and expectations. There are others who by all possible means acquaint themselves particularly with the nature of the climate where they are going, with the excellency of the inheritance and the provision that is made for them. Their voyage proves long and wearisome, their difficulties many, and their dangers great, and they have nothing to relieve and encourage themselves with but the hope and expectation of the country where they are going. Those of the first sort will be apt to despond and faint; their general hopes will not be able to relieve them. But those who have a distinct notion and apprehension of the state of things where they are going, and of their incomparable excellency, always have something ready with which to cheer their minds and support themselves.
In that journey or pilgrimage in which we are engaged towards a heavenly country, we are sure to meet with all kinds of dangers, difficulties, and perils. It is not a general notion of blessedness that will excite and work a spiritual, refreshing hope in us. But when we think and meditate on future glory as we should, that grace which is neglected for the most part as to its benefit, and dead as to its exercise, will of all others be most vigorous and active, displaying itself on all occasions. Therefore, for those who are really spiritually minded, this is an inestimable benefit of the duty they are exhorted to, and which they find the advantage of.
[3.] This alone will make us ready for the cross, for all sorts of sufferings that we may be exposed to.
There is nothing more necessary for believers at this time, than to have their minds furnished with provision of those things which may prepare them for the cross and sufferings. Various intimations of the mind of God, circumstances of providence, the present state of things in the world, with the instant peril of the latter days — all call them to this. If it is otherwise with them, they will at one time or other be woefully surprised, and think their trials strange, as if some strange thing befell them.1Pet 4.12 Nothing is more useful to this end than constant thoughts and contemplations of eternal things and future glory. From this alone can the soul have in readiness something to lay in the balance against all sorts of sufferings. When a storm arises at sea, the mariners rouse themselves to manage the ship's tackle, and make other applications of their craft for their safety; but if the storm increases and becomes extreme, they're forced to forego all other means and resort to a sheet-anchor 37 to hold their ship steady against its violence. So too, when a storm of persecution and troubles arise, men have various ways and considerations for their relief; but once it becomes extreme — if sword, nakedness, famine, and death are inevitably coming upon them — they have nothing to resort to that will yield solid relief, but the consideration and faith of things invisible and eternal.
The apostle declares such a state of things in 2Cor 4.16-18 (the words insisted on before):
"For which cause we do not faint; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."
He lays all sorts of afflictions in one scale, and upon considering them, he declares them to be "light" and "but for a moment." Then he lays glory in the other scale, and finds it to be ponderous, weighty, and "eternal," — "an exceeding weight of glory." In the
one is sorrow for a little while, in the other eternal joy; in the one is pain for a few moments, in the other everlasting rest; in the one is the loss of a few temporary things, in the other the full fruition of God in Christ, who is all in all.
Hence, the same apostle tosses up the account of these things, and gives us his judgment about them in Rom 8.18: "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." There's no comparison between them, as if one had as much evil and misery in it, as the other had of good and blessedness; as though his state were in any way be complained of, if he must undergo the one, while having an interest in the other; or as though by escaping the one, he risks the enjoyment of the other.
It is inseparable from our nature to have a fear of and aversion to great, distressing sufferings that are above the power of nature to bear. Even our Lord Jesus, having taken on himself all the sinless properties of our nature, had a fear and aversion, though holy and gracious, with respect to his own suffering. Those who, through stoutheartedness, contemn sufferings before their approach, boasting about their ability to undergo them, censuring those who will not unadvisedly engage in them, are those who seldom glorify
God when they are really called to confront them. Peter alone trusted to himself that he would not forsake his Master; and he seemed to take the warning badly, saying that they should all do so; yet he alone denied Him. All church stories are filled with such instances of having borne themselves high before the approach of trials, then shamefully miscarrying when their own trials have come. That's why we are allowed to use all lawful means for avoiding them. Both rules and examples from the Scripture give sufficient warranty for it.
