The Certainty of Heavenly, AND The Uncertainty of Earthly TREASURES.

Together with a Discovery where the Treasure and Heart is placed.

As it was Delivered in severall Sermons, By that Eminently Faithfull servant of Christ, Mr William Strong, late Minister at Westminster.

They being his last Sermons.

LONDON, Printed by W. Wilson living in Well-yard neere West-Smithfield, and are to be sold by Francis Tyton at the Three Daggers ne [...]re the Inner Temple [...] Fleetstreet.

The certainty of Hea­venly, and the uncer­tainty of Earthly Treasures.

Math. 6.20, 21.

Lay up for your selves Treasures in Heaven, &c. For where your Treasure is, there will your heart be also.

IN these words there are two things; First a De­hortation, in Re­ference to Trea­sures below; Secondly, an Ex­hortation, in References to [Page 2]Treasures above; Both these branches have two things at­tending them. The Dehorta­tion from laying up Treasures below, lies in two Arguments: 1. their uncertainty, 2. their decay. The Exhortation for laying up Treasure in Heaven lies also in two arguments: 1. Their Stability. 2. Their con­tinuance. The uncertainty of the one, and the certainty of the other; the decay of the one, and the durablenesse of the other, should cause us to treasure up the one, and dis­esteem the other. Then the second part of the text comes in as a reason to enforce the former, For where your Treasure is, there will your hearts be also.

For the opening of this Text, I shall lay down two pro­positions [Page 3]to treat upon.

1. That every man hath a Treasure in this life; For he doth speak it as an Act performed in this life, and not as an Act to be per­formed in the life to come: this life is the sow­ing time, that life is the Reaping time; Here the Treasure is in getting, there it is in spending, therefore every mans Treasure is in this life.

2. That wheresoever the Trea­sure is, it is Attractive to draw the heart unto it. Or thus, Every man laies up his heart where hee laies up his Treasure.

To begin with the first Doctrine, Doct. Every man hath a Trea­sure in this life. namely

Doct. 1 That every man hath a Treasure in this life.

There are (for the explain­ing of this truth) two sorts of Treasures. First, God hath his Treasures; Secondly, men have their Treasures.

First, Gods Treasure are God hath his Trea­sures: The Treasures of God are of four sorts.

1.Of Nature. The Treasures of Nature, Job 38.22. Hast thou entred in­to the Treasures of the Snow? or hast thou seen the Treasures of the Hail?

2.Of Provi­dence. The Treasures of Provi­dences, Ps. 17.14. Whose belly thou fillest with thy hid Treasures; 'Tis spoken in Reference to ungodly men, some there are that have in Common Provi­dence their bellies fill'd with hid Treasure. Godly men they have the best of the dainties of Providence, but ungodly ones what they have, is but to [Page 5]satisfie their belly, never fills their Souls, their Soules are left empty of grace, though their bellies are filled with hid Treasure.

3.Of Grace There are Treasures of Grace, Col. 2.3. In him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdome and Knowledge.

4.Of wrath and ven­geance There are Treasures of wrath & vengeance in Deut. 32.34. It is sealed up among my Trea­sures: to me belongs vengeance, &c. These are Gods Treasures the Scripture speaks of.

Secondly, Men have their Trea­sures. men have their Treasures; And that which a man makes his chief good, that is his Treasure, that which he placeth his happinesse in, that which the comfort of his life flowes from, that is mans Treasure; see it so in those two Scriptures, Luke 16.25. [Page 6] Ps. 17.14. That which in this place is called a Treasure, is there called, His good things, and his portion; that is, that which a man makes his chiefe good. The greatest difference between Godly men, and the men of this world is this; the one is all for great provisions in the way, and nothing for the Journeies end; the other is for all at the Journeyes end, and but little in the way.

For the opening of this Doctrine further, that every man in this life hath his Trea­sure, and his own Treasure, this take in four propositi­ons.

1.Every man hath some chiefe good. That every man hath some chiefe good which his Soul is set upon, and which it centers in, wherein he placeth his happinesse, which if you [Page 7]could attain perfectly, your Soules would be at rest. Psal. 116.7. Return unto thy rest O my Soul. Godly men have their Treasure in Heaven, God is their Treasure, God is their Portion, therefore they can rejoyce and say, God is my chiefest good and my utmost end. David tells you the ten­dency of his soul ran after God; My soul thirsteth for God, the living God, all this is to shew that God is Davids chief good, untill the Soule can at­tain to its chiefest good its ne­ver at rest: But take a poore carnall wretch that never knew any thing above the Creature, because the creature is his chief good, till hee can obtain it, he is restlesse, Psal. 6. unto 14. verse. 1 Sam. 25.29. Ungodly mens soules goe [Page 8]wholly after their treasure, and a godly mans soul goes wholly after his God; Davids soule 'tis said, was bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord his God; but it followes, a wick­ed mans soul is slung away from God, as out of the middle of a sling. There are three things in that sling. 1. It notes a distance from God, as the stone in the sling is at a distance from the man. 2. It notes not onely a distance from God, but it notes a distance in judgement, in wrath; he will sling away the wicked from the middest of his people, he will separate them from himself in wrath. 3. It notes violence, slinging is a violent motion.

2.Every man chu­seth some chiefe good in this life. Proposition. Every man hath some good in this life in regard of Election, not in regard [Page 9]of Fruition; some chief good he chooseth in this life, for the chief good of the Saints is re­served for them for the life to come: the Election is below, the Fruition is above; the one hath his portion in this life, the other in the life to come. Some have chosen vanity; now that you have chosen here, you will enjoy hereafter; some of you chuse Riches, that which you chuse here, will be your portion hereaf­ter; that which is your chief good in this life, you must content your selves to have in the life to come.

3.Every man hath his owne chief good. Every man in this life hath his own chief good, and that is his Treasure: That which is another mans chief good, is not thine: As every man lives by his own Faith so every man [Page 10]lives upon his own Treasure: thy Faith perhaps is thy Trea­sure, and God is thy Trea­sure, an other mans Riches are his Treasure: see a godly mans Treasure, Isai. 33.6. The feare of the Lord is his Trea­sure: this is peculiarly spoken of Hezekiah, and in him of the Church of God; Now what is here meant by the fear of God? Calvin notes two things.

1. Reverential fear and awe of the Majestie of God, from a right apprehension of his Righteousnesse and Holinesse, so Prov. 17. The feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome.

2. By Fear, is meant an awe­ful worship of God, Worship the Lord with fear, and rejoyce with trembling. Psa. 2.11 Thus you see what was Hezekiah's Treasure, It was the feare of the Lord; a holy [Page 11]feare of God, and a constant worship of him is a Christians Treasure.

But how comes it to passe, that every man hath his own Treasure?

1. From the different lights that men have; Men have dif­ferent lights some can see good in that which an other man can see none, 2 Cor. 4.18. We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, &c. 2 Cor. 4.4 There are some in whom the God of this world hath blinded their eyes, and some the eyes of whose under­standing are enlightned. Ephe. 1.17.18. Men have different good things, because they have different lights; the things of this life are base in the eyes of some, though glo­rious to others.

2.Men have dif­ferent sa­vours. Men have different trea­sures [Page 12]to themselves, because they have different Savours, Rom. 8.5. For they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit: the meaning is, they savour the things of the flesh. Tell a na­turall man of a promise, it hath no more savour to him, then a stock or a stone: tell a Rich man of a promise, who makes Riches his treasure, this hath no savour in it; he can taste sweetnesse in dainty meats, and in gorgeous appa­rell, and in the pleasures of sin that are but for a season: but let a Saint come and look up­on the word of God, thy word is sweeter to me then the honey or the honey combe: Psal. 19.10. people runne after vanity, because they sa­vour no better things.

3.Men make dif­ferent choice. From their choice: would you know why Israel was Gods peculiar treasure, it was be­cause God chose them him­selfe, Psal. 144.4. Some men make choice of God as their chiefest good, let him enjoy God he is contented; saith David, Whom have I in heaven but thee, there's none on earth whom I desire in comparison of thee: But if you let me live without God, 'tis nothing, he accounts all things nothing in compa­rison of God, because that's the mans chief good: Take an other, He saith, I can live without God all my life time, and I can be content never to heare of God; the Reason is, because they chuse an other good for their chiefe good be­sides God himselfe, this chief good is called a mans Trea­sure: [Page 14]you see now every man hath his chiefe good in this life, and his own chiefe good in this life.

4. A mans chiefe good is his trea­sure. Particular, That a mans chiefe good is his Treasure, and that upon a three-fold Accompt.

1.Because of the precious­nesse. From the Preciousnesse of it; No man owns or esteems his Treasure, unlesse it be his own chiefe good, and that which he esteems as precious. A mans Treasures are preci­ous, therefore when the Lord speaks of precious things, he calls them a Treasure, Mat. 13.44.2 Cor. 4.7. The Gospel is cal­ed a Treasure, because it carries precious things with it. Take a man whose chiefe good is God, take God from him and he is undone. But an other man who makes wealth his [Page 15]treasure, he saith, take away this, and I shall have no com­fort; one takes God for his treasure, and the other wealth for his.

