PART II. CHAPTER XI. The seat of spiritual mindedness in the affections. The nature and use of them. The ways and means used by God himself to call the affections of men from the world. IN the account given at the commencement of this discourse, of what it is to be spiritually minded, it was reduced to three heads: I. The habitual frame, disposition, and inclination of the mind, in its affections. II. The usual exercise of the mind, in its thoughts, meditations, and desires, about heavenly things. III. The complacency of mind in that relish and savour which it finds in spiritual things, so thought and meditated on. The second of these has hitherto alone been illustrated, as that which leads the way to the others, and gives the most sensible evidence of the state inquired after. Therein consists the stream, which, rising in the fountain of our affections, runs into a holy rest and complacency of mind. The first and last I shall now handle together, and therein comprehend the account of what it is to be spiritually minded. "Spiritual affections, whereby the soul adheres to spiritual things, taking in such a savour and relish of them, as that in which it finds rest and satisfaction, is the peculiar spring and substance of our being spiritually minded." This is what I shall now farther ex plain and confirm. The great contest of heaven and earth, is about the affections of the poor worm, which we call man. That the world should contend for them, is no wonder. It is the best it can pretend to. Things here below are capable of no higher ambition, than to be possessed of the affections of men. And as they lie under the curse, it can do us no greater mischief, than by prevailing in this design. But that the holy God should, as it were, engage in the contest, and strive for the affections of man, is an effect of infinite condescension and grace. This he doth expressly: "My son," saith he, "give me thine heart." It is our affections he asketh for, and comparatively nothing else; and he will accept of nothing from us without them. The most fat and costly sacrifice will not be accepted, if it be without a heart. All the ways and methods of the dispensation of his will, by his word; all the designs of his effectual grace, are suited to, and prepared for this end; namely, to recover the affections of man unto himself. So he expresses himself concerning his word: "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love, and to serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul?" And as to the word of his grace, he declares it to the same purpose: "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul." And, on the other hand, all the artifices of the world, all the paint it puts on its face, all the great promises it makes, all the false appearances and attires with which it clothes itself, by the help of Satan, have no other end, but to draw and keep the affections of men to itself. And if the world be preferred before God, in this contest for our affections, we shall justly perish with the world to eternity, and be rejected by him whom we have rejected, Prov. i. 24, 25, 31. Our affections are our all. They are all we have to give or bestow; the only power of our souls, whereby we may give away ourselves from ourselves, and become another's. Other faculties of our souls, even the most noble of them, are suited to receive to our own advantage; by our affections we can give away what we are and have. Hereby we give our hearts to God, as he requireth. To whom we give our affections, we give our all, ourselves, and all that we have; and to whom we give them not, whatever we give, we give nothing at all. Whatever is good, valuable, or praise-worthy in what we do for others, proceeds from the affections with which we do it. To do any thing for others, without an animating affection, is but a contempt of them, for we judge them really unworthy that we should do any thing for them. To give to the poor from their importunity, without pity or compassion; to supply the wants of saints, without love and kind. ness, with other duties of the like nature, are things of no value, things that recommend us neither to God nor men. It is so in general with God and the world. Whatever we do in the service of God, whatever duty we perform on his command, whatever we undergo or suffer for his name's sake, if it proceed not from the cleaving of our souls to him by our affections, it is despised by him, he owns us not. "As if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned." It is not to be bought nor purchased with riches. So, if a man would give to God all the substance of his house without love, it would in like manner be despised. And however, on the other hand, we may be diligent, industrious, and sedulous about the things of this world, yet, if it have not our affections, we are not of the world, we belong not to it. They are the seat of all sincerity, which is the jewel of divine and human conversation, the life and soul of every thing that is good and praiseworthy: |