[2.] This belly is made a god ; that is, interpretatively, a man's god, which is his chief good and the last end of all his actions, and upon which all his care, thoughts, and endeavours run most. Thus do the earthly-minded upon the world and the belly, therefore here it is said, ' Their belly is their god ; ' and elsewhere that ' covetousness is idolatry,' Col. iii. 5, and the ' covetous man is an idolater,' Eph. v. 5. That is our god which is most valued by us, and for whose sake we do all things. Now, if we will do more for the world than for God, and more for the belly than for God, and can dispense with God's honour and glory for an easy and delicate life, and day after day, from morning to evening, do only take care for the flesh, and give earthly things those affections which are only due and proper to God, we make mammon our god, and the belly our god ; here is our scope, work, and delight.
[3.] How justly those are deprived of eternal salvation who do thus.
(1.) Partly as they put a vile scorn on God and Christ, who prefer the belly and bodily interest before him. These prefer the body before the soul, which yet is the immortal substance, and will survive the body, and may be rent from it sooner than they imagine : Luke xii. 20, ' Thou fool ! this night thy soul shall be required of thee ; ' or rent from the embraces of the unwilling body. They prefer time before eternity, since they make it their great business to have their will and pleasure for a while. If you will have your own will now, you shall not have it long : 1 John ii. 17, ' The world passeth away and the lusts thereof.' You love to please your appetite in meats and drinks, to spend your time in vain sports and pleasures, to be honoured and humoured now, to flow in wealth and live in pomp, and would want nothing for the contentment of the flesh. But how long shall you have your will in these things? When death comes, will you have it then ? When you lie in pain on your death-beds, expecting
V£R. 19.] SEEMONS UPON PHILIPPIANS III. 13D
every hour to appear in another world, will you have it then ? They prefer earth before heaven. They only mind the way, but never think of home. They are not strangers and pilgrims in the world, but inhabitants, and say, as Peter on the mount, Mat. xvii. 4, ' It is good to be here ; ' 2 Tim. iv. 10. ' Demas hath forsaken us, having loved this present world.' And should God save them against their wills, and bring them to a place they desire not ? They prefer the world before Christ, and should they have benefit by him who do so lightly esteem the rock of their salvation ? His servants prize him : Phil. iii. 8, ' Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ; ' Mat. xiii. 45, 46, ' The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.' His enemies despise him ; to them he is ' a stone of stumbling,' 1 Peter ii. 8. Lastly, they prefer the belly before God, a little temporal interest before his favour, love pleasures more than God : 2 Tim. iii. 4, ' Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.' Honours more than God : John xii. 42, 43, ' Among the chief rulers many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue ; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.' Profits more than God : 1 John ii. 15, ' Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world : if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.' Surely then there is a just cause of men's damnation when they love the world more than God, Christ, and heaven.
(2.) They that serve a base god cannot but be of a base spirit, and so can do nothing worthily and generously. Every man's temper is as his god is : Ps. cxv. 8, ' They that make them are like unto them ; so is every one that trusteth in them.' They have a dead heart, estranged from the life of God. The carnal life is a spiritual death : 1 Tim. v. 6, ' She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.' Therefore God punisheth them with eternal death.
(3.) They are not only unfit for God, but opposite to him : Rom. viii. 7, ' The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be ; ' and James iv. 4, ' Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God ? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.'