2. 'Tis called Treasure, Plenti­fulnesse. not onely for the preciousnesse of it, but for the plentifulnesse of it; for 'tis not a little that will make a Treasure, but abun­dance, Col. 2.3. In whom are hid all the Treasures of wisdome and knowledge: What ever is a mans chiefe good, he desires it with an infinite appetite, for he is never satisfied. Take a man that makes pleasure his chiefe treasure, he is like a Horse-leach, that cryes, give, give: let him have to day, yet he is hungry to morrow. Take a man whose chiefe good is laid up in God, though he have all the world can afford [Page 16]him; yet he sayes, give me more comfort from God, more Communion with God, and more likenesse to God; hee is still unsatisfied, because it's his chief good.

3.Valuati­on of it. 'Tis called a Treasure because it's that by which a man values himselfe: look how much a man hath in his Treasure, so much he con­ceives he is worth: there is a Rate which the man puts up­on it, it adds as it were to the value of himself. Now as men value themselves according to their wealth, honor, &c. so God values every man according to his heart. Prov. 10.20. The heart of the wick­ed is little worth: the man is worth nothing if his heart be worth nothing. For these grounds 'tis called a Treasure, [Page 17]for the preciousnesse, for the plentifullness, & for the value and esteem a man puts upon it.

Use 1. Vse 1. For the examina­tion. Of Examination: where is your treasure? Take this rule, where thy love is, ther's thy heart; where thy heart is, ther's thy Treasure; where thy Treasure is, ther's thy Heaven, where thy heaven is, ther's thy God; and where thy God is, ther's thy happines.

There are six things I would have you to consider, That is your Trea­sure. as to this use of Examination, that you may know where your Trea­sure lies.

1.Which you la­bour most for. Consider what it is that you dig for, that you labour for, that you are willing to spend your money for; this is the first try all of your Treasure, If you dig for wisdome as for preti­ous stones, If thou seek [...]st [Page 18]her as Silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures. Pro. 2.4. and saith our Saviour Job: 6.27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life? What's the great thing you work for in this life? What is it you lay out your money for? that you labour for? dost thou lay out thy Knowledge for God? thy estate for God? or dost thou spend thy money for that which is not bread, and labour for that which satisfieth not? Isaiah 55.2. When a man shall return to his own heart, and say, I have laboured for Wealth all my daies, and wearied my self for vanity, and now I come to die, I find that I have not laboured at all for God, I have not chosen God for my trea­sure; Oh this mans condition [Page 19]is very sad! how many are there that can lavish out their wealth upon their lusts; But let a poor member of Christ come, every penny that's gi­ven to them, is as much as a drop of blood: that which you lay out your money for, and digg for most, that's your Treasure.

2.Which is the com­fort of your lives. Examine what it is by which the comforts of your lives come in, what it is you live upon: whether you labour for the meat which perisheth, or for that which endureth to e­verlasting life? John 6.27. Whether your comforts come in by eating the bread of wicked­nesse, and drinking the wine of violence. Prov. 4.17. Or by feeding upon Jesus Christ by faith? Hee that feeds onely upon the Creature, feeds upon [Page 20]Ashes, a deceived heart hath turn­ed him aside, Isa. 44.20. That man that makes not God his treasure, makes the Devil his Treasure. Therefore consider by what doth the Comfort of your lives come in? some may say, I live a comfortable life, because I have a great deal of wealth, and a plentifull Table; but the other saith, I live a comforta­ble life, because I have had Communion with God, and some tast of Heavenly Trea­sures: that from whence the Comfort of your lives comes, in that's your Treasure.

3.Which you are to keep. What is that which is your greatest care to keep a­bove all things else? that's your Treasure. Treasures are commonly hidden, that men may keep them safe: take a [Page 21]man that makes Riches his treasure, what doth he feare most? theft: but take a godly man that makes God his Treasure, what doth he fear most? sinne, because God is his Treasure.

4.Which you re­treat unto. What doth your soules retreat unto for comfort in any trouble, in any disgrace, in any distresse? whither doe you retire? whither doth a rich man retire when hee is in danger? to his Riches; whi­ther doth a godly man retire when he is in danger; to his God; Prov. 18.10, 11. the name of the Lord is a strong Tower: the Righteous runneth into it, and are safe. Pro. 10.15. The Rich mans wealth is his strong City: and as an high wall in his owne conceit; one retires to his Riches, and the other to his God.

5.Which you value men for. How doe you judge of other men? for you value men more or lesse according to that you count your owne treasure. A godly man that makes Grace his treasure; Ask him this question, who is the best man? whether the rich man, or the godly man? whe­ther hee that hath much of grace, or he that hath much of Gold? whether he that hath much of the Creature, or hee that hath most of Christ? Hee answers, the godly man is the better man, because he seekes that which is pretious unto me, because he seeks his trea­sure above, saith David. Psal. 16.3. To the excellent of the Earth, in whom is all my delight; Hee accounts them excellent because they have much of that which he counts his trea­sure, [Page 23]and he values all other men according to that they have of that which hee ac­counts his treasure.

6.Which you prize time for. What are the times that you do mostly prize? A man u­sually prizeth those times most that bring him in most of his treasure, most of his wealth, and profit Amos 8.12. say they, When will the Sabbath be gone? there was no day so tire­some unto them as a Sabbath day, they longed for the week daies, because they brought them in much plenty, much of their treasure. But now with a gracious heart it is o­therwise, as the one saith, when will the Sabbath be gone? so the other saith, When will the Sabbath come? Isa. 38.13. they called it a delight, because it brings in most of their trea­sure: [Page 24]So it is with a grati­ous heart. Those times wher­in he hath trading with Hea­ven, wherein he hath Com­munion with Christ, wherein he hath the powrings forth of the Spirit, wherein he hath the Exercise of Grace, where­in hee is made serviceable to God; these are the times that he accounts pretious.

There are five Rules of tryall more, which every one should take as looking-Glasses, wherein you you may see where your treasure and chief good is laid up; A mans treasure is that. which is the greatest Question to be resolved that can be.

1.Which is first in his aim. A mans treasure and chief good is that which is first in his eye and aime in the whole bent and course of his life, that which hath the pri­ority [Page 25]in all his intentions, that is his chief good. Intention is the bent and aime of the will in Reference to some good propounded to it, by the un­derstanding: that which is first in Intention, is last in Ex­ecution, if it be a good ob­tained; but if it be a good to be obtained, then that which is first in Intention, is last in fruition; Mat. 6.33. Seek first the Kingdom of God, &c. There is not onely a seeking of the Kingdom of Heaven, but there must be a seeking of it first; for God stands much on Priorities in Scripture; and if it be not set in its due order, God himself is displeased with it, and that which is done is, as if it had not been done at all. Take a naturall man whose chiefe good is [Page 26]wealth; it is first in his Eye, it hath a prehemenency in all his Actions and Intentions he seekes an Estate first to be great in the world, rather then to be good in the World; the chiefe good is that which draws out the first born of the Soul, 2 Cor. 4.18. We look not at, or we seek not, the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen, &c. Hee speaks not onely in his own name, but in behalf of all the Saints, for they have all one chiefe good and utmost end; Phil. 3.14. thus it was with Paul, I presse to the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I presse to the mark, the mark is that hee proposeth, that he shoots at, as an Archer at his mark: you may see by this, what's your treasure; what is the first and [Page 27]main thing in your Intenti­ons; for ther's no Saint in the World, but if God should say, ask what thou wilt, and I will give it thee; he would say, first I desire interest in they selfe, and Inheritance with the Saints: that which is first in Intention, is last in fruition, what the main of your souls is set upon, that is your chiefe good.

2.Why he desires for it self. A man shall know where his treasure and chiefe good lies by this; that's a mans chief good which hee desires for it self, desires are all things else in subordination thereto; Christ gives you this rule in Mark 3.7. Hee that loves Father and Mother more then me, is not worthy of me: A man is bound to love Father and Mother, but not more then me; when [Page 28]doth a man love any thing more then Christ? when it comes in competition with him, but not in subordinati­on to him: God is to be belo­ved for himself, and Christ is to be received for himself, and therefore 'tis said, Luke 14.26. He that hates not Father and Mo­ther, &c. cannot be my Disciple; how hates them? a man is bound to love them all. The Command is not absolute, that he should hate them ab­solutely, but comparatively; to hate them is to soe an excel­lency in Christ above them, Christ is to be beloved for himself, and God for himself. That Rule of Austin is true, we are to love friends in God, and Enemies for God. But how shall I know that I love God for himself? for a man [Page 29]may love Christ and God from a principle of self-love. I shall give you two try­alls.

