its duration, is the felicity of God, and coeternal with his throne! He has invested them with a glorious incapacity of dying, and reserved an eternal weight of glory for those who were once the dwellers in these tents of wo! It is an inheritance incorruptible, and that fadeth not away. "I give unto My sheep eternal life; they shall never perish; nor shall any being pluck them out of My hand." And once more,

5. We should seek "the things above," because there is the certainty of success assured to all that seek them in the right way. In the pursuit of all earthly objects of desire there is no certainty of attainment, even to those who have used every endeavour; there is so much casualty, so many things over which we can have no foresight or control, that the most ardent and skilful votaries of wealth or honour may as often fail as succeed. The great prizes of the world have often fallen into the lap of folly, while they have eluded the grasp of talent and perseverance. The battle is not always to the strong, nor the race to the swift, nor riches to men of understanding; though this may be generally the case. But with regard to celestial good, the object infinitely more valuable than all besides, and with regard to this alone, every one that seeks it, if he seeks it lawfully, and according to the terms of the pursuit, shall certainly attain. It is true that those who seek it in any other way of their own choosing, like self-righteous or Antinomian abusers of grace, shall fall short at last. But the way is so plainly marked out to us, that the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein; and whoever follows after "heavenly things" in that way, shall gain the prize which he seeks. Other elevations are slippery and precarious; this, which so far surpasses all the rest, is safe and sure to him who aspires to reach it: it is an elevation ever united with humility; in proportion as we "seek the things above," and rise in spirit heavenward, we shall be abased in our own sight, and lie prostrate in the dust! The vanities of this life may or may not be won, but the great things of eternity-God, and glory, and heavenly happiness-are the certain inheritance of all that steadfastly set their faces thitherward. "If thou incline thine ear to wisdom, and apply thy heart to understanding; if thou cry after knowledge, if thou search for her as hidden treasure, then shalt thou find the knowledge of God." Wisdom is represented as saying, "They that seek me early shall find me."

What reasons, then, exist, my dear brethren, why we should seek these things, and seek them with increased earnestness! The apostle who wrote the text affords a striking example of the manner in which we should seek them. He was converted, it is true, miraculously, and in a moment; but did he the less, for that reason, exert himself in the pursuit of heaven? "Forgetting," says he, "the things which are behind, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling." "Brethren," says he, "I count not myself to have apprehended; but I press on, if

by any means I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended; if by any means I may apprehend it!" "I," says he again, "so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one who beats the air." "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward;" and remember, "we are then made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end: he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved."

And, besides this, consider that the reasons for thus "seeking the things which are above" are always growing stronger than before; every moment is impairing the lustre and the value of every thing in which we can be interested here below; every moment our tenure of it is wasting away; while every moment is adding, as it were, to the nearness and importance of eternal things: "It is now high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." The partition is extremely thin that separates us from the other world, and it is growing perpetually thinner; some of us may almost be said to have looked through it already, and had a glimpse of the things within the veil! The resurrection of the dead, the great white throne, the opening of the books, and all the awful solemnities of that world, how near they are to us all! And shall any of us, my brethren, if we are Christians, be found neglecting the things which are our proper, our domestic concern? To bear that name, and yet neglect the things above; live without spirituality; suppress the spirit of prayer; have our hearts buried in the present vain world, is a perfect mockery of our profession, a contradiction to all we avow, a self-delusion that must end in ruin. And this is the destructive sin, this is the wearing, wasting malady of so many who call themselves Christians, that at the same time their hearts are set upon this world, they are carnallyminded, which is death, not spiritually-minded, which is life and peace. "Finally, my brethren, the time is short. It remains that they that weep should be as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that possess, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world as not abusing it, as those who remember that the fashion of this world passeth away."

XLIV.

HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS.*

COLOSSIANS, iii., 2: Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.

[Preached at Broadmead, Bristol, October 5, 1828.]

THIS epistle was evidently written to check some of those evils into which the church at Colosse had fallen, and particularly their fond adherence to abrogated rites and ceremonies. Its tendency is obvious to restore them to a just sense of the superior value of their privileges. Instead of going back to an antiquated economy, the apostle directs them to elevate their views to that illustrious dispensation founded by Christ Jesus, which is so calculated to raise their affections to the celestial world.

By things above" we are clearly to understand things in heaven. Heaven is always spoken of as above us, partly owing to our relative situation on the earth, and partly to express its superiority. When John speaks of Christ, it is "He that cometh from above;" and he interprets this term by a subsequent remark: "He that cometh from above is above all." Thus we are not only taught his heavenly nature, but his transcendent superiority. Thus the text, speaking of things above, points us to heaven as the place where they are, and intimates, by the same phrase, their great superiority.