But there are times and seasons in which, without any equivocation, they are to be undergone to the glory of God and in the discharge of our duty, confessing Christ before men, as we would be owned by him before his Father in heaven. All things now call us to prepare for such a season, to be martyrs in resolution, even if we never really lose our lives by violence.
Nothing will give us this preparation except to have our minds exercised in the contemplation of heavenly things, of things that
are invisible and eternal. Whoever is thus spiritually minded, who has his thoughts and affections set on things above, will always have something in readiness, to oppose to any circumstance of his sufferings.
Those views which someone has had by faith, of the uncreated glories above, of the things in heavenly places where Christ sits at the right hand of God, of the glory within the veil, views which have been realized and made present to his soul, will now visit him every moment, abide with him continually, and put forth their efficacy for his support and refreshment. Alas! what will become of many of us who are continually grovelling on the earth, whose bellies cling to the dust, who are strangers to thoughts of heavenly things, when distressing troubles befall us? Why should we think that refreshing thoughts of things above will then visit our souls, when we resisted their admittance in days of peace?
"Do you come to me in your distress," asks Jephthah, "when in the time of your peace you drove me from you?" Jdg 11.7 When we would thus think of heavenly things to our refreshment, we will hardly get them to abide with us. I know God can come in by the mighty power of his Spirit and grace, to support and comfort the souls of those who are called and even surprised into the greatest of sufferings. Yet I also know that it is our duty not to tempt Him by neglecting the ways and means which he has appointed for communicating his grace to us.
Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, as "the author and finisher of our faith, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame," Heb 12.2. His mediatory glory in the salvation of the church was the matter of the joy set before him.
For his refreshment and support, he took the view and prospect of this in all his sufferings. And his example, as "the author and finisher of our faith," is more efficaciously instructive than any other rule or precept. Eternal glory is set before us also. It is the design of God's wisdom and grace that by contemplating it, we might be relieved in all our suffering; indeed, that we might rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.1Pet 1.8 How many of those blessed souls now in the enjoyment of God and glory, who passed through fiery trials and great tribulations, were enabled to sing and rejoice in the flames by pre-possession of this glory in
their minds through believing! Indeed, some of them have been so filled with these views as to take off all sense of pain under the most exquisite tortures. When Stephen was to be stoned, to encourage him in his suffering, and comfort him in it, "the heavens were opened, and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God." Act 7.55 Who can conceive what contempt of all the rage and madness of the Jews, what a neglect of all the pains of death, this view raised his holy soul to? Therefore, to frequently obtain such views by faith, as those believers do who are truly spiritually minded, is the most effectual way to encourage us unto all our sufferings. The apostle gives us the force of this encouragement in a comparison with earthly things:
1Cor 9:25, "Every man who strives for mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we do it for an incorruptible crown."
When a corruptible crown of vain honor and applause is offered to men, they will do and endure all that is needed to attain it, and to be relieved in their hardships with thoughts and imaginations of attaining it, grounded on uncertain hopes. Shouldn't we, then, who have an immortal and invisible crown offered to us, with the highest assurance of enjoying it, cheerfully undergo, endure, and suffer what we are to go through on the way to receiving it?
[4.] The most effectual means to wean the heart and affections from things here below, is to keep the mind to an undervaluation, indeed, a contempt of these things, as occasion requires. For there is a season in which there is such a contempt required in us of all relations and enjoyments, that our Savior calls it "hating" them — not absolutely, but comparatively — in comparison to him and the gospel, with the duties which belong to our profession. Luk 14.26,
"If any man comes to me, and does not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."
Some, I fear, if they only considered it, would be apt to say, "This is a hard saying, who can bear it?" and others would cry out, with the disciples in another case, "Lord, who then can be saved?" Joh
6.60 but it is the word by which we must be judged; nor can we be the disciples of Christ on any other terms. But here, in an especial
manner, lies the wound and the weakness of faith and profession in our days: "The bellies of men cling to the dust," Psa 44.25 or their affections cling to earthly things.