First, then a man loves God for himselfe, when hee is willing to part with all things for him: that man that is willing to part with all things for God, must needs love God above all things. But how shall I know that I am willing to part with all for Gods sake? there are two sea­sons when men are tryed in this life; at the time of Conver­sion, and the time of dissoluti­on. First, At the time of Con­version, Philipi. 3.8. Paul counts all things but drosse and and dung that he may win Christ, so [...]. 14.33. he that forsakes not all, cannot be my Disciple, The se­cond is the time of Dissoluti­on, [Page 30]without this I cannot at­tain to my chiefest good: will the Lord have an Isaac? the soul will give him an Isaac, he will sacrifice his parts with all that ever he hath, and give them up to God, 1 Cor. 6.23. you are not your own, you are bought with a price, saith the Apostle. A gra­cious soule hath experience of this at the time of dissolution, when hee sets all things here below aside for God; when his friends, his Estate, his glo­ry, and his portion take their leaves of him; A godly man when he comes to die, he can look on all these dying things rejoycingly; he can say, I have no need of them, Phil. 1.23. Lord, I de­sire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, which is far better, Phil 1.23. as a Martyr said when hee came to die, my friends are [Page 31]dear, my Children are dear, my Wife is dear, but my Christ is dea­rer.

2. The second triall that a man loves God for himselfe; when a man doth abstract God and Christ, the good that is in them, and the good that comes by them, and the soule is carried to them for the good that is in them. There are two seasons when all the good that comes by Religion and godliness, seemes to be ab­stracted from it; at the time of Affliction, and at the time of desertion.

First, At the time of affliction: Is there any out­ward benefit comes by Reli­gion in the time of persecuti­on and affliction?

Secondly, All the time of desertion that deprives a man [Page 32]of all comfort; now when a man shall be able to fay as Job, though be kill me, yet I will trust in him; I will love him for the excellency that hee hath in him, though I receive none of that ex­cellency from him: For the good that comes by him, many love him, but for the good that is in him a gratious soule loves him. Take a man that makes riches his Treasure, hee will part with a good Conscience, the best friends he hath; nay, though hee act to the griefe of his friends, and to the re­proach of his Enemies; yet if the man doe but obtaine that which he desires, he matters not; this is a clear argument: that a man loves it for it selfe. An ambitious man will break all bonds, Naturall, Civill, and Religious; yea, let him [Page 33]be accounted an ambitious self-seeking man; yea, let cre­dit and Conscience lie at the stake, yet hee will despise Counsell, tread upon friends, trample upon Lawes, and all that hee may be great in the world.

3.Unto which he refers all things. That which is a mans Treasure or his chiefe good, he referrs all things unto it, and seekes all things from it; for a mans chief good and ut­most end is that which works in all the rest. I shall give you two rules for this.

First, he that seeks all things in subordination to his chief­est good, hee seeks nothing that shall fall crosse unto it: this is the signe of a godly man, what ever is crosse to his chief good, hee counts life not dear for the removall of [Page]it, I count not my life dear unto me, saith Paul, so I may finish my course with joy, Acts 20.24 Bo­dily ease, carnall delight, worldly contentments are not dear unto thee, if God be thy chief good; if thy Estate, honour, thy relations, yea, thy life it selfe come in competiti­on between thy God and thee, thou wilt say as the Mar­tyr: sarwell Wife, farwell Chil­dren, farwell Estate, yea, farwell life, and give me my Christ. 'Tis with many men as it was with Demas, Demas hath forsaken us, and embraced the present world, he professes godlinesse no more; So it is with men, they neglect known duties for temporall advantages; take heed that nothing crosse thee in thy treasure, but let all things be subordinated un­to it.

Then secondly, as it must not crosse it, so it must serve it, every thing must be sub­ordinate to his chiefest good; thus it was with Jehu. 2 Kings 2.9. The Kingdom was in his eye, that was his chiefe good; Now Jehu's reformation of Religi­on tended onely to this end, to set Jehu in his Kingdome; yet hee did the worke that God intended, hee execu­ted Gods judgements up­on the house of Ahab, hee thought to have had his ends upon God, and God had his ends upon him. But take a godly man whose chiefe good is God and godlinesse, hee loves an Estate not for it selfe, but that hee might honour God with it: gifts, what doth he value them for? for the E­dification of the body of [Page 36]Christs wisdome (saith Solo­mon) is good with an inheri­tance, Ecles. 7.11. that is when grace teacheth a man to make use of it.

4.After which his soul goes out. Tryall, by which you may find out your treasure; A mans soul goes out towards it with continuall and earnest breathings, and endlesse gasp­ings; so you shall find it is with naturall men, who have their treasure in this life, and and whose bellies are fed with the providences of God one­ly, and who make a God of their belly, their hearts are only carried out with breath­ings after this treasure. But on the other side, David saith, my soul is lifted up to God; Psal. 27.4. to lift up the soule in scripture is, to desire a thing earnestly. Take a man whose treasure is in [Page 37]Heaven, whose chief good is God, the continuall gaspings of his soul are after God, Ps. 25.1. he desires God earnest­ly, 2 Cor 5.1. in this wee groane earnestly, &c. hee is under con­tinuall groanings and gasp­ings after God, though it is true the soule finds an im­possibility of enjoying God perfectly in this life; yet you shall finde this true, love to him of the right kind is so car­ried after God, that it is ne­ver satisfied, or at rest with­out more of the enjoyment of him. Examine therefore your soules, what do they most breath and pant after conti­nually, and that's your trea­sure.

5.Wherein his soule receives satisfaction. That's a mans trea­sure wherein a mans Soul receives satisfaction, and without [Page 38]which hee is never satisfied, Ps. 49.18. the worldling bless­eih his soul while he lives; that's his treasure; Naturall men are satisfied in nothing else but in the things of this world, that their soules pant and breath after. Take an Ambiti­ous man, let every mans purse be opened, it will not satisfie him, he cannot sit in a low place, because a high place is his chief good; so Ha­man, let him have never such honours, hee is not satisfied except he be made most hono­rable, because his soul goes out after high places, hee must be had in esteem of the men of the World. But take a man that hath godliness for his chief good, and this he is sa­tisfied in, and nothing else, in Psal. 36.8. They shall be a­bundantly [Page 39]satisfied with the fat­nesse of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the River of thy pleasures: Now give a godly man wealth, it will not satisfie him, give him honor, it will not satisfie him, Prov. 14.10. a good man shall be satisfied from himself; By these rules you may easily see where your chief good is laid.

Vse 2. Use 2. For con­viction. Of Conviction, to set forth the misery of them that mislay their treasure, that be deceived in their chiefest good. Take heed of laying up your treasures in this life, eve­ry man in this life hath some treasure, or some great good; this will set forth the misery and wretched condition of all them that misplace their treasure, misplace their chiefe good. There are many sorts [Page 40]of men whose treasure is laid up here below, their portion is in this life, they are mista­ken in their chief good, this plainly shewes they are in a miserable condition; and yet this is the condition of most of the world, and under which the greatest part of it will perish. That I may heighten this Conviction, Six con­siderati­ons. I shall give you six considerati­ons.

1.The scripture speaks of a true treasure. Consider, the Scripture speaks of a true treasure, Luke 16.11. If ye have not been faith­full in the unrighteous Mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches: here's the oppositi­on, he sets the one against the other. There is a true trea­sure, and there is a false trea­sure, and they that inherit not substances, inherit shadowes. [Page 41] Pro. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? they are said not to be, and that upon a twofold account.

1. Because there's no reali­ty in them.

Secondly, because there's no stability in them, that is, in reference to that which you fancy to be in them. Co­vetousnesse is Idolatry, for it is an Idoll, the Apostle saith so of Riches: 'tis not so in sub­stance as it is in appearance; there never was a godly man in the world, whose eyes God had opened, but he saw that it was onely his thought, his apprehension of riches that made them seem great. Then they have no stability in them: they perish in the very enjoyment of them; he is a miserable man that doth not [Page 42]Inherit such spirituall abiding substance as God is, and hath his treasure in God, and the things of God.

2.There's a false treasure. There's a false treasure as well as a true: herein lies a great delusion of sin and Sa­than, to deceive a man in his chief good, Heb. 3.12, 13. Take heed left there be in any of you an evill heart of unbeliefe in departing from the living God, and left any of you be hardned through the deceitfullnsse of sin. Sathan will labour to deceive you in every thing, but he la­bours mostly to deceive you in your chiefest good, in drawing you from God; for as the Spirit of God is in directi­on, so the Spirit of Sathan is in delusion. As the spirit of God directs a man in this life to carry out affections more [Page 43]to God, and to make his chief good; so on the contrary, the Devill doth all to this end, that he may deceive a man of his chiefest good, and take off the chiefest good, and take off the affections of his heart from God: When Sathan fix­eth a mans heart on any par­ticular good, it is to take him off from that that is an Uni­versall good: Sathan is said to be a murderer from the begin­ning; how so? on this account, because hee deceives persons of their chiefest good, where­in the life of their soules doth lie.

3.Mans nature abhors to be de­ceived. Consider the nature of man doth exceedingly abhor to be deceived: the Holy Ghost doth charge us that we should not overreach our bro­ther, the nature of man is [Page 44]much inclined to deceive one another, 1 Tim. 2.14. and therefore the nature of man doth excee­dingly abhorr to be deceived it self. 2 Cor. 11.3. Now there was never such deceit as in the chiefest good, to give a man brasse for gold, and stones for bread; To take the Creature for the Creator, to set up the Devill in the place of God; This de­ceit is of being cheated in our chief good. There are ma­ny other that are lesser deceits, he doth deceive in particu­lar Acts, as when a man hath been convinced of sin, pray'd against it, and the Devill hath varnished it over again, and led him to the Commission of it; but the grand deceit of all is in his chiefest good.

