that they belong to the clafs of the fpiritually minded, merely because they have escaped the grofs pollutions that are in the world. It fhould be remembered that the young man in the Gofpel could fay this, and yet had thelove of prefent things prodominant in him, though unperceived by himfelf till the trial, which induced him to leave Chrift, when he muft either abandon him or his portion in this. life, Mat. xix. 20-22.

Let none think themfelves freed from the afcendant of a carnal mind, barely because they statedly attended on the outward means which are appointed for their spiritual advantage. Chrift has intimated, that men may pray and faft, and give alms, only to be feen of men,.

Mat. vi. which is a mere carnal aim: and that

they may eat and drink in his prefence, and yet be pronounced by him workers of iniquity.

Efteem not yourselves among the fpiritual,. barely because you are right in your opinions, or becaufe you receive the truths of the Gofpel with a flash of affection. The devils believe the most important truths, and tremble at them and we find, "the ftoney ground received the word with joy."

In truth, you should rest upon nothing as a foundation for a favourable judgment concerning yourselves, fhort of what will prove a prevailing bent of heart to the spirit, morethan to the flefh: that is, that commonly the biafs turns this way; that this is your allowed. and approved temper; that your relifh of fpiritual things has a fuitable practical influence; and that you are upon the advance in fuch a difpofition, tending toward the perfect day.

SER

SERMON

VI.

A carnal and a spiritual Mind..

ROм. viii. 6.

For to be carnally minded is death: but to be fpiritually minded is life and peace.

'HE different tempers of mind, which are

There expreffed by the phrafes of being carnally minded and fpiritually minded, have been distinctly explained in a former discourse. I am now,

II. To confider what the apostle affixes to each character; to fhew the evil and hatefulnefs of being carnally minded, and the good.. nefs and excellence of being fpiritually minded. The characters are not more oppofite than their attendants and confequences. "To be carnally minded is death: but to be spiritual-ly minded is life and peace."

A lively and moving defcription this is of that which ftands infeparably connected with thefe différent tempers of foul, though expreff ed in a few words...

Life is the most defirable thing that can be to most people.. "Skin for fkin, and all that a man hath, will he give. for his life." And accordingly this word is ufed in Seripture metaphorically, to exprefs the greatest good.Death, on the other hand, is naturally the dread of mankind; and therefore the greatest evils are in Scripture-language expreffed by

it. Peace joined with life, if we should take it in the latitude in which it is often to be understood in the Hebrew ftile, comprehends all that is good and defirable. That was the Jewish falutation, "Peace be unto you;" as if it was faid, All happiness to you. But the fense of the word here feems rather more confined, and to ftand oppofed to that which is declared of the carnal mind in the verfe fol-lowing the text. "The carnal mind is enmity against God." It carries in it direct hoftility against him, and therefore cannot fail to in-tail upon a man the dreadful mifery of having. God for his enemy; fo it follows, ver. 8: "They that are in the flefh, cannot pleafe God." And how unavoidable is it in fuch a cafe, if a man has, any fenfe left, that he cannot be at peace with himfelf? In oppofition to this, a fpiritual mind is peace. He who is of that temper is at peace with God, and has a folid foundation for peace in his own breast.. - I fhall directly infift upon the former cha racters of death and life; in the confideration of which the other will be comprehended.Death and life ftand moft certainly and unalterably annexed to thefe different difpofitionsof the foul, the carnal and the fpiritual mind: which is true, both in the nature of the thing, and by the fentence and conftitution of God.

1. In the very nature of the thing, to be carnally minded is death, fpiritual death; but to be fpiritually minded is life, the trueft life of the foul. He who is carnally minded is. truly "dead while he lives," as is faid of a perfon devoted to pleasure, 1 Tim. v. 6.—

"Dead.

Dead in trefpaffes and fins," Eph. ii. 1. but the fpiritually minded man is "Dead unto fin, but alive unto God, Rom. vi. 11. This is a frequent method in Scripture of reprefenting the case; and a very just and proper one: for, as far as the bent is toward fpiritual things, fo far the foul is alive in the trueft and nobleft fenfe. Life capacitates for action and enjoyment; death difables for both.

And for this reafon we efteem human life in this world moft perfect, in that period which we call the ftate of manhood, in oppofition to infancy and childhood on the one hand, and to enfeebled age on the other; becaufe at maturity it is more capable of the actions becoming the reafonable capacities, than in tender years; and more fit to enjoy the delights and fatisfactions, which are fuitable to our nature, than in the decline of life, when inded we rather figh and groan than live. Upon the fame account, to be fpiritually minded is life, the trueft and moft fuitable life of a reasonable creature, whereby he is capacitated for the moft exalted actings and enjoyments, or for the holiness and happiness of a fpiritual life. And on the contrary, to be carnally mined is death; because it is oppofite to both, and indifpofes for both.

(1.) Spiritual-mindedness is life; for a man of this temper is disposed to the proper ails of fpiritual life. He is not infenfible of fpiritual objects; but "the light of the glorious Gofpel of Chrift fhines into his heart," 2 Cor. iv. 6. He apprehends the reality, the moment and worth of that which is con

tained in it. Before, he understood as a child, he thought as a child of these matters, being diverted from a clofe attention by the poor trifles of a prefent evil world; but now he puts away childish things. He is fenfible of the peculiar wants of the foul itself, and mofst defirous to have them fupplied. His heart breathes after God, and Chrift, and holiness, and heaven. He endeavours to know his duty, and applies himself vigorously to the practice of it; and his greatest concern is for his imperfection in it, and for his acting in any infance contrary to it. His great conflict is against the remains of fin, the fnares of life, and the oppofition of Satan in his christian courfe. This is life; thefe are indications that a man is fpiritually alive, and come to himfelf, for now he lives unto God.

The carnal mind is the reverfe of all this. He is under the power of death; having the understanding darkened, and prejudiced against the admiffion of heavenly light. He is infenfible of the wants and interests, of the rectitude and depravity, of the foul; or unaffected with these things. He is either wholly, or predominantly, fet upon earthly things, and fuch as tend farther to vitiate and enflave the foul. His mind is fhut up against divine inftructions and admonitions; and his will oppofes the will of God, and exalts itself against the knowledge of him, and obedience to him: For "the carnal mind is enmity against God; not fubject to the law of God, nor indeed can be," till it is altered, ver. 8. This is fpiritu

al