I'm not speaking of those who, by rapine, deceit, and oppression, strive to enrich themselves; nor of those who design nothing more than the attainment of greatness and promotion in the world, though not by ways of open wickedness; least of all of those who make religion, and perhaps their ministry in it, a means for attaining secular ends and preferments. No wise man can suppose that such persons, any of them, are spiritually minded; and it is most easy to disprove all their pretences. But I intend only those at present, whose ways and means of attaining riches are lawful, honest, and unblameable; who use them with some moderation, and profess that their portion lies in better things — so that it is hard to fasten a conviction on them in the matter of their conversation. Whatever may seem to reflect upon them, they esteem it to be an omission that would make them foolish in their affairs or negligent in their duty. But even among these, there is oftentimes that inordinate love for present things, that esteem and valuation of them, that concern in them, which is not consistent with being spiritually minded.
With some, it's their relations; with others, their enjoyments; with most, both in conjunction, are an idol which they set up in their hearts and secretly bow down to. Their hopes and fears are exercised about these, their love is upon them, their delight is in them. They are wholly taken up with their own concerns, count everything lost that is not spent on them, and all time is misspent that is not engaged about them. Yet the things which they do, they judge to be good in themselves; their hearts don't condemn them as to the matter of them. The valuation they have of their relations and enjoyments, they suppose to be lawful, within the bounds which they have assigned to it. Their care about them, in their own minds, is but their duty. It is no easy matter, it requires great spiritual wisdom, to fix right boundaries for our affections and their actings about earthly things. But let men plead and pretend what they please, I will offer one rule in this case, which will not fail, and it is this:
When men are so confident in the good state and measure of their affections and their actings towards earthly things, that they assign their engagements in them to known duties of religion, piety, and charity, they have gone into a sinful excess.
Is there a state of the poor that requires their liberality and bounty — you must excuse them, they have families to provide for; when what is expected from them signifies nothing at all as to a due provision for their families, nor is it what would lessen their inheritances or portions one penny in the result. Are they called to attend to seasons of religious duties? — they are so full of business that it's impossible for them to have leisure for any such occasions. So by all such ways, they declare that they are under the power of a prevalent, predominant affection for earthly things.
This fills all places with lifeless, sapless, useless professors, who approve themselves in their condition, while it is visibly unspiritual and withering.
The heart will have something on which, in a way of preeminence, it will fix itself and its affections. In all its perpetual motions, it seeks this for its rest and satisfaction. And every man has an edge — the edge of his affections is set one way or other, though it is keener in some than others. And whereas all sorts of things that the heart can fix upon or turn the edge of its affections to, are categorized by the apostle into "things above" and "things beneath," things heavenly and things earthly, if we don't have such a view and prospect of heavenly things as to cause our hearts to cling to them and delight in them, pretend what we will, it is impossible for us not to be under the power of a predominant affection for the things of this world.
In this lies the great danger of multitudes at this present time; for let men profess what they will, under the power of this frame, their eternal state is at risk every moment. Persons are engaged in it in a great variety of degrees; and we may put them under two heads:
1st. Some don't at all understand that things are amiss with them, or that they are greatly to blame. They plead, as observed before, that they are all lawful things which their hearts cling unto, and which it is their duty to take care of and regard. "May
they not delight in their own relations, especially at such a time, when others break and cancel all duties and bonds of relation in the service of and provision they make for their lusts? May they not be careful, in good and honest ways of diligence, about the things of the world, when the most either squander their time in the pursuit of bestial lusts, or heap them up by deceit and oppression? May they not contrive for the promotion of their children in the world, to add the other hundred or thousand pounds to their advancement, so that they may be in as good condition as others, seeing that "he is worse than an infidel who does not provide for his own family?" 1Tim 5.8 By such reasonings and secret thoughts, many justify themselves in their earthly mindedness. And they are so fixed in the approval of themselves, that if you urge them to their duty, you may lose their acquaintance, if they don't become your enemies for telling them the truth. Indeed, they avoid one duty that does not go against their earthly interest, because it leads to another — so they won't engage in religious assemblies, or be constant in their duty to them, for fear that duties of charity might be required or expected of them. On what grounds such persons can satisfy themselves that they are spiritually minded, I don't know. I will leave only one rule with persons who are thus minded:
Where our love for the world has prevailed by its reasonings, pleas, and pretenses, to remove our fear and jealousy for our own hearts lest we inordinately love the world, there it is assuredly predominant in us.
