grace with that; and it is by the grace of God alone that men become sincere and upright; without this men are double-hearted, doubletongued, and deceitful: there may be a show, an appearance of sincerity and uprightness, where there is none in reality; as in the scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who appeared outwardly righteous to men, but within were full of hypocrisy and iniquity.-3. Whereever true sincerity is, it is of God, and is therefore called godly sincerity, or sincerity of God, that which has God for its author, who is the God of all grace; he that is the maker of the heart, the searcher of it, and sees what is in it, can only make it sincere and upright; who made a profane Esau, and a plain-hearted Jacob to differ, but God by his Spirit and grace? and these fruits of the Spirit, grace, uprightness, and sincerity, are only found in regenerate persons, new creatures, who have put on the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness, that which is in sincerity and reality, and not dissembled and feigned, Eph. v. 9. Wherefore, -4. Since it is of God, and him only, it is to be asked of him; he desires truth in the inward parts; he requires it, saying, Thou shalt be perfect, or upright, or sincere with the Lord thy God, before him, in his sight, Deut. xviii. 13. It is he only that can give a new heart and a new spirit, and create it in the new man, therefore to be prayed to for it by all sensible of their need of it; hence these petitions of David, Renew a right spirit within me, and let my heart be sound in thy statutes, Psalm li. 10, and cxix. 80. And so the apostle prays for the Philippians, that they might be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ, Phil. i. 10. And the rather,-5. This should be sought for, since it is so much approved of by God, who sees and searches the heart; I know also, my God, says David, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness, 1 Chron. xxix. 18. His countenance doth behold the upright, Psalm xi. 7; he smiles upon him, and takes delight in him. What an approbation of Job does he express! and what a testimony does he give to him, because of his sincerity and uprightness, and his perseverance therein! Job i. 1, 8, and ii. 3. Which will still more fully appear by considering,

III. The happiness of such who are possessed of this grace.

1. The light of spiritual joy and gladness is provided for such persons; and is in this life, at least at times, bestowed upon them, Psalm xcvii. 11 and exii. 4.-2. All the blessings of grace and goodness are not only wished for, but given unto them: Grace, the blessings of grace, are described to be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity; and both grace and glory are given to, and no good thing will be withheld from them that walk uprightly, that is fit and proper for them, Eph. vi. 24, Psalm lxxxiv. 11.-3. Such are protected and defended from all evil, and from every enemy; the Lord himself is a buckler to them that walk uprightly; yea, his eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect, or sincere, towards him, Isa. xxxiii. 15, 16. 4. Such who walk uprightly, walk surely, on good ground, in a good path, and by a good rule, and shall be saved; the way of the Lord, in which

they walk, is strength unto the upright, they grow stronger and stronger, Prov. x. 9, 29, and xxviii. 18.-5. Those enjoy the presence of God now; The upright shall dwell in thy presence, Psalm cxl. 13; The pure in heart shall see God, and be with him for ever; the upright shall have the dominion over the wicked, in the morning of the resurrection; and as for the sincere and perfect man, his end is peace.

OF SPIRITUAL-MINDEDNESS.

THE Contrast between a carnal man and a spiritual man, and between carnal-mindedness and spiritual-mindedness, is very strongly expressed by the apostle in Rom. viii. 5, 6, They that are after the flesh, carnal men, sinful, and corrupt, who are as they were born, having nothing but flesh, sin, and corruption in them, without the Spirit, and his grace, who walk after the flesh, and fulfil the desires of it; these mind the things of the flesh, their minds are fleshly minds; they seek nothing but the gratification of the lusts of the flesh, and employ themselves in doing the works of it, which are called, The sins of the flesh, the consequence of which is death; for to be carnally-minded is death, eternal death, the just wages of sin; as it must needs be, since such carnality is sin and sinful, and enmity against God, as in the following verse now the spiritual man, and spiritual-mindedness, and the consequence of that, are the reverse of all this; as will appear by considering, I. Who are the men who mind spiritual things, and are spiritual men. They are described as they that are after the Spirit. Not all that think they are spiritual men, and would be thought such, are so; If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, as a man may, and yet be neither; and therefore every spirit, or every one that professes himself to have the Spirit, and to be a spiritual man, is not to be believed; but the spirits, or such who call themselves spiritual men, are to be tried by the word of God, whether they are such or not; they may seem so to others, and yet not be such; and if only outwardly righteous, or externally reformed in their lives, they may be at most but moral men, not spiritual men; yea, men may have a form of godliness, a show of spirituality, yet not have the truth and power of it; they may look like virgins, and appear as spiritually wise, and yet be foolish. Nor are all truly spiritual men, who have spiritual gifts, as they may be called, distinct from special grace; for the apostle, after having discoursed of spiritual gifts, speaks of a more excellent way; and observes, that men may have various gifts, extraordinary and ordinary, and yet be destitute of true grace, 1 Cor. xii. 1, 31, and xiii. 1, 3. Nor are such only intended who have a greater degree of spiritual knowledge, and of real grace than others; for though these are most certainly spiritual men, and of the highest class, 1 Cor. iii. 1, Gal. iv. 1, yet they are not the only ones; others, who have less knowledge, and a lesser degree of grace, are also entitled to this character. Much less such are meant who have no flesh or sin in them; for there

