SERMON XIX· M AT. vi. 1o, 21. 'But lay up for your jtlves Treafures in Hea11en, where 11either moth nor rufl dotb Corrupt, and 1ohere Thiews do not break._ through nor flea/: For where your Treajitre ts, there wzll your Heart be ttlfo. I . Come now to enquire, whence it is that the Children of God make Heaven and Heavenly Things their Treafure and Chief Good: We fee that our Saviour doth here diftinguifu them from earthly and ungodly Men by this Cha. ratter, On e lays up on E~trth, and the ~rher in Heavm. He that lays up his Trcafure on Earth, he is an earthly ungodly Man; he that la}'S up his Treafure in Heaven, he is the true Chriftian. I. Now here firft take notice that, That which makes any thh1g dear and precious that which makes any thing to be a Trea{ur~ to. the Soul, is the fuitablenefl and fubfervencj of it to thar Stlf that is in a M.m. Self, It IS the great Rater of all our Treafure the value of it is reckon'd according to this Standard; when Heaven, and Earth: and all things are laid before a Man, Stlf comes in, and views them all, and fees what is ufeful for it, and accordingly fets a price upon it; and all things arc flighted, and nothing is current with the Soul, but as Self bath ftamped and primed its own Image upon it : And therefore in Luke 12. 21. you .fir1d this expreffion, s, is he that t4ys up Treafure for himfelf. lf any Man lays up Treafure, he Jays it up for himfelf. VVhatever may prcferve Self, whatever may anfwer the Propenfions and Inclinati..- ons of Self, whatever may promote the Caufe and Intereft of Self, that is a Man's Treafure, and nothing.elfe. n. Carnal and Vnrcgcnerate Self Ylltts Earth and Earthly things M its 1'reafure, be.. taufe there is 4 fuitsbtenefs and proportion in the one to the other. Earthly Treafure for an Earthly Self: And the:r~fore the Apo~le tells, t Cor. 6. I 3. Meat is for the btily, and the belly for meat; that ts, they are fmted each to other; fo are Earthly things fuited to Carnal Self, the things of this World t 0 a Worldly Mind, and aWorldlf Mind to the things of this World ; Carnal Self reliihes no other things ; bring fpiritual things to him, he taftes no more fweetnefs in them, than in the white of an Egg: You may as well pleafe a Brute Bealt, by whifpering into his Ears the deep Difcourfes of Reafon, as you can a Carnal Man by the Diicoveries of God and Chrift: Talk to him of the World, and of Carnal Concernments, his Ears taftes and relifhcs fuch Difcourfe as this is, and the reafon is, becaufe thefe things are accommodated and fuited to that carnal and unregenerate Self that is in Man. The Apofule tells us, All that is ofthe World is the tuft of the fle/h, the tuft of the eye, and the pride if life. That is Pleafure, Profit, and Honour; thefe three are the Trinity of a Wicked Man, and carnal and unregenerate Self is this Trinity, in Unity; all center in this, to pleafe and maintain carnal Self, as all its Intereft, and all its Concernments; therefore this is made by wicked Men theirTreafure. Ill. In the Soul's Couverjion unto God, upon that great change that is mtide in a M~tn's {elf, there will alfo be another rate and value [et upon thiugs than formerly there WM. Converlion it is the grea t fhipwrack of the OM Man, and all his Goods. I. In Converjion there is 4 great change made in Self. The Apoftle in Rom. 7· r7. tells us, It w.u uo more he, but /in that dwelt in him. FormerJy, before his Conver· fion, "It was I that breathed outThreatnings, I perfecutedtheChurch, I raged " and was mad againft them, frill it was I my felf that acted then, but fince my ' ' great change, it is not I that am gu ilty, no, not fo much as of Infirmities; n~, " it is not I that fail in the performance of what is good, not I, but fin thAt dwe/leth m " rne. So that in Converfion there is a mighty change paffeth upon SeJf; fo that a Man may fay it is ~o• he but Siu, that body of Corruption that dwelleth in him. ,,
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