The Grace and Duty of being Spiritually Minded

2. There are those of whom also it may be said that "God is not in all their thoughts," though they acknowledge his essence and being; for they are not practically influenced in any thing by the notions they have of him. Such is the person of whom this is affirmed, Psalm 10:4. He is one who, through pride and profligacy, with hardness in sin, regards not God in the rule of the world, verses 4,5,11,13. Such is the world filled withal at this day, as they are described, Titus 1:16,

"They profess that they know God, but in works deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate."
They think, they live, they act in all things as if there were no God, at least as if they never thought of him with fear and reverence. And, for the most part, we need not seek far for evidences of their disregard of God,
— the "pride of their countenances testifies against them," Psalm 10:4; and if they are followed farther, cursed oaths, licentiousness of life, and hatred of all that is good, will confirm and evidence the same. Such as these may own God in words, may be afraid of him in dangers, may attend outwardly on his worship; but they think not of God at all in a due manner, — "he is not in all their thoughts."

3. There are yet less degrees of this disregard of God and forgetfulness of him. Some are so filled with thoughts of the world and the occasions of life that it is impossible they should think of God as they ought;
for as the love of God and the love of the world in prevalent degrees are inconsistent, (for if a man love this world, how dwelleth the love of God in him?) so thoughts of God and of the world in the like degree are inconsistent.

This is the state of many, who yet would be esteemed spiritually minded: They are continually conversant in their minds about earthly things.

Some things impose themselves on them under the notion of duty; they belong unto their callings, they must be attended unto. Some are suggested unto their minds from daily occasions and occurrences. Common converse in the world engageth men into no other but worldly thoughts. Love and desire of earthly things, their enjoyment and increase, exhaust the vigor of their spirits all the day long. In the midst of a multitude of thoughts, arising from these and the like occasions, whilst their hearts and heads are reeking with the steam of them, many fall immediately in their seasons unto the performance of holy duties. Those times must suffice for thoughts of God.
But notwithstanding such duties, what through the want of a due preparation for them, what through the fullness of their minds and affections with other things, and what through a neglect of exercising grace in them, it may be said comparatively that "God is not in all their thoughts."

4. Where persons do cherish secret predominant lusts in their hearts and lives, God is not in their thoughts as he ought to be. He may be, he often is, much in the words of such persons, but in their thoughts he is not, he cannot be, in a due manner.

And such persons no doubt there are. Ever and anon we hear of one and another whose secret lusts break forth into a discovery. They flatter themselves for a season, but God ofttimes so orders things in his holy providence that their iniquity shall be found out to be hateful. Some hateful lust discovers itself to be predominant in them: one is drunken, another unclean, a third an oppressor. Such there were ever found among professors of the gospel, and that in the best of times: among the apostles one was a traitor, "a devil." Of the first professors of Christianity, there were those "whose god was their belly, whose end was destruction, who minded earthly things," Philippians 3:18,19.

Those that are in this state, of either sort, the first or the latter, are remote from being spiritually minded, nor is "God in all their thoughts" as he ought to be; for, —

First, They will not so think and meditate on God. Their delight is turned another way. Their affections, which are the spring of their thoughts, which feed them continually, do cleave unto the things which are most adverse unto him. Love of sin is gotten to be the spring in them, and the whole stream of the thoughts which they choose and delight in are towards the pleasures of it. If any thoughts of God come in, as a faint tide for a few minutes, and drive back the other stream, they are quickly repelled and carried away with the strong current of those which proceed from their powerful inclinations.

Yet may such persons abide in the performance of outward holy duties, or attendance unto them. Pride of, or satisfaction in, their gifts may give them delight in their own performances, and something in those of others they may be exceedingly pleased withal, as it is expressly affirmed, Ezekiel 33:31,32. But in these things they have no immediate real thoughts of God, none that they delight in, none that they seek[/font][/b]

Martin Marprelate said: ↑
Thanks for sharing al this, iconoclast, and for all your hard work.
Because my (real) surname is Owen, some time ago I wondered if John Owen might be my great great Grandaddy, so I looked up his life a little
Owen and his wife had nine children. Eight of them died in infancy or early childhood. The ninth married a man who mistreated her. She returned to her father's house and died, without issue, aged 23. So I'm not descended from John Owen

Many people, including myself, find the spiritual-mindedness taught by Owen hard to follow. Our lives are usually much more easy and pleasant than those of 17th Century people. But if (God forbid) the sort of grief that Owen and his wife experienced should come upon us, only a really close relationship with God is to sustain us.
Yes.. I also find it hard to work through.
Two of the most helpful thoughts I found in this work were where he asked the readers,when you are by yourself and not at work,not involved in conversations.....where do your thoughts go to?
Is it always to earthly natural concerns? Or to heavenly and spiritual thoughts?
I used that in a class one time.
I asked the members to draw a big circle to make a pie chart.
Then to divide it up...how much time spent on sleep, personal hygiene eating ,work ,reading, tv watching exercise, recreation,marital duties.
Then I asked them at what point or how much time was given over to spiritual thoughts in the midst of such a busy schedule.
Many were a bit sad as they admitted that carnal thoughts were predominant.
It helped me to reorganize my own thought life.
He had quoted Jer.4:14 and in this context it kinda took a bite of my thoughts...
The other that I have profited from is his comments on 4 kinds of people and how they react to spiritual conversation.
It has helped me to know quickly who I was speaking with and alerts me to potential problems.
I had read through Roman's 8 and many a Calvinist can live in that chapter.
But I never understood the depth of verse 6 until he put the spotlight on this verse.
As a result I now examine many other passages along the same line as how went about opening this passage.