4.The De­vil labors above all to deceive you in this. Consider this is the de­ceit that above all, he takes [Page 45]care to hide from you, he will keep you under that all the daies of your life. You have many deceits of Satan laid in a mans way, that may be dis­covered to him, and these a man may recover out of, as 2 Tim. 2.26. That they may reco­ver themselves out of the snare of the Devill. He may see that in that particular Act he was de­ceived, that which he thought was good, he finds it was not so, but he was deceived through the wiles of Satan; a man may see the devices of Satan in reference to his dar­ling sinne, 2 Pet. 2.18. But the Devils great designe on all unregenerated men, is to keep them in an unregenerate state, more then in unregenerate Acts: Therefore the great work in conversion, is to cause [Page 46]the soul to mind its chiefe good; never was there any converted to God and Christ, but he saw that he erred in his chiefest good, and that he had departed from his God; how is a man departed from God? He is departed from God in two things: 1. As his chiefest good. 2. As his utmost end. How must a man returne to God? First, as his chiefest good, and then as his utmost end.

5.This de­ceives most, Mat. 7.14. This will be the deceit under which the greatest part of the world will be damned; for, straight is the Gate, and nar­row is the way that leadeth to life, and few there be that find it. All men are carryed forth to some good or other, and say, VVho will shew us any good? Psal. 4. But there are four things that [Page 47]most of the world do usually mistake in.

1. They take that which is but a seeming good, for a reall good.

2. They take that which is a particular good, for an uni­versall good.

3. They take that which is a temporary good, for aneter­nall good.

4. They take that which is a­nother mans good, for their own good: Most men mis­take under these four sorts of good, and so perish.

6.This will cause Sa­tan to in­sult. If you be deceived in your chiefest good, it will be the matter of Satans insulta­tion, and the matter of your Lamentation for ever. It will be matter of Satans insultati­on, Satan is the envious man: TWO things there are in Satan [Page 48]to sinners; one is cruell mur­derings, and the other is cruel mockings of them, as in Isai. 14.11, 12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer Sonne of morning? Nebuchadnezzar that thought himselfe as it were placed in heaven, falls downe to hell, he deluded himselfe. It will be then too late to say, I was ignorant, and as a beast be­fore thee.

These men are miserable, The mi­sery of those that are herein cheated. that are cheated of their chief good, and their misery lyes in six Particulars.

1.There's nothing good to such a man. Because there's nothing good to that man that err's in his chiefest good, Eccle. 5.13. there's a man that made Ri­ches his chiefest good; there's no good to him therein, be­cause he made not God his chiefest good, his Riches are to [Page 49]his hurt: many a man is made honourable and Rich to his hurt. But are not Ordinances you will say, for a mans good? Is it not good to live under the means of grace? to have the droppings of the Sanctu­ary? I answer no, if not im­proved, the nigher to Ordi­nances, and at distance from God, the nigher to the Curse, Heb. 6.7, 8. Ordinances will ripen your sinnes, and they will hasten your ruine, they will insnare your soules, they will draw out your lusts, and they will ruine you for ever: As every thing is good to a man that is right in his chief­est good, so nothing is good to that man that errs in his chiefest good.

2.This will cause him to eire in all things. If a man erre in his chief­est good, this will make him [Page 50]erre in his judging of al things and persons in this life; for the rule of every mans judgement is according to his chief good, he errs, and must needs do so, if he errs in that: Take a man that judgeth finning better then suffering, he chuseth sin before suffering, Iob 36.21. Take heed, regard not iniquity; for this thou hast chosen rather then affliction: He chuseth the pre­sent things, before things to come; things that are seen, before things that are not seen: But to a godly man, sin is worse then suffering, then death, then hell. It was the saying of one of the Martyrs, He is not praise-worthy, nor wor­thy of praise, that God praiseth not. A man that hath his trea­sure in heaven, he judgeth all things aright according [Page 51]to the heavenly Treasure.

3.This makes him mis­place his affections If a man mistake his chief­est good, this causeth him to misplace all the affections of his soule; they will be set wrong, & are set upon wrong objects: The Holy Ghost speaks of a crooked and a per­verse Generation, when they were set upon wrong objects, they were in feare where no feare was. Now take an other man whose chiefe good is God, he feares sinne, the other feares man; he rejoyces in God, the other rejoyces in man; here the affections of soule are mistaken by mispla­cing the chiefest good.

4.To lose his la­bour. This makes a man loose his labour, in what ever he doth all his life time; he la­bours onely for the meat that perisheth, but not for the meat [Page 52]that endureth for everlasting life; he spends his parts, his strength, and time in vaine: He sowes the wind, and reaps the whirle winde.

This grand error makes you erre in every thing you doe; the wicked man is deceived, disappointed, and at the last will be ashamed of all his un­dertakings: But the godly man cannot be deceived, nor disappointed of his hopes, nor return ashamed, because he is not mistaken in his chiefest good, and therefore cannot lose any of his labour.

5.This will destroy him. This onely will destroy the man: This is the grand mistake; a man may be decei­ved in particular things, and yet the soule may be saved in the day of the Lord: but if once he be deceived in his [Page 53]chiefest good, he can never be saved: for what is a mans chiefe good here by way of Election, shall be hereafter his chiefe good in way of fruition, 1 Cor 3.11. For other foundation can no man lay, then that is laid, which is Iesus Christ, &c. To erre in this, is a fundamentall er­ror; those that erre in matters of practise, 'tis said, yet their soules might be saved, though their labours be lose; but if thou errest in thy chiefe good, thou canst never be saved.

6.Its the greatest cheat of all. If there were nothing else but this, its the greatest delu­sion, and the obsurdest cheat in the world, for a man is de­ceived, and makes that his greatest happinesse that is the quite contrary, that will prove his greatest misery; blessing, or blessednesse, requires two [Page 54]things. 1. It must be that which cannot be lost. 2. It must be that that puts the soul into a condition that he he doth not sinne, or that he cannot sinne. He that placeth his happinesse below God and Heaven, he sets up an other God, which is the highest way of sinning in the world, and therefore see what a miserable condition that man is in, that sets his chiefest good in things below God and Heaven.

Vse. 3. Vse 3. For Ex­hortati­on. Is this a truth that every man in this life hath something hee laies up for his Treasure, whether it be in Heaven or Earth; then take this exhortation in the words of the text, lay up treasures in Heaven. Three things I shal premise.

1. Some doe observe the [Page 55]sweetnesse of Christs Com­mands how he applies himself to the desires of his people, the Lord Jesus Christ doth not forbid this, hee doth not say, let there bee no such pro­vidence in you; but if you will lay up treasure, hee tells you where you should lay up the true treasure. So Luke 10.20. he sends forth the 72 Dis­ciples, and they rejoyced the De­vills were subject to them; Now he doth not forbid their joy, but hee doth augment their joy; Rejoyce rather that your names are written in the book of life: so when he faith, Matth. 20.18. Feare not him that can kill the body, he forbids you not altogether to fear, but see if your feare be plac'd on the right object, that is, himselfe more then them: so when men [Page 56]are apt to glory in some ex­cellency they have obtained, saith the Holy Ghost. Jer. 9.23. Let not the wife man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his rich­es, but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord. Set a right object for your glorying in; so here hee doth not forbid you to labour for riches, but to be rich towards God; he doth not forbid you to bee adorned, but let it bee with beauties of holi­nesse.

2. It's observed that there are diverse waies of treasu­ring; 3. Sort of trea­sure. there are three forts of treasures that are laid up, three severall waies.

1.Trea­sures on Earth. There are treasures on [Page 57]Earth, some place their hapi­nesse on the things below: our Saviour faith, lock not to the things that are seen, but have an eye to the things that are not seen. It was well observed by one, that that whieh a man loves and aimes at as his end, that's his treasure. A man that hath no end beyond this life, hath no treasure beyond this life, let me be rich, let me be honourable and brave in this world, that's all he looks at. He looks not up to the treasure above; this man placeth his affections on the Earth, and makes that his portion.

2. There are Treasures in Hell, 3. Trea­sures in Hell. some lay up their trea­sures in Hell, Rom. 2.5. they treasure up to themselves wrath a­gainst the day of wrath. There are two treasures, one of sin, [Page 58]and the other of wrath, and the one sits for the other; as the man adds to the one, so God adds to the other; for you must know as sinne ripens, so doth judgement, as sin en­creaseth, so doth wrath, Ezek. 7.10. The Rod hath blossomed, as Pride hath budded; It's spoken of Gods bringing of wrath upon Nebuchadnezzar, now mind the gradation, the Rod first blossoms, then it buds; judgement first ripens, and then ruins; you read in scrip­ture of an Ephah of wick­ednesse, that is, that which notes the full measure of wickednesse; and you read of a Talent, which is judgement proportioned to the sin. As you fill up the treasures of your sins. so God fills up the treasures of his wrath: you [Page 59]think you onely carry on your own treasure, but God is car­rying on his treasury of wrath also. The

3. 2 Trea­sures in Heaven. Sort are those that lay up treasure in Heaven, that place their happinesse in the chief good, in nothing but Heaven, that have aimes be­yond this life, the things pre­sent are but for their way, not for the end of their Journey. Every man is as his chiefe good, and as his utmost end is; if thy end be Earthly, thou art a man of the Earth; if Hea­venly, thou art a man of Hea­ven. It is said, Psal. 17.14. Men of the world that have their portion in this life: They are called men of this world, be­cause their end and aime is not beyond this world. But the Saints and Citizens of [Page 60]Heaven are so called, because their end and aime is beyond this life, and their chief good lies there.

