94 OF SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS;. difference to holy duties, are the effects of this hour of temptation 1 I do not say determinately, that so it is; let others judge as they see cause ; but if any one do so judge, undoubtedly it is his duty tobe exercised in his thoughts, 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 concernment to be conversant in his mind with the reasons and motives to watchfulness, and how he may obtain such supplies of grace as 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 to our minds in great variety on all sorts of occasions, so we ought to give them enter- tainment in our meditations. To hear things, to have them proposed to us, it may be, in the way of a divine ordinance, and to let them slip out, or flow from us, as water that is poured into a leaking vessel, is the ruin of many souls. I shall therefore choose out some in- stances, as was before proposed, of those things which I judge, that they who would be spiritually minded, ought to abide and abound in thoughts concerning them. 1. It is our duty greatly to mind the things that are above, eternal things, both as to their reality, their pre- sent state, and our future enjoyment of them; herein consists the life of this grace and duty. To be hea- venly minded, that is, to mind the things of heaven, and tobe spiritually minded, is all one ; or it is the effect of being spiritually minded as unto its original and essence, or the first proper actings of it; it is the cause of it, 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
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