are no such spiritual men on earth; none but the saints in heaven, the spirits of just men made perfect; and who, at the resurrection, will have spiritual bodies.

1. They are such who are regenerated, renewed, and quickened by the Spirit of God; they are such as our Lord describes as born of water and of the Spirit, or of the Spirit of God compared to water; and who and whatsoever is so born, is spirit, or spiritual, John iii. 5, 6; such are born of God, and made partakers of the divine nature; not of blood, by carnal generation and descent, not of corruptible, but of incorruptible seed; begotten again of God to a lively hope of a glorious inheritance, according to his abundant mercy, and of his own sovereign will and pleasure; and are a kind of first fruits of his creatures; yea, they are new creatures; for the grace bestowed on them is, the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost; they are renewed in the spirit of their minds, and have new hearts and new spirits given them, and the Spirit of God put into them, by which they are quickened, who before were dead in trespasses and sins; but now the Spirit of life from God enters into them; and like the dead witnesses, and Ezekiel's dry bones, stand on their feet and live and being thus made alive, they breathe in a spiritual manner, after salvation, and the way of it, and the knowledge of it; and after Christ, when directed to him; after God, and communion with him; after a discovery and application of pardoning grace and mercy: all which, and more things of a spiritual nature, they vehemently desire, with their whole souls and spirits; and may be truly said to be spirituallyminded. 2. They are such who have their spiritual senses, and that in exercise, to discern both good and evil, to choose and mind the one, and to refuse and shun the other; they have a spiritual sight, a discerning of things, even of spiritual things, which are only spiritually discerned; and which spiritual discernment the natural man has not; but the spiritual man has, and can make a judgment of them; try things that differ, approve the more excellent, and prefer them; they have the seeing eye given them; the eyes of their understandings are enlightened by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of themselves and of Christ: this one thing they can say, whereas they were blind, they now see; see themselves lost and undone, and Jesus as their only Saviour; and they behold his glory, fulness, excellency, and suitableness as a Saviour: they now hear the gospel with pleasure; it is a joyful sound to them, good news and glad tidings of peace, pardon, righteousness, eternal life, and salvation by Christ; they hear the voice of Christ, and are charmed with it, and their affections are drawn out to him; they hear it so as to understand it, and be delighted with it, and to distinguish it from the voice of a stranger, and therefore follow him, and not a stranger: they taste, and have a gust for spiritual things; they taste that the Lord is gracious, and invite others to come and taste, and see how good he is; the words of Christ, the doctrines of the gospel, are sweeter to their taste than the honey or the honey-comb; the fruits that drop from Christ, whilst sitting under his shadow, the blessings of grace, which

