3. The last thing is their punishment, ' Whose end is destruction.' Sinners gain little by their sin at last. We swallow the bait, but do not mind the hook : ' Whose end is destruction.' This is the end, not intended by them, but appointed by God as the wages of the carnal life. Finis operis, the end of the work ; though not operantis, of the doer. Their punishment is the reward of their sin. By ' destruction ' he meaneth they shall be punished by God with eternal damnation, called elsewhere ' destruction and perdition ;' 1 Tim. vi. 9, 'They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many hurtful and foolish lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.' So Gal. vi. 8, ' For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap cor-
134 SERMONS UPON PHILIPPIANS III. [SeR. XIV.
ruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting .' Corruption is there opposed to eternal life. Though the substance of body and soul is not annihilated, yet that glory, pleasure, and gain wherein they placed their happiness shall then be consumed ; and when all their comforts are gone, they shall for ever remain under the wrath of a highly provoked and then irreconcilable God.
Doct. Earthly-mindedness is the temper and disposition of such men who are for the present in a state of damnation.
Christians, I am upon a profitable point, though it be a terrible one ; we cannot be cautious enough of earthly-mindedness, whether we con- sider the heinousness of the sin or the greatness of the danger. For your help I shall —
1. Show you what is earthly-mindedness.
2. The aggravations of this sin as they, lie in the text.
3. The sore punishment appointed to it.
I. What is earthly-mindedness ? for this is the crime charged upon these evil- workers, that ' they mind earthly things.' Now it seemeth hard to say that we should not at all mind earthly things. These are necessary to sweeten our pilgrimage, and to support us during our service. We carry about earthly bodies, that need daily sustentation. We have 'an earthly house,' that must be maintained, 2 Cor. v. 1 ; and the people of God are subject to the common necessities of an earthly life. Therefore surely God, that doth give us these earthly bodies, doth allow us in some sort to mind earthly things, and seek earthly things in some proportion, and with a due subordination to religion and godliness. In our passage to heaven we may mind them, for every wise man must mind his business ; but yet they must not be minded only or chiefly.
1. Not only. So some mind them, scarce have any tincture of religion, or regard to life everlasting, but are of the earth, and speak of the earth, and savour only earthly things ; aim at nothing but the good things of this world, that they may live in honour, and credit, and pleasure, and estimation with men ; savour and love nothing but this ; care for and breathe after nothing but this : ' God is not in all their thoughts,' Ps. x. 4. He speaketh of the worldly atheist, or earthly- minded, as the former verse showeth : 'The wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.' They regard not whether God be honoured or dishonoured, pleased or displeased. So heaven is not in all their thoughts : Rom. viii. 5, ' They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh ; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit ; ' ra eTriyeia, 1 earthly things,' and to, aap/co<;, ' the things of the flesh,' are the same : Col. iii. 2, (ppovelre, ' Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.' In the margin it is ' mind.' So John vi. 27, ' Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth to everlasting life.' These are propounded as incompatible ; but their affections bend to the wrong side, and so the one thing neces- sary is neglected : Luke x. 42, ' One thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her.' Their life is in a perfect opposition to these counsels and directions ; they set their affections on things on earth, mind the things of the flesh, are
VeR. 19.] SERMONS UPON PHILIPPIANS III. 135
cumbered about many things, neglect the one thing necessary, labour for the meat that perisheth, slight that which endureth for ever, are dead to God and alive to the world, heap up treasure to themselves, #ud are not rich toward God, Luke xii. 21. All is done to please the carnal mind, nothing done to please God.
2. They must not be chiefly minded. The gross worldling is dis- covered by the only minding, the secret worldling by the chiefly minding, earthly things ; the gross worldling is a practical atheist, the secret worldling is a carnal hypocrite. The rule is, that spiritual and heavenly things must be sought in the first place : Mat. vi. 33, ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness ; ' and we must trust God for other things, in the way of honest and diligent endeavours in the calling wherein God hath placed us. Well, then, the minding of earthly things must be determined by this, when religion is subor- dinate to the world, and not the world to religion ; when the lean kine devour the fat. Aud though there be some minding both of earth and heaven, yet earth is more minded than heaven ; and the honours, and pleasures, and profits of the world, jostle out better things, and choke the good seed ; that though we do not cast off the profession of religion, yet we feel little of the power of it. Eeligion is an underling, it is so obstructed that it cannot bring forth its fruit with any perfection : Luke viii. 14, ' They are choked with cares, and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.' But because this is a secret evil, and men easily distinguish themselves out of their convictions, we must a little more closely pursue this discovery, that we may find what is the first or chief thing that we mind and regard. That will be known by these things —