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350 OF SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS. [PART 1.
which is, to have such a continual prospect of the future state of glory as to lay it in the balance against all that we may undergo; for,— :
1. To have our minds filled and possessed with thoughts: thereof will give us an alacrity in our entrance into sufferings im a way of duty. Other considerations will offer themselves unto our relief, which will quickly fade and disappear. They are like a cordial water, which gives a little relief for a season, and then leaves the spirits to sink beneath what they were before it was taken. Some relieve themselves from the consideration of the nature of their suf ferings; they are not so great but that they may conflict with them and come off with safety. But there is nothing of that kind so small as will not prove too hard and strong for us unless we have especial assistance. Some do the same from their duration; they are but for ten days or six months, and then they shall be free;—some from the compassion and esteem of men. These and the like con- siderations are apt to occur unto the minds of all sorts of persons, whether they are spiritually minded or no. But when our minds are accustomed unto thoughts of the “ glory that shall be revealed,” we shall cheerfully entertain every way and path that leads there- unto, as suffering for the truth doth in a peculiar manner. Through this medium we may look cheerfully and comfortably on the loss of name, reputation, goods, liberty, life itself, as knowing in ourselves that we have better and more abiding comforts to betake ourselves unto. Andwe can no other way glorify God by our alacrity in the entrance of sufferings than when it ariseth from a prospect into and valuation of those invisible things which he hath promised as an abundant recompense for all we can lose in this world.
2. The great aggravation of sufferings is their long continuance, without any rational appearance or hope of relief. Many who have entered into sufferings with much courage and resolution have been wearied and worn out with their continuance. Elijah himself was hereby reduced to pray that God would take away his life, to put an end unto his ministry and calamities. And not a few in all . ages have been hereby so broken in their natural spirits, and so shaken in the exercise of faith, as that they have lost the glory of their confession, in seeking deliverance by sinful compliances in the denial of truth. And although this may be done out of mere weari- ness (as it is the design of Satan to “ wear out the saints of the Most High”), with reluctance of mind, and a love yet remaining unto the truth in their hearts, yet hath it constantly one of these two effects :— Some, by the overwhelming sorrow that befalls them on the account of their failure in profession, and out of a deep sense of their unkind- ness unto the Lord Jesus, are stirred up immediately unto higher acts
CHAP, VIII.] OBJECTS OF SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS IN HEAVEN. 351
of confession than ever they were before engaged in, and unto a higher provocation of their adversaries, until their former troubles are doubled upon them, which they frequently undergo with great satisfaction. Instances of this nature occur in all stories of great persecutions. Others being cowed and discouraged in their profes- sion, and perhaps neglected by them whose duty it was rather to restore them, have by the craft of Satdn given place to their declen- sions, and become vile apostates. To prevent these evils, arising from the duration of sufferings without a prospect of deliverance, nothing is more prevalent than a constant contemplation on the future re- ward and glory. So the apostle declares it, Heb. xi. 35. When the mind is filled with the thoughts of the unseen glories of eternity, it hath in readiness what to lay in the balance against the longest con- tinuance and duration of sufferings, which in comparison thereunto, at their utmost extent, are “ but for a moment.”
I have insisted the longer on these things, because they are the peculiar objects of the thoughts of them that are indeed spiritually minded.
CHAPTER VIII.
Spiritual thoughts of God himself—The opposition unto them and neglect of them, with their causes and the way of their prevalency—Predominant cor- ruptions expelling due thoughts of God, how to be discovered, etc. —Thoughts of God, of what nature, and what they are to be accompanied withal, etc.
II. I HAVE spoken very briefly unto the first particular instance of the heavenly things that we are to fix our thoughts upon, namely, the person of Christ; and I have done it on the reason before men- tioned, namely, that I intend a peculiar treatise on that subject, or an inquiry how we may behold the glory of Christ in this life, and how we shall do so unto eternity. That which I have reserved unto the last place, as unto the exercise of their thoughts about who are spiritually minded, is that which is the absolute foundation and spring of all spiritual things, namely, God himself, He is the foun- tain whence all these things proceed, and the ocean wherein they issue; he is their centre and circumference, wherein they all begin, meet, and end. So the apostle issues his profound discourse of the counsels of the divine will and mysteries of the gospel, Rom. xi. 36, « Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.” All things arise from his power, and are all disposed by his wisdom into a tendency unto his glory: “Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things.” Under that consideration alone are they to be the objects of our spiritual meditation,—namely, as they