are from him, are also sweet and pleasant to their palate: they savour the things which be of God and Christ, and which are of a spiritual nature; because of the savour of his good ointment, his rich graces, their love is drawn forth to him; they smell a sweet savour in his person, righteousness, and sacrifice; all his garments, his garment of salvation and robe of righteousness smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia: they handle the word of life, lay hold on Christ, the tree of life, and pluck, and take, and eat of the fruit that grows upon it; and when they have lost sight of Christ, their beloved, and have found him again, they embrace him in their arms, hold him fast, and will not let him go. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto them; they receive it cordially, and the love of it, and feel it powerfully working in them, and find themselves strongly influenced by it to love and serve him.-3. They are capable of spiritual acts and exercises, and do perform them; spiritual men, and they only, worship God in the Spirit, in a spiritual manner, with their spirits, and under the influence of his Spirit; and such worship, as it becomes their character, is only acceptable to God; when the worship of carnal and formal professors is very disagreeable to him: they can talk and converse with each other about spiritual things; the Lord turns unto them, or bestows upon them a pure language, the language of Canaan, which they speak, and in which they speak one to another, so as to understand and be understood by each other; as they are favoured with abundance of rich inward experience, out of the abundance of their hearts their mouths speak, in Christian conference with one another; and their speech in common conversation bewrays them, and shows to what company they belong, and that they are not carnal, but spiritual men and they are capable of walking, and they do walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; which distinguishes them from carnal men, and entitles them to the character of spiritual men; yea, they walk in the Spirit, and live in the Spirit, and are led by him, out and off of themselves, to Christ, and the fulness of grace in him, and into all truth as it is in Jesus; and such who are under his leadings and teachings, as they are the sons of God, they must be spiritual men, and mind spiritual things. 4. They have much of the Spirit of God in them, the several graces of the Spirit of God; as faith, hope, love, and all other fruits of the Spirit. The good work of grace, of which he is the author, the work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope, is begun in them by him, and will be carried on, performed and perfected; he works in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure, and whatsoever is well-pleasing in the sight of God, and strengthens them to do the will and work of God; under his influence they exercise every grace, and grace is the governing principle in their souls; they are not under the law, but under grace, and therefore sin has not the dominion over them; but grace reigns, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord; yea, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, frees them from the law of sin and death, from the tyrannical power of it; so that they appear to be spiritual men, and to be spiritually alive. And even the Spirit of God himself dwells in them, and is the

criterion which distinguishes them from carnal men; Ye are not in the flesh, that is, ye are not carnal men; but in the Spirit, spiritual men, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you; and therefore called the temple of God and of the Holy Ghost; the world, carnal men, cannot receive him, nor know him; but the true disciples of Christ know him; for he dwells with them, and shall be in them, Rom. viii. 9, John xiv. 17 though even in these spiritual men there is much carnal-mindedness, carnal affections, and lusts, and desires; The flesh lusteth against the Spirit; and they are ready to say, with the apostle, I am carnal; with the flesh I serve the law of sin, Rom. vii. 14, 24, 25.

II. What the spiritual things are, spiritual men mind; from which they are denominated spiritually-minded men.

1. They mind their own souls, and the spiritual and eternal welfare of them; not only when they were first awakened to a sense of their sinful state and danger, and cried out, What shall we do to be saved? and when they first asked the way to Zion, with their faces thitherwards, and first gave up themselves to the Lord, and to a church of Christ, by the will of God; but afterwards, by making use of all opportunities, public and private, for their profit and edification, to promote the prosperity of their souls, which spiritual men are more mindful of than of their bodies.-2. The law of God is spiritual, Rom. vii. 14; and this is minded by a spiritual man. This has great things in it worthy of consideration, and to be minded, respecting the good of men and the glory of God; and yet many are unmindful of it, yea, cast it away and despise it, and count it as a strange thing, Hos. viii. 12; unworthy of any notice and regard; but the spiritual man, whose eyes are spiritually enlightened, and the vail taken off from them, beholds wondrous things out of it, especially as in the hand of Christ, and fulfilled by him; and they may be said to mind it, and to be spiritually-minded towards it, when they meditate upon it, the author, nature, and usefulness of it. It is the character of a good and happy man, that in his law (the law of God) doth he meditate day and night; not in it as a terrifying, cursing, and condemning law; but as instructing, and informing into the nature of sin and duty, and as magnified and made honourable by Christ, who has fulfilled both the preceptive and penal part of it; and of which David says, O how love I thy law, it is my meditation all the day! Psalm i. 2, and exix. 97; yea, spiritual men not only love it, and great peace have they which love thy law; but they delight in it, as did that spiritual man the apostle Paul; I delight in the law of God after the inner man ; see Psalm i. 2, Rom. vii. 22; and they are willingly subject to it, and serve it with pleasure. The carnal mind, opovημа тηs σаркоs, the φρόνημα της σαρκος, wisdom of the flesh; or the man who is under the influence of it, and is carnally-minded, is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be: but the wisdom of the Spirit, or he who is under the influence of that, and is spiritually-minded, is subject to it, and with his mind serves the law of God. 3. The gospel, and the truths of it, which are spiritual things; If, says the apostle, we have sown unto you spiritual things, the seed of the word,