3. You are to observe the manner and nature of this command; lay up treasures in Heaven, his meaning is not, that they should lay up no­thing on Earth: To lay up on Earth is a duty, as to provide things necessary for the body; but in especiall manner bee sure to lay up in Heaven, have your hearts in Heaven, though your bodies be on the Earth, we ought to lay up something in summer against the time of Winter; Parents ought to lay up for their Children. Lay not up treasure on Earth; that is to say, as it is contrary to a treasure in Heaven, but so as it may be helpfull to thy trea­sure [Page 61]in Heaven. Again, lay not up treasure on earth, so, as if there were an absolute ne­cessity of it, or as if a man could not live without it, [...]ke 12.15. a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth. Lastly, lay not up treasure on Earth, so as to neglect Heaven, let not this be a means to take off your hearts from higher things, if so, your treasure will be your curse, and God gives you a great estate in great Judgement.

Let us now come to set home this Exhortation, seeing some lay up treasures in Earth, some lay up treasures in Heaven, do you be exhor­ted to lay up your treasures in Heaven.

Four things I will speak to in proscuting of it.

1. What is meant by Hea­ven?

2. What are the treasures of Heaven.

3. What is it to lay up trea­sures in Heaven.

4. Some arguments to enforce the Exhortation.

First, what is meant by Heaven? What is meant by Hea­ven. There is a twofold Exposition of it, and we may make an improvement of both of them.

1.God himself. By Heaven, some expound it of God himselfe, as if hee should say, lay up your trea­sures in God, with God: so that they take Heaven for God, that is the God of Hea­ven, the pleasures of Heaven. Now this will help you to un­derstand other Scriptures, Mat. 21.25. The Baptism of John, was it from Heaven? that [Page 63]is, from the God of Heaven; Heaven is there put for God: so Luke 15.18. Father I have sinned against Heaven; that is, against the God of Heaven, the God that dwells in Hea­ven, there's your happinesse alone, let your chief good be laid up in him, let him who hath promised to be our por­tion and exceeding great re­ward be our treasure in Hea­ven; yet you are to consider that the Scripture speakes of other treasures in Heaven, Luke 12.33. Provide your selves a treasure in Heaven that faileth not; that is, of good works, but they are onely as they aim at God; God is himself the great reward, and the rich treasure of Heaven; this is the excel­lency of every gratious per­formance of duty, 'tis a [Page 64]treasure of heaven, because it is recorded in heaven by God himselfe, lay up therefore your treasures with God, that he may be your eternall re­ward. The

2.The third Heaven. Exposition of this place, is this; They take Heaven for the third Heaven, the highest Heaven, the habitation of Gods majestie and glory, the place where the Saints shall be with God, where the Angels have Communion with God, Ier. 23.23. He is said, to fill heaven and earth; 'tis called the place where his honour dwels; there you have two things. 1. The Vision of him. 2. The Fruition of him, so 'tis said to be a City, Heb. 11.10. whose builder and maker is God; this being the place of the Saints, therefore they are exhorted to lay up [Page 65]their treasure in it: the time will shortly come, when the Saints shall be removed from earth to heaven, for here they have no abiding City: now their happinesse in heaven be­ing to enjoy God to eternity, for this cause they are exhor­ted to lay up a Treasure in heaven. Well, take it in both these sences, in God, or in hea­ven, where the eternall enjoy­ment of God shall be.

In the second place; What is that Treasure that a man should lay up in heaven? We shall understand it by the op­posite; there is a treasure that man layes up on earth as his chief good, as Riches, Honor, High-places, Pleasure, popu­lar applause, &c. and where his Treasure is, there his heart is: So there is a treasure in hea­ven [Page 66]which is a mans chiefe good; it is God that is his re­ward, Christ as Mediator that brings him to God.

There are three things that demonstrate, Nothing but God can be a mans treasure in hea­ven. that none but God can be a mans treasure in heaven.

1.Because a man must love it best. A Mans treasure is that which he loves best, and a man must love nothing more then God; nay a mans chiefe good is that which he loves with an infinite love, that he doth never say I have enough. The Hebrew word for Treasures, signifies that which a man sets his heart most on; where a mans love goes, there a mans zeal goes, that's his treasure that carryes out his love.

2.Prize it most. That which a man pri­zeth most, which a man sets highest price on, that's a mans [Page 67]Treasure; now a man should prize nothing more then God; Kingdomes and Nations be not deare to God for the sake of the Saints, therefore King­domes and Nations should not be deare to the Saints in re­spect of God, they should prize nothing in comparison of him, much lesse in compe­tition with him.

3.Relieup on it. Upon a mans Treasure he relies for supplies, that which a man makes his Treasure in Calamities and Distresses he goes to it; therefore David saith, Psal. 13.25. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there's none upon earth that I desire be­sides thee: my flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Thus you see every man must be supplyed out of his owne Treasure.

Thirdy, You will say, God is in heaven above, the habi­tation of his holinesse and glo­ry; How can we be said to lay up God for a Treasure? 'Tis true, God is in heaven, he made the heavens, and he dwels in heaven; but he is not laid up there for thy trea­sure, unlesse thou closest with him by faith, and lay him up for thy God, and in so doing he will be thy treasure; for though he dwels in heaven, yet he dwels also in humble and contrite Spirits. Now there are six Rules to get the God of heaven to be our God and Treasure.

1.Chuse God so thy trea­sure. He that will lay up Trea­sure in heaven, he must chuse God for his treasure in hea­ven, not onely the joyes and delights of heaven, the hap­pinesse [Page 69]of heaven, but the God of heaven, that which thou chusest is thy treasure: If a man chuse Honour, and Ri­ches, and Pleasure, that is his treasure; what you chuse first, you prize most, and you shall be sure to have God for your treasure if you chuse him.

2.Part with all for him. Then part with all other treasures for him: No man can have two Treasures, no more then he can have two Masters, Mat. 19.21. Look to your selves, you have not God for your treasure, except you part with all other treasures for him.

3.Let thy heart be after him. The soul is to be carry­ed out after this treasure in­cessantly; that man that layes up God for his treasure, his heart is continually carryed after him, and so must yours, [Page 70]if you will have God to be your Treasure, Psal. 73.24. How doth the foul go out af­ter God? Psa. 119.20. My soul pants for the longings it hath towards thee; my soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the Lord. Psal. 84.2. so saith David: If your souls do not go out after God, and relish the sweetnesse of God, certainly you have no part nor portion in this Trea­sure.

4.Live up­on him. If you would have God for your treasure, live upon him; men live upon their treasures, so must you upon your God.

5.Glory in him. Would you have the God of heaven for your trea­sure, then glory in him; what a man labours to get for his treasure, that he glories in. Every man values other men as he values his treasure; take [Page 71]a man that makes Riches his treasure, let the person be ne­ver so honourable he despi­seth him, because he hath not so great an estate as he: so a godly man values every man according as his chiefest good is, he is worth no more then he is worth in Gods account, therefore he esteems no more of him.

6.Add to thy trea­sure. What ever is your Trea­sure, if you lay up your trea­sure in any thing, you must use all means to add unto it, and make a daily increase, the increase of your treasure coms in by adding to it, Isai. 33.6. Why doth Hezekiab lay up treasure in God? he gets a fur­ther interest in God, therefore the man is bless'd with his trea­sure: wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy [Page 72] times, and thought of Salvation, and this is, because the fear of the Lord is his treasure.

The fourth particular is to give you some grounds to en­force the Exhortation; is there a treasure in Heaven? then do not be such Enemies to your soules as not to lay up trea­sures there. There are four Arguments to enforce the Ex­hortation.

1.No trea­sure be­low God, will be lasting. No treasure below God will be lasting, Christ speakes therefore to you continually to lay up your treasure in Heaven, because there will come a time when all trea­sures laid up below God, will be expunged and gone, and then what will you live upon? 1. Cor. 7.29.31. the Apostle faith, the time is short, and the fashion of this world [Page 73]passeth away; 'tis a Metaphor ta­ken from things folded up, a great part of time is unfold­ed and unwoven, it's almost spent, there's abundance of life run out already, and little left behind; there is an eterni­ty that will never be spent af­ter all thy time here is spent, lay up therefore treasures there.

2.Nor hopes of Heaven without this trea­sure. Heaven is the place to which you hope to go, now carry your treasures with you, and send your treasures be­fore you, or else there can be no hopes of entering into Hea­ven. This is the Exhortation of our Saviour, when he faith, lay up Treasures in Heaven; hee seems to speak to the hopes of persons going to Heaven, goe powre out your soules before the Lord, make sure of your [Page 74]Heavenly mansion; you will leave the estates and your fine houses behind you, poure out your soules to the Lord, make sure of your interest in Christ, that you may carry your treasure with you.