2dly. Others are sensible of the evil of their hearts, at least they are jealous and afraid lest it be found that their hearts cling inordinately to these things. Hence they endeavor to contend against this evil, sometimes by forcing themselves to such acts of piety or charity as are contrary to that frame, and sometimes by laboring for a change of the frame itself. They will especially do so when God is pleased to awaken them by trials and afflictions which write vanity and emptiness on all earthly enjoyments. But for the most part, they don't strive lawfully, and so they don't obtain what they seem to aim at.
This disease with many is mortal, and will not be thoroughly cured in any except by the due exercise of this part of spiritual
mindedness. Other duties are also required for the same end — namely, the duty of mortifying our desires and affections for earthly things — which I treated elsewhere. But without this, or a fixed contemplation on the desirableness, beauty, and glory of heavenly things, it will not be attained. To further evince the truth of this, we may observe these two things:
(1st.) If by any means a man seems to have taken his heart away from the love of present things, and he is not at the same time taken up with the love of things that are heavenly, his seeming mortification is of no advantage to him. Thus persons frequently — through discontentment, disappointments, or dissatisfaction with relations, or from mere natural weariness
— have left the world with its affairs and cares, as to their usual conduct in it, and gone to monasteries, convents, or other retirements suiting their principles, but without any advantage to their souls.
(2dly.) God is not such a severe lord and master as to require us to remove our affections, and mortify them, to those things which the law of our nature makes dear to us — such as wives, children, houses, lands, and possessions — and not propose to us something that is incomparably more excellent to fix them upon. So he invites the elect of the Gentiles to Christ: Psa 45.10,
"Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget also your own people, and your father's house;" that is,
"Come into the faith of Abraham, who forsook his country and his father's house to follow God wherever He pleased." But he proposes this for their encouragement, verse 11, "So shall the King greatly desire your beauty: for he is your Lord; and worship him." The love of the great King is an abundant satisfactory recompense for parting with all things in this world. So when Abraham's servant was sent to take Rebekah as a wife for Isaac, he required that she immediately leave her father and mother, brothers, and all enjoyments, and go along with him. But that she might know she would be no loser thereby, he not only assured her of the greatness of his master, but also at present, he gave her "jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment," Gen 24.53. Likewise, when our Savior requires that we part with all for his sake and the gospel, he
promises a hundredfold in lieu of them, even in this life — namely, in an interest in things spiritual and heavenly. That's why, without an assiduous meditation on heavenly things as better, nobler, and more suitable objects for our affections to fix on, we can never be freed in a due manner from an inordinate love of the things here below.
It is sad to see some professors who keep up spiritual duties in churches and in their families, who will speak and discourse about spiritual things, and keep themselves from the open excesses of the world — and yet, when they are tried by those duties which encroach on their love for and adherence to earthly things, they quickly manifest how remote they are from being spiritually minded in a due manner. If they were to be tried as our Savior tried the young man who made such a profession of his conscientious and religious conduct, "Go sell what you have, give to the poor, and follow me," something might be pleaded to excuse their equivocation. But alas! they would decline their duty, even when their enjoyments aren't impacted a hundredth.