In a former passage, the church at Colosse is exhorted to "seek those things which are above;" in the passage before us, the manner of seeking them is made known. We are to have them in our hearts; they are to be objects of affection; they are to be sought after with an intense desire. There are some persons who would exclude the exercise of the affections from religion. But to do so, would be to exclude all that is excellent in the compassion and mercy of God, and whatever is melting in the love of Christ. We should be left, by such a process, with a fleeting shadow instead of an invaluable substance-with a lifeless skeleton instead of an animated body.

The exhortation before us is founded on the fact that temporal objects have greater power over us than those which are eternal; and on the stronger desire to possess the visible things of time, rather than the invisible realities of eternity.

But why are things above to be sought after? What is there in those objects to demand the exercise of an intense and holy desire? A solution of these inquiries will justify and enforce the exhortation of the text.

I. Things above are transcendently excellent.

* Reported in the Evangelist.

They are not to be compared with any material object. They are heavenly, and therefore we consider them more excellent than the highest forms of earthly good. Heaven is God's thronethe earth is his footstool. Not that this world is destitute of the most vivid expressions of the glory of the Divine Being; but the heavenly regions alone are irradiated by the display of his visible glory.

They are elevated far above temporal good; they are more dif ficult to be comprehended. "Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, what God hath laid up for them that love him." If there be such a place as heaven, who can doubt, after such a statement, its vast superiority?

The Apostle John, when living an exile amid the solitudes of Patmos, had a vision of the heavenly world, and beheld some of its glories. Yet he afterward declared, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is." When heaven has, in any way, been partially opened to mortal vision, the impressions made by its glory have been deep and lasting.

Angels have sometimes visited our world in a visible form. Though they brought with them only a few beams of that glory which fills heaven, their presence has always been insupportable. Manoah, when he saw the angel ascend in the flame of the sacrifice, said to his wife, "We shall die, for we have seen God." When John, in the visions of the Apocalypse, saw the Redeemer, with whom, in the days of his flesh, he maintained the closest friendship, he could not endure the brightness of his glory, but "fell at his feet as dead." If such be the overpowering effect attending these distant and imperfect glimpses of heaven, how glorious must be the things that are in it-how happy and joyful an abode for the humble Christian!

It can occasion no surprise that we are destined to undergo a 'mighty change ere we can enter into heaven. "Behold," says the apostle, "I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last rump; for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."

And if you consider its dignities and enjoyments, you will discover another proof of their high excellence. They consist partly in being made like unto God, and having his Divine image indelibly impressed on the heart-to see Him face to face-to resemble Christ-to have angels for our associates-to bear, not the image of the first Adam, but the "second Adam, which is the Lord from heaven." To enjoy such dignities to engage in the employments which are necessarily connected with them-give to those celestial things a transcendent excellence.

For what so great or good as to be like God? What so happy as eternal union with Christ? What so honourable as the association with the highest and holiest intelligences? What so full of enjoyment, of the most pure and elevated order, as the pleas

ures flowing from such sources? Can any precept be more proper than the one contained in these words? And does not this transcendent excellence render things above suitable objects of intense desire?

II. Things above are satisfying, and exactly suited to our na

ture.

The highest forms of earthly good are only suited to us in a very subordinate sense. They are "of the earth, earthy." But the soul of man being immortal, naturally seeks after purer and higher joys than earth can afford, and these are at the right hand of God. When debased by sin, it sinks to a level with present things; when regenerated by the Spirit, it soars to heaven.

The most prosperous, in a worldly sense, are not the most happy; it is more frequently the contrary. The accumulation of wealth, for instance, does not extinguish the desire for more. You might as well attempt to extinguish a fire with oil. The more it is gratified, the more it expands. Success, instead of producing satiety, seems to stimulate its energy, and irritates rather than allays. The world and what it contains cannot satisfy us, because it is the world. The soul is from God; its moral tendencies rise above the world; its faculties are too high to be satisfied with any object inferior to the Divine glory. This is the primary object of religion-to bring the soul in contact with such realities, and to fit it for their enjoyment. Hence, in these things the good man finds a satisfaction and a repose which the worldling knows nothing of. He can say, "Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." Yet this is only a foretaste of eternal joy; it is but the prelibation of "the river of the water of life." It is little more than an anticipation of

an eternal feast.

It was this principle which enabled Christ to speak in such a language of the blessings he had to bestow, and to ascribe such wonderful properties to them. "Whoso drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst, but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Brethren, in heaven the almost infinite void of the human heart will be filled up.

These objects are exactly suited to the highest tendencies of the mind. There our social feelings will find uninterrupted enjoyment. Our intellectual faculties will be ever employed on subjects of the utmost sublimity and grandeur. Our moral sentiments will be gratified with an unceasing supply of spiritual beauty. Every desire of the soul, when in heaven, will receive an instantaneous supply. Every mental power, and every bodily energy, will be successfully and happily employed. This combination of activity and enjoyment, without weariness or imperfection, constitutes the unequalled superiority of the felicity of heavenly things. They are, therefore, not only proper objects of desire, but the only objects worthy of our intense affection.