and the precious truths of the gospel, is it a great thing if we should reap your carnal things? partake of somewhat of your worldly substance, 1 Cor. ix. 11; these are the things of the Spirit of God, or the spiritual things which the natural man receives not, because foolishness to him; as the doctrine of the cross, or the doctrine of salvation by a crucified Christ is; nor does he know it, value and esteem it, it being only spiritually discerned; which spiritual discernment he has not; but the spiritual man judges spiritual truths, and discerns the difference of them from others, and the true value of them; his taste discerns perverse things, and distinguishes good and bad; and he esteems the words of truth more than his necessary food, and counts them savoury food, such as his soul loves; he finds the word of salvation by Christ, and he eats it, and it is the joy and rejoicing of his heart; it is like Ezekiel's roll, which was in his mouth as honey for sweetness; it is the sincere milk of the word which new-born babes desire; and is meat for strong men, to which spiritual men have their minds well-inclined: and on divine and evangelical truths they dwell in their thoughts and meditations; as on the doctrines of everlasting love, of the covenant of grace, and the transactions of it; We have thought of thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple! and on the doctrines relating to the person, offices, grace, and righteousness of Christ; to which may be applied the words of the Psalmist, My meditation of him shall be sweet! Psalm xlviii. 9.4. Spiritual blessings are minded by spiritual men; such as the elect of God are blessed with in heavenly places in Christ, Eph. i. 3; as election in Christ, acceptance with God in him, redemption, pardon, justification, adoption, and eternal life; these are things spirituallyminded men have their hearts set upon, and are often revolving in their minds; these are blessings indeed, which they are importunately desirous of; they seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and such-like spiritual and heavenly things; believing, that all other things of a worldly kind shall be given unto them, needful for them, about which they are not anxiously solicitous, not minding them. in comparison of others.-5. Being built up a spiritual house, and being a holy spiritual priesthood; they are concerned to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, even the sacrifices of prayer and praise, which they offer up by their great Highpriest, and which become sweet odours, being perfumed with the incense of his mediation; and they themselves are made joyful in the house of prayer, their offerings being accepted with God upon his altar; which draw their spiritual minds hither, and make them intent upon such sacrifices. 6. Spiritually-minded men employ themselves in spiritual services: they present their bodies a holy, living, and acceptable sacrifice, which is but their reasonable service; and concerned they are to serve the Lord in every religious duty acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, and, in righteousness and holiness all the days of their lives. Moreover, -7. They exercise themselves in the several graces of the Spirit of God; their minds are very intent upon, and very desirous of a growth in every grace, that their faith

may be increased and grow exceedingly; that they may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost; and that their love also might abound yet more and more. To all which may be added, — 8. That spiritually-minded men have their hearts, affections, and conversations in heaven; their hearts are where their treasure is, and that is in heaven; their affections are set on things above, where Jesus is; and their conversation is in heaven, from whence they expect Jesus their Saviour.

III. It may next be inquired, how any of the sons of men come to be spiritual men, and to be spiritually-minded. They are not so naturally, or by their first birth; they are born of the flesh, and are flesh, carnal, sinful, and corrupt; their minds are fleshly, or they are carnally-minded; their minds and consciences are defiled with sin, and from thence nothing proceeds but what is sinful; their minds are vain and empty, and they walk in the vanity of their minds; they are without God, any true knowledge of him, love to him, and fear of him; they have not learned Christ, and think nothing about him; they are sensual, not having the Spirit, nor any of his graces: they mind earth, and earthly things, these engross all their thoughts, affections, and desires; all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are the principal entertainments of their minds, and what they are chiefly conversant with; their natural bias is to that which is evil; the imagination of the thought of their heart is evil, and that continually; yea, their hearts are fully set in them to do evil; and such is the disposition of their minds, that they cannot think any thing of themselves, especially that which is spiritually good. This being then the case of the minds of men naturally, there must be a renewing of the mind, or it must be cast into a different mould: ere a man can be spiritually-minded, he must have a new heart and a new spirit put within him; the Spirit of God must work in him to will, must give him an inclination and disposition to that which is spiritually good; he must enlighten his mind, and fill it with the knowledge of spiritual things; must put the laws of God into the minds of men, and write them in their hearts; he must influence and attract their affections to spiritual things, and make them in love with them, and thoroughly convince them of the evil of carnal-mindedness, and the sad effect of it, death; and of the advantages of spiritual-mindedness, next to be considered.