3.God is an all­sufficient treasure. Consider, God is a faith­full and true treasurer, there­fore lay up your treasure in Heaven: God is self-sufficient to himself, and he is allsuffici­ent to you; But if thy treasure be here below on this side to God, it will not last, that which is thy treasure in this life, will be thy Torment in the life to come Iam. 5.3. your Gold and Silver is cankred, and the rust of them shall be a witnesse against you, and shall eat your bread as it were fire: yee have heaped treasure together for the last daies: when judgement [Page 75]shall come, your Torment shall then begin, and you shall have the greatest plagues at the last day of judgement; your treasures will then crush and begin to be your tormen­tors, that which now thou choosest to be thy trea­sure, will then be thy tor­mentor. The onely way to preserve what you have of this treasure on Earth, is to lay up treasures in Heaven. In the houses of godly men are the best and pretiousest treasures, because they come into them from a promise, and so they have much sweet­nesse in them. All the cares of wicked men is what they shall have, but a godly man, that hath Communion with God, and an interest in Heaven; these men look upon it as a [Page 76]priviledge what they should do for God.

4.If God be not your treasure here hee will not herafter. Argument; you that have not God for your treasure here, you shall never have him for your treasure hereaf­ter, for after this life a man can never change his chiefe good, that which is so here, shall be so hereafter; therefore if you have not a treasure laid up in God in this life, he will not be thy God in glory here­after, and yet God shall be all in all.

You have seen already the misery of those that erre in their chiefect good: Now I shall come to shew you the happy condition of them that have pitched upon their chief good, and that have laid up their treasures in Heaven. Whatsoever they are in this [Page 77]world; yet in regard of their chief good they have not mis­carried. A good man is every way blessed. O how blessed is that soul that hath not misplaced his treasure. A godly man is every way a blessed man.

1.In the pardon of his sin. Hee is blessed in regard of the pardon of his sin; blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered, Ps. 32.1.

2.Disposi­tion of his soul. Hee is blessed in regard of the disposition of his soul; blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Mat. 5.8.

3.In hunger­ings after ordinan­ces. He is blessed in his hung­rings and thirstings after or­dinances; Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, for they will be still praising thee, Psal. 84.4.

4.In his acting to God. Hee is blessed in his obe­dientiall actings to God; blessed [Page 78]are the undefiled in the way that walk in the Law of the Lord: Psal. 119.1.

5.In his expecta­tion. Hee is blessed in his ex­pectations, Isa. 30.18. Blessed are they that wait for him. Nay, e­ven his very Afflictions are blessed; Psal 94.10. blessed is the man whom thou chasti­sest and teachest out of thy Law; Thus you see every way how a soule that hath made God his treasure is blessed. But wherein lies the top of his blessednesse, But the top of his bless­ednesse is in his chiefe good. and the height of his happinesse? he is blessed in his chief good, and there lies the height of his blessednesse, unto which, and in comparison of which all these are but subordinate and inferiour blessednesses. Look to the Angells in the glory of of heaven, they are blessed.

First, in their in ward quali­fications and endowments; their wisdome, their power, their zeal, they are blessed in every respect.

Secondly, in regard of their offices and imployments, they are principalities and powers, they are Co-workers with Christ.

Thirdly, they are blessed for their Activities in those offices, Ezek. 1.14. They go and return like lightning: Wherein the An­gells blessed­ness lies. but where­in lies the top of the Angells blessednesse in heaven? it lies in this, that they have pitch'd aright upon the chiefest good, they have not erred in their treasure; nay, wherein lies the blessednesse of Christ himself as Mediator? hee was every way blessed, hee was the heire of all things, and appointed [Page 80]unto glory, and to a glory suitable to the service that he did perform, which neither men nor Angells were able to doe; But wherein lies the top of Christs glory and blessed­nesse? in Psal. 16.5. you shall see where it lies; the Lord is the portion of mine inheritance; his blessednesse lay in the chief good. The same is true of the glorified Saints in Hea­ven, the soules of just men made perfect, the glory of the Elect, and the top of all their blessednesse is that they have pitched upon the right good. On the contrary, what's the misery of the damned in hell? Wherein the mise­ry of the damned lies. there is nothing wanting to make them miserable, as there is nothing wanting to make the other blessed. If you look upon their sins, you must con­sider [Page 81]in hell, sin is their pu­nishment: If you consider the bottomlesse pit, the burning lake in which they are shut up, the worm of conscience that is ever gnawing and wounding of them, for so it is in all those damned spirits in hell, this must needs make their misery very miserable: but wherein lies the top of their misery? alas it lies in none of these, it is in this, that they have erred in their chiefest good. An antient writer (Chrysostome) saith, put a thou­sand of them together in hell, and here is the worst of their Torment, their erring in their chief good: so then there is none miserable like those sin­ners that have erred in their chief good, nor none blessed like these Saints that have [Page 82]pitched upon their chiefe good. The misery of the dam­ned lies in two things.

First, because they have forsaken God.

Secondly, because God hath forsaken them; they have ha­ted the Lord, and the Lord hates them, herein now doth lie the top of their misery, as this was the top of their folly, and the top of their vanity to neglect the chief good.

Now there are variety of comforts belonging to the Saints of God; But there are some great grounds of comfort that belong to those that have chose God for their chiefest good; and from these grounds should our comfort flow: As there are some grand promises that are recor­ded in Scripture, which doe [Page 83]wrap up all the rest of the pro­mises in them, The three great ptomises and they are three.

First, I will give you my Son.

Secondly, I will give you my spirit.

Thirdly, I will give you my self: A godly man should take comfort from all the promi­mises, but especially from the great promises: for if a man be much in the least duties of Religion, and neglect the greatest, hee gives just occasi­on to suspect the truth of his obedience; and so if a man re­gard the lesser promises, and look not to the greater, hee gives just cause to suspect the truth of his comfort: why is a godly man so happy a man? It is in this, that he hath not erred in his chief good. But [Page 84]there are seven grounds of the greatest comfort that I know in all the book of God, Seven grounds of com­fort for those that have chosen God for their treasure. arising from this consideration, I have not misplaced my treasure, I have not erred in my chiefe good.

1.Hereby thou maist see the riches of Gods love un­thee. Hereby the soul may see the riches as well as the free­nesse of the love of God, I have not miscarried in that which is the greatest error of the world, I have not gone with those who have their portion in this life: now its a great mercy to bee delivered from those sinns of laying up your treasure in this life; then this is much more a greater mercy, that a man hath not mispla­ced his chiefest good, for mis­placing a mans chiefest good, 'tis the greatest sinne, and the greatest judgement that can befall him. The Scripture [Page 85]speaks of delivering soules up to the Devill; Satan is both Lord & Executi­oner. and there is a twofold delivering soules up to the Devill.

1. As a Lord.

2. As an Executioner.

First to deliver up a man to Sathan as a Lord, so Judas was; the Lord Christ delivered him to Satan as a Lord to rule over him.

But, Secondly, when the Lord shall give a man over to Sathan as an Executioner, that Sathan shall terrifie his consci­ence: now for a godly man to be able to look into his owne condition and say, when I looked abroad into the world, I see one man place his chiefe good in riches, another in honours another in pleasure; but in the midst of all these though I have miscarried in [Page 86]many things, yet here is my comfort I have not miscarried in my chiefest good. There is not any thing will comfort a godly man more then this, when hee comes to look the King of terrors in the face, nothing will be such pleasure to his soul as this: when Sathan shall triumph over most of the wordl, the poor soul shall bee able to triumph over all the powers of darknesse; I am poor, I am ignorant, I am un­worthy; but through grace I obtained that mercy not to be cheated of my chiefest good: here will lie a mans wisdom, and here will be a mans glo­ry; it's a mans chief good that will be a mans wisdome or folly for ever hereafter. Luk. 10.42. Mary hath chosen the bet­ter part whieh shall not be taken [Page 87]way from her: wee read it the good part; and herein lay her wisdome, and herein lies the wisdome of all men in their Election, in a mans Election his wisdome lies, and above all choices he make choice of his chiefest good: I have been a fool in many things, but blessed be the name of God, I have been wise in this thing; I have been deceived in many things, but I have not erred in this: If this doth not stand by a godly man in the greatest troubles, there is nothing that can or will do it.

2.The true chiefe good shal neverb; taken from thee. Comfort is this, I have chosen the true chiefe good that shall never be taken from me, Luke 10.42, Which shall not be taken away from her. There is no man miscarries in his trea­sure, but he that layes it up [Page 88]below, and there is no treasure a man layes up below, but he shal be taken from it, & it shall be taken from him. Now one of the Ancients observe, that earthly treasure is lost, either from causes within, or from causes without: From causes within, Riches have principles of decayes in themselves, there is a Moth that comes out of your finest Garments, and there will come drosse out of your purest Gold; for all the Creatures came under the Covenant of God at first, and that Covenant being broken, those Creatures come under the curse of God. Then from principles without, Theeves will steale them: man falls from God, and all things else fall from him, and this is the great ground from whence all the perishing nature of a [Page 89]mans treasure comes that is laid below: But here lyes the difference between the Trea­sures below, and the Treasures above. Austin hath an excel­lent saying, That a mans chief good is given to no man a­gainst his will, nor taken from no man against his will, but the good here below is. The good above is lyable to no vi­olence without, nor no decay within; no opposition then can hinder comfort from the persons of those whose trea­sure is above. If Riches be a mans chiefe good, it shall be taken from him; but thy chief good eannot be taken from thee, and oh what a ground of comfort is this to to graci­ous soules!