Here is what MM was speaking about!

And accordingly, there are some who are ready on all occasions to speak of or mention things that are divine, spiritual, and holy; and it is to be wished that there were more of them. All the atrocious sins that the world is filled with are not a greater evidence of the degeneracy of the Christian religion than this
— that it has grown unusual, indeed, a shame or scorn, for men to speak together of the things of God. It was not so when religion was in its primitive power and glory; nor is it so with those who really fear God and are sensible
of their duty. There are some, I say, who embrace all occasions of spiritual communication. Those with whom they converse, if they’re not profligate, if they have any spiritual light, will so far comply with what they say, as to think about the things said which are spiritual.

Oftentimes the track and course of men’s thoughts lie so out of the way, are so contrary to such things, seem so strange to them, that they won’t entertain them.
You do but cross their way with such discourses, they may stand still a little, and then pass on. Even the
countenances of some men will change upon this; they return an unsatisfied silence until they can divert to other things.

Some will make replies of such empty words, as to evidence their hearts are far estranged from the things proposed to them.

But with others, these occasional discourses will make such impressions on their minds, asto stir up present thoughts
of spiritual things. But though frequent occasions of this may occur, such thoughts give no evidence that any
man is spiritually minded
— for they are not genuine, issuing from an internal spring of grace.
It is from these causes that the thoughts of spiritual things for many, are like guests who come into an inn, and not like children who dwell in the house. They enter occasionally, and then there is a great stir
about them, to provide fit entertainment for them. In a while they are disposed of, and so they depart to their own occasions, being neither looked at nor inquired about anymore. Things of another nature are attended to; new occasions bring in new guests for a season. Children are owned in the house; they are missed if they are
out of the way, and have their daily provision constantly made for them. So it is with these occasional thoughts about spiritual things.
By one means or another they enter into the mind, and there they are entertained for a season; all of a sudden they depart, and men hear of them no more. But those thoughts that are natural and genuine, arising from a living spring of grace in the heart, disposing the mind to them, are like the children of the house. They are expected in their
places and at their seasons. If they are missing, they are inquired about. The heart calls itself to account as to why it has been so longwithout them, and it calls them over into its usual converse with
them.

It is the character of all men in the state of depraved nature and apostasy from God, that “every imagination of the thoughts of theirhearts is only evil continually,”
Gen 6.5. It is not all persons in that condition who are swearers, blasphemers, drunkards, adulterers, idolaters, or the like. These are the vices of particular persons, the
effects of particular constitutions and temptations. But thus it is with them, all and every one of them: that all the imaginations of the thoughts of their hearts are evil, and this is continually — some as to the matter of them, some as to their end, but all as to their principle; for out of the evil treasure of the heart can proceed nothing but what is evil (Mat 12.35). That infinite multitude of open sins which is in the world gives a clear prospect or representation of the nature and effects of our apostasy from God. But whoever can consider the numberless thoughts which pass through the minds of every individual person, every day — all evil, and that continually
— will have a further comprehension of it.
There is nothing so unaccountable as the multiplicity of thoughts of the minds of men. They fall from them like the leaves of trees when they are shaken by the wind in autumn. To have all these thoughts, all the several figments of the heart, all the conceptions that are framed and agitated in the mind, to be evil, and that continually —
what a hell of horror and confusion that must be! A deliverance from this loathsome, hateful state is more to be valued than the whole
world. Without it, neither life, nor peace, nor immortality, nor glory,can ever be attained.


Conviction labors to put some stop and bounds to thoughts that are absolutely evil and corrupt; and superstition suggests other objects for them, which they readily embrace; but it is a vain attempt. The minds and hearts of men are continually minting and coining new thoughts and imaginations; the
cogitative faculty is always at work. As the streams of a mighty river running into the ocean, so are the thoughts of a natural man, and
through self, they run into hell. It is a silly thing to set a dam before such a river, to try to curb its streams. It may be stopped for a little
while, but it will quickly break down all obstacles, or overflow all its bounds. There is no way to divert its course except by providing other channels for its waters, and turning it into them. The mighty stream of the evil thoughts of men will allow no bounds or dams to put a stop to them.

To this purpose is the advice of the apostle, Eph 5.18,19, “Do not be drunk with wine, in which there is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” When men are drunk with wine to excess, they make it quickly evident what vain, foolish, ridiculous imaginations it fills
their minds with. In opposition to this, the apostle advises believers to be “filled with the Spirit” — to labor for such a participation of Him as may fill their minds and hearts, as others fill themselves with wine. To what end, to what purpose, should they desire such a participation of him, and to be so filled with him? It is to this end:
namely, that by his grace, he may fill them with holy, spiritual thoughts — as on the contrary, men who have drunk to excess are filled with thoughts that are foolish, vain, and wicked. So the words of verse 19 declare. For he advises us to express our abounding thoughts in those duties that will give a special vent to them.
This is why, when we are spiritually minded, we abound in spiritual thoughts, or thoughts of spiritual things. That we merely have such
thoughts will not sufficiently evidence that we are so, unless we abound in them. And this leads us to the principal inquiry on this topic: namely, what measure we should assign to this, that we may know when we abound in spiritual thoughts, so that they may be an evidence of our being spiritually minded.

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 well grounded hope;
nor can it rise any higher, Rom 5.2-5.

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.[/font][/font]