IV. The effects and consequences, and so the evidence of being spiritually-minded.

1. Life: To be spiritually-minded is life: they must be alive who are spiritually-minded, and they must be alive in a spiritual sense; their spiritual-mindedness is an evidence of their spiritual life, and makes it plainly appear that they are in such sense alive. This is manifest, 1. From the exercise of their senses, before observed; they have their spiritual senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling; and therefore must have life, without which there can be no senses, and the exercise of them; as he who has his natural senses must be naturally alive, so he that has his spiritual senses must be

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spiritually alive. - 2. From acts of spiritual life performed by them; they breathe after spiritual things; prayer is the breath of every spiritually-minded man; Behold, he prays! and this shows life; he discourses of spiritual things, which discovers the temper and disposition of his mind; his walk and conversation is spiritual, he walks and lives by faith on Christ, and walks on in him as he has received him. 3. From the lively exercise of grace in him, and fervent discharge of duty. His faith is a living, and not a dead faith; his hope is lively, and his love is as strong as death, and cannot be destroyed by it all which evidence his spiritual life; and the exercise of these graces evidences his spiritual-mindedness; and hence follow a fervency of spirit in serving the Lord, and a running in his ways without weariness, and a walking without fainting. - 4. Such who are spiritually-minded are not only alive themselves, but they are the means of enlivening others by their spiritual conversation; by their spiritual counsel and advice; by their spiritual consolation they administer, and by their spiritual exhortations stirring up to love and good works.-5. Spiritualmindedness issues in everlasting life; which is the gift of God, and flows from his grace; which all that are spiritually-minded partake of, and shall have it; this is certain from the promise, that whosoever seeth the Son, and believes in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life; and from the grace of God in them, which is a well of living water springing up unto everlasting life; and from the Spirit of God in them, the earnest of it, and who makes meet for eternal life, and introduces into it, because of the righteousness of Christ, which entitles to it.

II. Another effect and consequent of spiritual-mindedness is peace; To be spiritually-minded is peace; inward peace of soul, which is a fruit of the Spirit, and is had in a way of believing in Christ; it flows from the righteousness of Christ received by faith, and from his peace speaking blood in the conscience: and the spiritual things their minds are conversant with, are productive of internal peace, and serve to maintain and increase it. Spiritually-minded persons are of peaceable dispositions; they are desirous to lead a quiet and peaceable life, under whatsoever government they be; and as much as lieth in them, they endeavour to live peaceably with all men, in the neighbourhoods in which they are; to promote peace in their families, and among their friends; and study to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, among the saints in a church-state, in which they are; to do otherwise would be to act the carnal part, and walk as men, 1 Cor. iii. 3. And to close all, spiritual-mindedness issues in everlasting peace, the end of such a man is peace, he departs in peace, he enters into it; and this is his everlasting portion and happiness.

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OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE.

THE exercise of a good conscience is a branch of internal religion, and is concerned with the worship of God; God is to be served with a pure conscience, 2 Tim. i. 3. And it has to do not only with things natural and legal, accusing or excusing, as the law of nature directs; and with things civil, with obedience to civil magistrates, to whom we are to be subject; not only for wrath, or fear of punishment, but also for conscience' sake; their office being of God, and an ordinance of his, Rom. ii. 14, 15, and xiii. 5; but likewise with things religious, spiritual and evangelical; things respecting both doctrine and practice; The mystery of the faith, or the peculiar and sublime doctrines of the gospel, are to be held in a pure conscience; and the ministry of the word is to be exercised, holding faith, the doctrine of faith, and a good conscience with it, 1 Tim. iii. 9; yea, every good work, rightly performed, springs from hence, 1 Tim. i. 5. A good conscience has God for its object, it respects his word, will, and worship; and therefore is called, conscience towards God, 1 Pet. ii. 19; as repentance is repentance towards God, and faith is faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ; or ovveionais Oeov, conscience of God, which is of God, has God for its author, being implanted in the mind of man by him; it is God's vicegerent, which acts for him, and under him, and is accountable to him. I shall consider,

I. What conscience is, and its office.

1. What it is. It is a power or faculty of the rational soul of man; by which it knows its own actions, and judges of them according to the light it has; some take it to be a habit of the mind; others an act of the practical judgment, flowing from the faculty of the understanding by the force of some certain habit.