3.Thou shalt be guided in thy way, and re­duced when wander­ing. Comfort; A man that hath chosen the true chiefe [Page 90]good, he hath alwaies some­thing to guid his way, he hath alwaies something to reduce his wanderings: 1. From this chiefe good he hath the guide of his way; this is to the soul as the Center is to the stone, the stone moves towards the Center, and moves towards it the right way; what guids the motion to the Center, but the Center? so a godly man, if he want a particular Rule, yet this generall Rule, God is his Center, is that that leads him to move towards him, that guids him in the right way. Whats the great consultation of the soul? It is this, O what will bring me neerest to my chiefest good? and 'tis the chiefe good that is the guide of all our motions, Mat. 6.22. If thine eye be single, thy whole bo­dy [Page 91]is full of light: Austin saith, Its the intention of the man that is the eye of the man, sin­gle intentions is his single eye, and a single eye, is an eye that looks purely upon God. As the intention of the eye guids the man, so the intention of the soule guides the way what carryes me most to my chiefe good this is that that guids the way. 2. This hash a great influence also to reduce mens wanderings; many that have chosen God for their chiefest good, do many times depart from him; now what shall bring him back againe? it is the eying of the chiefe good, this brings the man again: we have all gone astray like a sheep, but now we are return­ed to the shepheard of our soules; There is not any thing [Page 92]can reduce a man to God, that hath departed from God, but the placing his chiefe good in him: that soul, whose chiefe good is at home, will not long stay abroad.

4.Unto thy chiefe good thou maist al­waies re­tire and fetch comfort. Unto a mans chiefe good his soul retires, and from it he fetcheth chief comfort up­on all occasions, and so may Saints: he that makes choice of the chiefest good, can say, I am sure of this Comfort, The Name of my God is a strong Tower, Prov. 18.11. therefore I will runne to it and be safe; the Rich man goes to his wealth, the righteous man goes to his God. A godly man is able to say in those distresse, though I have no Riches to comfort me, and very few friends to stand by me; yet I have a God, a Christ, a Heaven, a new Co­venant, [Page 93]a new image which I can retreat to, and rely upon in all occasions; and thus the soule can triumph in his chief good over the chiefest evills; as the Spouse (it is a voyce of triumph) my beloved is the chief­est of ten thousand, Cant. 5.10. There is all a mans comfort in that which is his treasure, now God being his Treasure, there is his comfort; and hence it is, that these dare compare with any persons in any af­fliction, Psal. 44.8. compared with verse 22. in verse 8. In God we make our boast all the day long, and verse 22. For thy sake we are killed all the day long: What? boast of God, and kil­led all the day long for God? I, here is the comfort of a god­ly man, he can retire unto his chiefe good, and whensoever [Page 94]he retreats to it, he is filled full of comfort by it.

5.This may be a comfort in all thy failings. Prov. 20.9. 'Tis of great Comfort to a godly man in the middest of all his failings, yet I have not failed in chusing God for my chiefest good. The best men may, nay must say, Who can make his heart clean? and when he looks back upon his way, he must say, My heart bath runne out inordinately after this thing and that thing, and I have neglected my chief good and my treasure, but for this, I desire to be ashamed all my life, but my happinesse is laid up in him and no other, I have chosen him for my chief good, and though I have fail­ed in many things, Psal. 18.2. Yet I have not wickedly departed from my God: departed he hath, and many times departed wit­tingly [Page 95]and willingly; but wick­edly I have not departed from God. What is it for a man to depart from God willingly? 'Tis for a man to place his chief good some where else then in God, to go out after an other God: now in this David can rejoyce in the midd'st of his failings, and so maist thou. In that he hath not so departed from one God to set up ano­ther: therefore this, and one­ly this, can comfort the Saints in the midd'st of all their fail­ings: The departings from God, is the greatest trouble that doth befall them; but yet here is their great comfort that they have not left him as their Treasure, though they may sometimes leave him as their Lord.

6.That which thou lay­est up for thy chief good herethou shalt en­joy for e­ver here­after. Comfort which is un­speakable, [Page 96]that which thou hast laid up for thy chief good here by Election, that thou shalt enjoy in the world to come by fruition, therefore Austin saith, A mans blessed­ness is begun in Election here, but finished and perfected in fruition hereafter, Gen. 15.2. saith the Lord, I will be thy ex­ceeding great reward: dost thou chuse God for thy chiefest good here? if thou dost, that which thou chusest in one world, thou shalt enjoy in a­nother.

7.Thou shalt be blessed with the blessed­nesse of God. He that hath laid up his chiefe good in heaven, shall be happy with the same hap­pinesse that God himselfe is happy withall; look wherein Gods blessednesse lyes, in that shall thy blessednesse lie: wherein doth Gods blessed­nesse [Page 97]lie? it lyes in himself, his chiefe good lies in himselfe, for the Creature to acknow­ledge God for his chiefe good so farre as the Creature is ca­pable, he is blessed with the blessednesse of God himselfe, and thou dost enter into the joy of thy Lord.

Now I proceed to the latter part of the Text, viz.

For where the Treasure is, there will the heart be also.

Out of which words, I ga­ther this observation, viz.

That a mans chiefe good is At­tractive of the heart;Doct.or the Treasure where ever it is, car­ryes the heart with it.

Where ever a mans Treasure is, there will his heart be.

THere are four things I shall speak to by way of Explication.

1. To shew you what is meant by the heart: By heart in in Scripture, is meant the whole soul.

2. That the soul of man, the heart goes out of it selfe for its happinesse, for its chiefe good; or thus, the chiefe good of man is without himselfe.

3. 'Tis a matter of great con­cernment, where a mans heart is placed.

4. That the heart doth alwaies follow the Treasure, the heart and the Treasure will be together, and none can put them asunder.

5. We shall give you the grounds of it.

First, What is meant by the heart? By the heart is meant. 1. The whole soule. By the heart in Scrip­ture, is meant the whole soul. The Hebrews, generally place the Government of man in the heart, and make the heart the seat of the reasonable soul; so that you shall find the Scri­pture [Page 100]commonly speaking of it: First, if you look to the whole soule as corrupt, as un­sanctified, so corruption goes through all the faculties of the soule, but the heart is said to be the seat thereof, ler. 17.9. The heart is deceitfull above all things, and desperately nicked: and 1 Pet. 3.4. 'tis called, The hidden man of the heart.

2. If you looke upon the soule as renewed, 'tis said, With the heartman believes, Rom. 10.10. But the heart of man in Scripture, is sometimes ta­ken for those things that are scituated, and have their ha­bitation especially in the heart. As wisdome is attribu­ted to the heart, or folly, E­phraim is a silly Dove without a heart, Hos. 7.11. and he that trusts to his own heart is a foole, [Page 101]Prov. 28.26. that is, hee that leanes to his owne wisdome: Again, The con­science. the heart is put for Conscience, Davids heart smote him when he cut off the lap of Sauls garment. There's a conviction of the Consci­ence, that's called the heart: somtimes for the memory, which is the treasurie of the soul. But there are three things meant by the heart in this place.

1. 3. The thoughts and con­sultati­ons. The thoughts, Meditati­ons, and consultations of the heart, where the treasure is, there is the heart; that is, there is the thoughts, there is the medi­tations and consultations of the heart, in these all the thoughts and contrivances of the soule are, now where a man's treasure is, there are [Page 102]these, 2 Kings. 5.26. Did not my heart go along with thee. How did the Prophets heart goe with him? his thoughts went with him. So Iob 17.11. the thoughts of the heart are there called the heart, in the He­brew it is the possessions of the heart, for as what ever you do possesse in the body, the body can see a glory, and cast a sweetnesse in all things here below, so the soul can tast a a sweetnesse, and see a glory in all things above.

2. 4. Love & affecti­ons. By heart is meant a mans love, and affection, his desires and longings for, in these the soule goes out towards its ob­ject, Gen. 34.8. As it is said of Shechem, his house clave to Dinah. Now where your trea­sure is, ther's your love, there your desires are, the longings [Page 103]of your Soules are after it.

3. 5. Ioy and delight. By the heart is meant a man's delight, the joy of his heart, that whereby the great Comfort of his life comes in Psal. 62.16. If riches increase, set not your heart on him; that is, do not place the comfort of your lives in them, let not your hearts be swallowed up by them: Now where a man's treasure is, there his thoughts are, there his love is, there the joy and delight of his soul is. The

Second Proposition is this, Mans chief is without himself. that the soul of man goes out of it self for happinesse, for its treasure is without it self, It's Gods honour, his Prero­gative onely to have his bless­ednesse to be himself, hee is unto himselfe the chief good, [Page 104]he hath nothing without him­self to augment his happiness. Gods blessed­nesse is in him­self. The Lord Jesus Christ as Me­diator in all his obedience, ad­ded nothing to the blessed­nesse of God; My goodnesse ex­tends not to thee. Psal. 16.2. But this is Gods Prerogative one­ly to have his happinesse in himself; as for creatures that are capable of a chiefe good, their happinesse is not in themselves, but in their trea­sure which is good, and there­fore their heart is to go out af­ter their treasure. And here take notice of two great depths in Divinity.

