OUR RESURRECTION WITH CHRIST A MOTIVE TO HEAVENLY- MINDEDNESS.
Col. iii. 1. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
ONE of the most distinguished peculiarities of our holy religion is, that it suggests entirely new motives to action. The inducements which reason could offer, were (as all antiquity proves) altogether weak
and inefficient Those alone which Christianity
proposes are capable of restraining the passions of men, and of regulating their conduct. Beg of God then that you may feel the power of his word, whilst I set before you,
I. The duty here inculcated —
I by no means must be understood as intimating, that we are at liberty to neglect our earthly concerns. Circumstanced as we are, we must of necessity devote much time and labour to the pursuit of worldly things : and, if we neglected them, we should offend against the order of Divine Providence, who has said in reference to them, " Six days shalt thou labour." But
" The things which are above" are most worthy of our pursuit —
[Amongst these we must number the favour of our offended God, the manifestations of his love to our souls, the attainment of his image, and the possession of his glory.
Which of these things can be dispensed with ? or
which can be attained by a mere inactive wish, or by a formal
and faint endeavour ? These things, in point of value
and importance, as far excel all earthly things, as the splendour of the meridian sun eclipses the faint radiance of the glow- worm.]
These therefore we are to seek with our whole
hearts —
[They are to have the first place in our esteem, and to be sought with a diligence proportioned to their value a. Seeking only will not suffice ; we must strive to enter in at the strait gate ; for we are told that " many shall seek, and not be ableb." " The kingdom of heaven must be taken by violence c," even by the holy violence of faith and prayer. The things above must be sought with the same constancy and zeal as are employed by the world in the pursuit of things below. Worldly men are never weary in the pursuit of their objects. From the earliest dawn to the very hour when they retire to rest, their appetite for earthly things continues ; nor, whatever they may attain, are they ever satisfied. Their energies may be enfeebled by labour ; but their taste is still the same : they savour the things which pertain to time and sense d, — them constantly, them su- premely, them only. Now this is the way in which we should " seek the things that are above :" and, in comparison of these, all earthly things should be to us as dung and dross. Even life itself should be of no value, if by sacrificing it our eternal interests may be improved6.]
If this appear " an hard saying," attend while I lay
before you,
a Matt. vi. 33. b Luke xiii. 24. <= Matt. xi. 12.
d Rom. viii. 5. e Luke xiv. 26, 27. 33.