The Excellency of HeavenLy rreafares. tom of thy Heart, and fee how the muliugs and imaginations thereof do wart\.: Arc they chained onl-y to the things of this Wolld? Do they only trudge to and fro e\'ery one of them loaden only with Burdens of Earth? A ;':Id when t hey t.:ometlu~n g~ ing about thee, do they buzz nothing in thi~;e E:ns but intell ig,ence, either froffi fame bafe luft, or fame worldly profit? If -this be the conftant and only Employ~ mcnt of thy Thou?,hts, a!Ture thy felf thy Trea{ure is not laid up inliea'!Jen 00 nor on Earth, but, which is worfe, it is laid up in Hell. The Thoughts of 3 Child of God arc ~ill takin9 wing, a1~d flyi~g upwar? to~at:ds ~eaYen; and every one of them carncs up Ius Heart nchly traught w1th Dtvlllc Grace; one Thought is laden with the at\:ings of Faith, another witb tbe a8.ings of Hope, another w1lh t he attings of Love; and they never leave oJcending till they ::trc got into the prefence of God, and lay their rich Trcafure in his Bofom ; and God aga in fills them with Heavenly Trcaft~rr, and bids one Thought carry a Smile to the Sou l, and tel1s the Soul how dear it is to him; by another Thought he conveys Strength and by another Comfort, and fends all away laden with precious Treaiure to the .Soul. If your Thoughts traffick only in the World, your Treaji1re is there; if in Heaven then your Treafure is in Heaven. ' Objetl:, I. Bur you will {ay, Huw can we judge of uur Treafure by uur Thuughts? Js nor the fAr grMttr fwarm of e'l./ery A1an's Thoughts 1./ain and finful? Anjw. I anfwer, lt is true they arc fo; fome are vain and iinful, fome are idle and impertinent, fome are worldly, and fome are wicked, and few, c.omparative.. ly, are the holy and fpiritual Thoughts that any Man fends up to Heaven. We muft not therefore judge by the crowd or numeroufnefs of our Thoughts, but by the entertainment they find i!) our Affet\:ion.s,by the fray and abode they make in our Hearts. In ']er. 4· 14. How long /hali vam thoughts lodge 1Pithin you? It is not what the fudde n fialhings of our Thoughts are, (though that indeed 1hould deeply humble us) but mark wha~it is that they Heart fixes and dwells upon, what Flowc1s thefe intelleCtual Bees, thy Thoughts fuck mofr fweetnefs and honey from. When thy Thoughts have been foraging abroad, and bring home fome Sin, and prefent it before thee, doth thy Heart rife againft it,and fhut it out of doors, and dofr thou ihut thy Heart upon it? But when thy Thoughts bring home God and Chrifr, and the th ings of Heaven and Eternity in their Arms, do thy Affeftions clafp and twine, about them? DQth thy Heart enlarge and expatiate to entertain them? Dolt· thou give up thy fclf in full frrength and latitude to fuch liea'Uenly Thoughts as thefe are? This is a good fign thy Treafure is laid us in He1ven, becaufe thou art fo much there thy felf. Obj. 2. But wiO others again /a), My thuughrs art necc/J.mly taken up ~ith the World, my Calling devours them, fo rhat 1 have no uppurrunity tojequrjhr myje~r for Heavenly Meditation; muft hherefore be excluded from having my Treafure in Heaven, bect!ujl: my thuughts are necef[arily -employed in the Wurid? .An]. 1 anfwer, Firft, Thoughts of all things in the World are mofl: free: There is no Man's Calling doth fo confine him, but were his Heart and his AftCCtions heavenly and fpiritual, his Thoughts "'muld force a paffage thro' the crowd of worldly bulineffes to Heaven: Ejaculations are f..yift Melfengcrs, that need not much ume to deliver the ir errand, or much time to return again to the Soul: You may point your Earthly Employments with Hea\•enly Meditations, as Men do their Writings with Stops, ever now and then .fending up a Thought unto Heaven; and fuch ·pa.ufes are no hindrance to your Earthly Affairs. . Secondly, It is the property of Grace and Holinefs, when there arc no actual ex:- plicite Thoughts of God, then to be habitually in the Fear of God, polfelling the Heart, and overawing it, that it fhall not do any thing that is finful, or misbecom.. ing a Chrifrian. And therefore fays the Wife Man excellently, Pruv. 23. 3· Be thMt in the fear of rhe Lord all the Day long. \Vhatever bulinefs you have, the fear uf rh~ Lurd may confrantly abide, o.verawe and polfefs your .Heart. Thirdly, ObfoY'Ve horv your Thoughts work when you have V.'1Cancy and rem Jfton from your Employment I, Arc they fpiritual then? Do they betakc themfdns to G~? Do they lock up thernfelves in their H e4venly 71·Mfure? Doft thou [pi ritually unprove the times of thy leifure? David called to mind his Songs in the night,tmd his Spi~it made ri1ligent fearcb ; when he awaked he was ever with God; he fiept with G::Jd tn his Thoughts, and he a, waked with God again in his Thoughts. Whatever Em· ployments a Man bath, he have fame time of leifure. VVben now you have been drudt;IJlg
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