I bless God that I don't speak this way of many whom I know; and I may say with the apostle, to most of those I usually speak to in this manner, "But beloved, we are persuaded of better things about you, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this way," Heb
6.9.
Yes, the same testimony may be given about many in this city, which that same apostle gives to the churches of Macedonia: 2Cor
8.1-3, Understand "the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their liberality.
For to their power, and beyond their power, they were willing to give of themselves."
There has been nothing done among us that may or can be boasted about. And yet, considering all circumstances, it may be that there have not been more instances of true, evangelical charity in any age or place for these many years. For those who have been but useful and helpful in this, may the Lord remember them for good, and spare them according to the multitude of his mercies! It is true, many of them have not founded colleges, built hospitals, or raised
works of state and magnificence; for very many of them are those whose comparatively deep poverty has abounded to the riches of their liberality. The backs and bellies of multitudes of poor and needy servants of Christ have been warmed and refreshed by them, blessing God for them. "Thanks be to God," says the apostle in this case, "for his unspeakable gift," 2Cor 9.15. Blessed be God, who has not left the gospel without this glory, nor the profession of it without this evidence of its power and efficacy! Yes, God has exalted the glory of persecutions and afflictions. For many, since they have lost much of their enjoyments by them, and been continually endangered, they have abounded in duties of charity beyond what they did in the days of their fullness and prosperity.
So, "out of the eater came meat." Jdg 14.14 If the world only knew what fruits by way of charity and bounty — to the praise of God and glory of the gospel — have been occasioned by their making many poor, it would abate their satisfaction in their successes.
But with many, it isn't so. Their minds are so full of earthly things, they so cling to them in their affections, that no sense of duty, no example of others, no concern for the glory of God or the gospel, can make any impressions on them. If there is yet in them so much life and light of grace as to design a deliverance from this woeful condition, the means insisted on must be used.
This advice is especially needed for those who are rich, who have large possessions, or abound in the goods of this world. The poor, the afflicted, the sorrowful, are prompted from their outward circumstances, as well as excited by inward grace, to frequently remember and to think about the things above. For in this lies their only reserve and relief against the trouble and urgency of their present condition. But the enjoyment of these things in abundance, is accompanied with a twofold evil, lying directly contrary to this duty:
First, a desire for increase and adding to it. Earthly enjoyments enlarge men's earthly desires, and the love of them grows with their income. A moderate stock of waters, sufficient for our use, may be kept within their ordinary banks. But if a flood pours into them, they know no bounds, but overflow everything about them. The increase of wealth and riches enlarges the desires of men for them, which go beyond all bounds of wisdom, sobriety, or safety.
Someone who labors hard for his daily bread, seldom has such earnest, vehement desires for an addition to what he has, as many others have who already have more than they know how to use, or almost what to do with. They must have more of this; the last advantage serves only to stir them up to look for another. Yet on other accounts, such men would be esteemed good Christians, and spiritually minded, as all good Christians are.
Secondly, they draw the heart to value and esteem them as those things which bring them satisfaction, and make them differ from those whom they see are poor and miserable. Now, these things are contrary to, and where they are habitually prevalent, utterly inconsistent with being spiritually minded. Nor is it possible for any who are in the least degree under their power, to ever attain deliverance unless their thoughts are fixed upon, and their minds are thereby possessed with, due apprehensions of invisible things and eternal glory.
These are a few of those many advantages which we may obtain by fixing our thoughts and meditations, and thereby our affections, on the things that are above. There are some things which make me willing to give a few directions for the practice of this duty. For whatever else we are and do, we neither are, nor can we be truly spiritually minded (on which life and peace depend) unless we really exercise our thoughts to meditate on things above. Without it, all our religion is but vain. And just as I fear men are generally lacking and defective in this practice, so I also fear that many — through the darkness of their minds, the weakness of their intellects, and their ignorance of the nature of all things unseen — seldom set themselves to contemplate them. I will therefore give a few directions in the next chapter, for the practice of this duty.