is appealed to in all cases; all their measures are taken from thence; that only is called good, which to their sensual imagination, tinctured by the earthliness and carnality of their hearts, appears so; that evil, which the same principle pronounces to be so. According hereto is the whole bent and inclination of their souls, and they are only influenced and governed by the powers of this sensible world. The things of the world to come have no power with them; no motives from thence signify anything. They are only steered, in their whole course, by the apprehension of advantages or disadvantages, in reference to their present secular concerns. They love this world and the things of this world, mind earthly things, and are not startled, when they are so plainly told, that men of this character have not the love of the Father in them, and are enemies to the cross of Christ, and that their end will be destruction. It is a death to them to think of dying; not from the fear of what may ensue, they have atheism enough to stifle such fear,-but from the love of their earthly stations and that vile earthly body, in which they dwell. But how delightful a thing is the change, which this rectifying communication makes! How pleasant, to live in this world as a pilgrim and stranger, seeking still the better the heavenly country, to behold the various enticements, here offered to view, without inclination towards them, the frightful aspect of things without commotion. Is not this delectable, to dwell apart - from this world in the midst of it,-in the secret place of the Most High, a under his pavilion, as one of his hidden ones, withdrawn from the communion of this world to his own communion,b-so severed from this world, as not to partake of its spirit but of another, a greater and more mighty, as well as a purer and more holy spirit, "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world;" and again, "We have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things, which are freely given us of God." The divine spirit disposes the soul to these things, and unites it with them, when it disinclines and disjoins it from this world and the things thereof; and thereby discovers this soul to be quite of another community from that of this world, namely, of a heavenly community. What matter of joy and glorying is it, when one is crucified to this world, and this world to him!e the cross is itself rendered amiable and a thing to be gloried in, on account of the design and end of that tragedy which was acted thereon, within which design this happy effect is included. We elsewhere find the Apostle expressing his vehement desire to "know Christ and the power of his resurrection," f and "the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death." But what did he lastly aim at in this? the next words more fully speak out the power of his resurrection to be a Ps. xci. 1. b Ps. xxvii. 4. e Gal. vi. 14. c 1 John iv. 4. d 1 Cor. ii. 12. the thing chiefly in his eye, and that he desired the fellowship of his sufferings as a means to that end, though it seemed a sharp and painful means; "if by any means I might attain the resurrection of the dead;"" as if he had said, I care not what I undergo, not the sufferings even of a painful crucifixion itself, or that my worldly earthly self do suffer conformably to the sufferings of my crucified Lord, I care not by what severe method the thing be brought about,-if by any means it may be brought about,-that I may know the power of his resurrection so feelingly, as to attain also the resurrection of the dead. And what was that? no doubt to attain a state (which he confesses he had not yet perfectly attained, but was in pursuit of) suitable to his relation and union with a risen Jesus. Union with him supposes a rising with him; "If ye then be risen with Christ;" it is taken as a thing granted, that they who are his are risen with him. And what state and temper of spirit would be suitable to that supposition? the next words shew, "seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on the things above, not on the things on the earth." Then follows the method, in which they were brought to the capacity of doing so; "for ye are dead." Their professed relation to Christ supposed them risen, and therefore first supposed them dead. Now, if they would do suitably to what their profession a Phil. iii. 11. b b Col. i. 3. imported, this it was they had to do; to abstract their minds and hearts from the things of this earth, and place them upon the things of a higher region, and (as it is afterwards expressed in this same context, which we were considering before) to have our conversation (or citizenship) in heaven, whence we look for the Saviour, &c. ; that is, as our chief interests and privileges are above, to have our thoughts and the powers of our souls chiefly exercised upon that blessed and glorious state, which state is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus: it being the scope and import of his call to us, and the very design of his sufferings on the cross, to draw up a people from earth to heaven; whence, therefore, they that under this call still mind earthly things, are said to be enemies to the cross of Christ. And it was because he was so willing to comply with the design of the cross, that he made no difficulty to endure all the hardship of it, in order to attain this glorious fruit which he reckoned should accrue from it,even more of a raised heavenly mind. Hence it was, that we find him groaning, as one under a heavy weight, to be clothed upon with the heavenly house, and to have mortality swallowed up of life, because God had "wrought him to this self-same thing." So bent and determined his spirit was towards the blessedness of the future state, that, although he could bear patiently d C a Phil. iii. 20. the delay, he could not but desire most earnestly to be there. We see how the temper of the primitive Christians was as to this and the other world, in those days when the spirit was plentifully poured out. They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing they had in heaven a far better and an enduring substance.a Heaven signified much with them, and this world very little. They looked not to the things that were seen and temporal, but to the things unseen and eternal. They lived as pilgrims and strangers on earth, despised its pleasures riches and honours, endured all manner of hardships and tortures, not accepting deliverance, because they were taken up in the pursuit of the better country, had respect to the recompense of reward, and expected a part in the better resurrection. It is a delightful thing to the spirit of a man, when he is sensibly disentangled and at liberty from the cares, desires, griefs, and fears, that were wont to enwrap his heart,-when he finds the bonds and snares loosed, which bound him down to this earth, and feels himself moving upwards, out of that darkness and death that possessed his soul, into that upper region of light, purity, and peace, to which his spirit is still gradually more and more connaturalized day by day, when heaven, in respect of its pure holiness and calm serenity, its rest and blessedness, is now grown familiar to him, and his very element. 2 Cor. iv. 18. a Heb. x. 34. b |