Your own salvation in the world to come, your present comfort, the welfare of your families, and the peace and well-being of society, are all interested in the subject under discussion. Have you come to a clear decision on this point? If you will not resolve to serve the LORD, whom will you serve? Will you "serve divers lusts and pleasures," which will only reward you with vexation and sorrow? Or will you serve the world, which must shortly pass away with all its noise, and bustle, and trifling concerns? Or will you serve Satan, the impious opponent of JEHOVAH, and will you be content with the wages which he secures, even eternal death and endless wretchedness? If you dislike these masters, then resolve this day to serve the LORD, with all your house. Pray unto him for his heavenly grace, that you may be enabled to make an entire surrender of yourselves unto him, that you may "serve him acceptably," in the Gospel of his Son, with reverence and godly fear." If we serve the LORD with our houses, we may humbly trust, that his blessing will then rest upon us; that our houses shall be the abodes of happiness and peace; that we shall dwell securely under his Almighty protection and care, and that, having been found "faithful unto death," as the servants of the LORD, we shall finally receive from his bountiful hands "the crown of life."

SERMON XIV.

THE HAPPY EFFECTS OF BEING SPIRITUALLY
MINDED.

ROMANS viii. 6.

To be carnally minded is death: but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

WHEN the minds of men are wholly occupied about earthly things, it is difficult to persuade them that Religion affords more substantial pleasures than any which they enjoy. Such persons cannot easily discover the wisdom of engaging in a life of piety and devotion; and they can form no conception of the pleasures which spring from spiritual employments. This, however, is the character of those who are carnally minded, which is a state which the Apostle represents as death, and in opposition to this, he speaks of the advantages of being spiritually minded, which he says is life and peace. That we may not mistake in a matter of such importance, let us pray for the light of the divine Spirit, while we consider the Two Propositions contained in the Text.

I. To be carnally minded is death.

To be carnally minded, is to have our attention entirely fixed on earthly objects; it is to walk after the flesh, and to savour only the the things that be of men; it is to fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind, in making provision for mere temporal enjoyments. "They that are after the flesh," he says, "do mind the things of the flesh;" they are altogether engrossed by worldly cares, or are carried away by transitory pleasures, or are absorbed in the pursuit of present distinctions.

To be carnally minded does not always imply that a person is addicted to the grossest vices, such as intemperance, drunkenness, revellings, and licentiousness. These sensual excesses manifest the lowest degree of carnal-mindedness,

and prove a man to be sunk into a condition much below the beasts which perish. But the same Apostle, in another place, reckons up among the works of the flesh many others of a different kind, such as "idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, and murders." Now these things are spoken of as the evil fruits of a carnal, unrenewed mind, as well as the gross sins of uncleanness and intemperance.

It is evident, therefore, that many persons may be carnally minded, whose lives are not stained by any flagrant acts of impurity, and whose conduct, in general, is not reproachable in the sight of their fellow-creatures. The mind may be carnal, though the life is not immoral, as far as it respects the laws of human society. It is painful to think, and yet it is true, that the mind may remain carnal, while there are many things of a pleasing nature in the manners and conduct of a person. A man does not cease to be carnally minded, because he possesses some share of pity, tenderness, and benevolence. Nor does any one become spiritually minded, when he entertains some transient thoughts about divine things, and pays a little attention to the external parts of religion. Many, like Balaam,

:

may wish to "die the death of the righteous," " while they refuse to lead a holy and an upright life. Herod the tetrarch heard John the Baptist gladly, and performed many things according to his commands, yet, at the last, he put him to death, in compliance with the blood-thirsty revenge of a wicked and ambitious woman. And Simon, the sorcerer, was found among the baptized Christians, while he continued "in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity," and in the exercise of his former vices of pride and covetousness. But he was exhorted by the Apostle Peter, to repent of his base hypocrisy, and to pray unto God for his pardoning mercy.4

To be carnally minded, then, is to be principally engaged in the things of time and sense. It is to have our thoughts and affections chiefly occupied with the affairs of this present, uncertain world. It is to be wholly engrossed about "what we shall eat, and what we shall drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed." It is to be constantly employed about the cares of this mortal life, how we may best secure and enjoy an earthly portion.

Num. xxiii. 10. Mark vi. 20, 27. d Acts viii. 13, 20-23.
Matt. vi. 31.