1. It is a science, or knowledge, as its name shows; a knowledge of the will of God, and of a man's actions, as being agreeable or disagreeable to it; it is a common science or knowledge, and therefore called con-science, common with other men, and also with God; by which it knows what is true, just, and right with God, and so what is fit to be done or not done; it is that by which a man is conscious to himself of his secret thoughts, as well as of his actions; it is the spirit of a man, which only knows the things of a man within him, and knows those things which only God and himself knows.-2. From this knowledge arises a judgment which conscience forms of itself and actions, and accordingly approves or disapproves of them, and excuses or accuses for them; to which judgment the apostle refers when he says, If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, 1 Cor. xi. 31; and this is made in the view of the judgment of God, and is submitted to that, and has that joined with it, it is a joint testimony; and even sometimes God himself appeals to the judgment of conscience, as well as conscience appeals to God; Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard, Isa. v. 3.-3. It is the will of God revealed, which is the rule of

conscience, its knowledge and judgment; either revealed by the law and light of nature, which was the rule to the Gentiles, who had not the written law, Rom. ii. 14, 15; or by the moral law written, which contains that good, perfect, and acceptable will of God, concerning things to be done or not done; or by the gospel, which instructs in the doctrines of grace, and enforces the duties of religion by them, and is a rule to walk by, Gal. vi. 16. 4. Hence nothing can bind the conscience but the law and will of God; it is God's vicegerent, acts for and under him, and receives its authority and instructions from him, and is accountable to him, and to no other; it is a debtor to him, and owes obedience to his will; it is constrained by it, laid under a necessity to observe it, and cannot do otherwise: let men say what they will to the contrary, or be clothed with what authority they may, parents, masters, magistrates, have no power over children, servants, and subjects, to oblige them to what is contrary to the dictates of conscience, according to the will of God; no laws of men are binding on conscience, which are not according to, or are contrary to the law and will of God; We ought to obey God, rather than men, is the determination of the apostles of Christ, Acts iv. 19, 20.

I. The office of conscience, what it does and ought to perform, when it does its duty.

1. It is a light to enlighten men in the knowledge of the will of God; it is that light which lightens every man that comes into the world; which is had from Christ the Creator of men; and shows unto men what is their duty to God and man, it informs them both what they are to do, and what to avoid; The spirit of man, which is his natural conscience, is the candle of the Lord, which he lights up in the soul of man, searching the inmost recesses of the heart; especially if enlightened by the word and Spirit of God. 2. It takes cognizance of a man's actions; it keeps a good look-out, and watches over them; it has a sort of an omniscience belonging to it; it sees all his goings, yea, it sees his heart, and what passes through that, marks his ways and works, and numbers his steps.-3. It takes an account of them, and registers them; it is a book in which all are written; and though it may be shut up for the present and little looked into, there is a judgment to come, when the books will be opened, and the book of conscience among the rest; according to which men will be judged.4. It acts the part of a witness for or against men, as even in the heathens; their conscience bearing witness to their actions, good or evil; and so their thoughts excused or accused one another. So the conscience of a good man bears witness for him, and is a co-witness with the Holy Ghost, to which he can appeal, as the apostle did, Rom. ix. 1; so the consciences of Joseph's brethren witnessed against them, when they said, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, Gen. xlii. 21. -5. Conscience is a judge, acquitting or condemning. So the conscience of Samuel acquitted him of all charges that could be brought against him, as did God and his people also, 1 Sam. xii. 5. Such a clear conscience had Job; My heart, says he, that is, my conscience, shall not reproach, or condemn me, so long as I live, chap. xxvii. 6. In