Serra. CXLI. as an Argument fir /eeling Things above. zó7. 4. Itimplies adear Preference.of the Things above, to the Things of theEarth, when they come in Competition. And in thisSenfe theWord ves H, is obferved to be ufed in good Authors, for takingPart with, and adhering to one Side, when two Parties or Intere(ts come in Competition. And indeed this Phrafé and Form of Speech, when the Thing is exprefs'd affirmatively and negatively,, is very often tired by Way of Compartfon, when two Things come in Competi- tion. Lay not up for your felvesTreafuresupon Earth: but lay up for yourfelves Trea- Titres in Heaven. Labour not for the Meat that periJheth; but for that which enduréth to eternal Life. So here : Set your Afellions on Things above, not on Things on the Earth. When Heaven and Earth come in Competition, the Happinefs of the next Life, and the Enjoyments of this, the Intereft of your Souls, and of your Bod ies, the Things which are notfeen, and are eternal, and the Things which are feen, and are but Temporal, a Holy, and Heavenly, and Virtuous Life, and a fenfual and finful Courfe, chufe the better Part; (lick to that which is the true and fatting In- tereft ; prefer Heaven before Earth, and the Care of your Souls, to that of your Bodies, Things Eternal, to Things Temporal, and a Holy and Virtuous Life which leads to Heaven, to thofe finful and vicious Pra&ices which will fink Men into Perdition. For that this alto the Apoftle means by Things on the Earth, finful Lulls and Pra&ices, feems very probable, from what follows ather. q. Mor- tJie thereforeyour Members which are upon the Earth. II. Let us confider the Obje&of this A&, what it is that we are to feek and fee ourAffe&ions upon; and that is the Things which are above. I. The gloriousGod andFather of all, and his bleffed and eternal Son our Lord yefus Chrifl, and theHoly Spirit of God ; thefe are the great Obje&s ofour Con- templation and Adoration. And then the holy Angels, and theSpirits ofjuflMen made perfea, who are Examples to us, of doing the Will of God here on Earth, as it is done by them inHeaven. 2. The bleffed State and Condition whichwe afpire after in thenext Life, with all the Joys and Gloriesof it, fach as Eye bath not feen, nor Ear heard, neither have entred into the Heart of Man. 3. The Difpofitions to be acquired, and the A&ionsand Duties to be performed by us, as neçefliry Qualifications and Means for the obtainingof this Happinefs, and bringing us to the Poffeffion of it; all thefe are comprehended in the Lati- tude of the Obje&, the Things which are above. And tofeel¿, and mind, andfit our Afetiionsupon thefe, is to do thofe Thing's, which the Confiderationof each of thefe refpe&ively calls for ; fo to meditate on God and mind him, asto fear, and love, and ferve him ; to feek his Glory as our fall End, and the Enjoyment of him as our chief Good; to feek his Favour above all Things, and tofue tohim as the Fountainof all Grate, and the Giver ofeverygood and perfelaGift, and of all BleffingsTemporal, Spiritual, and Eternal, by the power- ful Interceffion of his Son, the great and only Mediator between God andMan, to be obtained for us, and to wrought in us, by the powerfulVirtue and Ope- ration of the holySpirit. So to mind the Angels and blet%d Saints above, as to afpire after their Society, by imitating their Virtues, andbeing Followers' of thofe, who throughFaith and Patience have inherited the Promifes. So to meditate on our future Bleffednefs, as to raife our Hearts and Affeetions above this World, and effe&wally to engage us to fit our felves for that blefled State and Condition, that wemay be meet to be made Partakers of that glorious Inheritance. And Lathy, fo to mind all the Duties and Means neceffary and conducing to our Salvation, as ef- fe&wally to perform them ; to order our Lives andall the Actions of them, with a Regard to Eternity ; in a Word, to omit and neglect nothing that may farther and promote the great Defign of our eternal Salvation, and to do nothing that may contradift or hinder it. This is tofeek and fit our Affection upon the Things that are above. And thus I havedone with the frflThing I propounded, theNature of the Duty which we are exhorted to. I proceed to the SecondThing I propounded, which was toconfider theForce of theArguments, which are tiled to perfwade us to it. Here ate three Arguments in the Text to this Purpofe; two of them are exprefs, and the third of them implied, I. "Ifye be rifeen with Chrifl, feek the Things which are above. M m il. Seek
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