1.Depth. Man hath not the chief­est good in himself, his hap­pinesse comes not from him­self, and hence it is that in reference to all things, hee is a dependant Creature. And [Page 105]therefore the soul is continu­ally restlesse, because it seeks to joyne it selfe to its chiefest good, which is without it self: you have a saying, Prov. 14.14. a good man shall be satisfied from himself; It is not from himself as separated from God, but from himself is uni­ted to God wherein his bless­ednesse lies: not selfe in oppo­sition to God, but self in-sub­ordination to God, and so a man is satisfied from himself; that is; hee goes not out of himselfe when hee goes into God, because he is made one with God.

2.Depth. Depth in Divinity is this; that it is the nature and con­stitution of the reasonable soul to make out to a chiefe good without it selfe; this is the nature of it in its Creati­on, [Page 106]it doth not onely seek its own preservation, but it seeks its owne perfection. This is that which is the working of every Greature, much more of the reasonable Greature, because it hath not a Foun­tain at home, it must go a­broad to draw; and because it hath not food at home, it must go out to gather; There­fore Austin doth observe very wel, that man is a midle Crea­ture, wel, there is some thing above him, and some thing be­low him: That soul that hath its chief good below it selfe, is a miserable soul; That soul that hath its chief good above it self, The good of the soul is above it self. is a happy soul; here is the happinesse of the Saints, that their happinesse is above themselves saith Christ, Iohn 6.27. Labour not for the meate [Page 107]which perisheth, but for the meate which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: the soul goes out to eat and to drink; Now the soule that feeds upon some­thing below it self is misera­ble, but that soul that feeds on somthing above it self, is blessed, Isa. 44.20. the Pro­phet speaks of some that feed upon ashes, a deceived heart hath turned them aside, that they can­not say, is there not a lie in my right hand? And thus doth eve­ry man feed whose chief food is below himself, he feeds on Ashes, not on spirituall food, he feeds of the Earth as hee lives in the Earth. Psal. 62.10 If Riches encrease, set not your heart upon them, hee sets his heart on Riches, and therefore his heart cannot be set on [Page 108]God, and his heart is set so upon riches as to suck some­thing from them for his pre­servation and for his perfecti­on; so a godly mans heart is set upon God, doth suck out of the sweetnesse of God for his preservation, and for his perfection, Isai. 66.11. They shall suck and be satisfied with the breasts of his Consolati­on.

Now give me leave to shew you the misery of them that set their happinesse in things below themselves; here's their misery in three things. The mi­sery of those that set their hap­piness in things below them­selves.

1. You draw where there is no water, the Creature is but vanity, all things below are so; you suck where there is no milk, all these things are emp­ty that you think to find a ful­nesse in.

2. The more your souls go out to these things for their Treasure, the more the Ap­petite is increased, but the lesse 'tis satisfied; for I told you, that all the Creatures, the more a man hath to doe with them, the more his appetite is to them.

3. Consider what is there to be had in these Creature-comforts, when your souls goe forth after them, what do you leave for them? You have for­saken me the fountain of living wa­ters, and have hewen to your selves Cisterns, broken Cisterns that will hold no water, Jer. 2.13. Ob­serve foure Particulars from hence.

1. All the good you have in a Creature, Creature comforts compa­red to a Cistern. is but a Cistern, they have no good in them­selves, no more then is put in­to them.

2. A Cistern is but of a small compasse, it will hold but a little, a man can see an end of its perfection, but of a Fountain thou canst see no end thereof.

3. Its water that will die and perish, therefore opposed to living water, it will be a withering comfort.

4. They will all leak out of the bottom, therefore they are said to be broken Cisterns.

But what is the water of the Fountaine? what is the com­fort that is in God? There five things in it.

1. The comforts of God compa­red to a fountain The water in the Foun­taine is originally in it selfe.

2. Its there continually.

3. Its is there inexhaustibly.

4. It is there communica­tively, the Fountaine natural­ly sends forth streames.

5. The comfort that is in God, is living comfort, the water that goes forth is living water.

Third General Proposition; Its a mat­ter of great concern­ment where our hearts are pla­cad. That it is matter of great con­cernment in Christ's acount, and it should be so in ours al­so, where our hearts are pla­ced. Let me open this; The Lord hath in Scripture given especial directions for the set­ting of a mans heart, Hag. 1.5. Consider your waies, in the He­brew it is, Set your heart upon your waies; so Deut. 32.46. Set your hearts unto all the words which I testifie among you this day. Now that it is a matter of great con­sequence where the heart is set, there are these grounds for it.

1.God mainly looks at the heart, Its the heart mainely that God looks upon and doth ob­serve, [Page 112]he looks not upon what man looks upon, man looks upon the outside, but God looks upon the inside, 2 Chron. 16.9. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himselfe strong in the behalse of them whose heart is perfect towards him; and there­fore because God looks upon the heart, it is matter of great consequence where we place our hearts.

2.God claimes the heart. Its the heart mainly that God laies claime unto, and that he calls for, My Sonne, give me thy heart, Prov. 23.26.

3.The man is where the heart is. Its matter of great con­sequence, because where the heart is, there's the man; ther­fore where the soule is gone, the man is gone, where the heart goes, the man follows.

4.God values man ac­cording to his heart. God values every man [Page 113]according to his heart, and the heart according to the Trea­sure upon which it is set: a wicked man is worth no­thing, because his heart is worth nothing, Prov. 10.20. The heart of the wicked is little worth. God values men accor­ding to their hearts, and their hearts according to their trea­sure, or the object upon which his heart is set. There are two things that make up the heart.

1. The Ornaments of the heart, a meek and a quiet spi­rit.

2. The Objects of the heart, and those things upon which the heart is set; the mans heart is worth as much as the object is that it is set upon, and if the object be worth nothing, the mans heart is worth nothing.

5.As the heart is, such is the life. Ground, because from the heart all the conversation flowes, therefore 'tis matter of great consequence upon what the heart is set, Prov. 4.23. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, so out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, Mat. 12.34. As the heart is pure or im­pure, so is the whole life: on what a mans heart is set, that's his treasure, or else it would not bee so dangerous to mis­place our hearts.

6.Objects trans­form the heart. Its matter of great con­sequence, where and upon what you set your hearts, be­cause the objects upon which the heart is set, they have a transforming power, and they doe mightily frame and fashion the heart according to themselves; and therefore as [Page 115]where your Treasure is, there will your hearts be also, so like to what your Treasure is, that will your hearts be like also: If a man mind nothing else in the world but Riches, they have nothing in their hearts but Riches, either how they may get or save them, if a mans heart be set on Cove­tousnesse, it transforms him, and the man is said to be a Covetous man, when a man either gets, or saves, or covets much, (for unjust keeping is as great an act of Co­vetousness as unjust getting.)

Jesus Christ hath left one golden expression, what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Mat. 16.26. observe the soul is not onely lost here, but it is lost hereafter also. 'Tis impossible [Page 116]to have the heart set wholly on Riches, and set on Hea­ven, because the soul is fra­med according to the object on which the heart is placed; therefore take these two things wherein the soul is hereby injured: In the light of it, and in the holinesse and purity of it.

1. In the light of it, let a mans heart be set on any heavenly beauty, its changed into a Heavenly complexion; let a mans heart be set on any earthly beauty, its changed into an Earthly complexion, and so the soul is lost in the sight of it.

Secondly, In the holinesse of it: As the soul can see no­thing that is sinfully evill, or spiritually good, when the heart is placed on wrong ob­jects; [Page 117]so it can do nothing that is spiritually good, nor with­stand any thing that is spiri­tually evill, when 'tis placed on Earthly objects: the holi­nesse and purity of the soul is is wronged by Earthly ob­jects; Therefore Covetous­nesse is called the not of all e­vill, how comes it to be so? I answer two waies.

First, all evill comes from thence as the root.

Secondly, all is nourished by it as the root; there is no prin­ciple of evill that will not flow from this evill, and there is no evill principle that it will not nourish, there is no sin that this will not frame the heart to, for it will make a man in love with every sinne, it will make a man prove an Apostate from God, Demas [Page 118]hath forsaken us, having loved this present world, 2 Tim. 4.10. It will make a man impudent and shameless in sin, as Mat. 26.16. What will you give me and I will betray him, faith Judas. It will make a man forget the offers of grace, Luke 16.14. and slight the word of God. And the Pharisees who were cove­tous, heard all these things and derided him. It will make a man desire the pleasures of sin that are but for season, it will make a man sin and desire to sin; you little know what hideous wrong the setting of the heart upon the world brings you, and what dolefull wrath it will lay you under. The heart doth al­waies follow the trea­sure. In the.

Fourth Place for proof that the heart doth alwaies follow the Treasure.

1. The heart of man hath its severall motions and out­goings, its Processes, and its Recesses, and all this is accor­ding as the Treasure is, Eccle. 6.9. The sight of the Eye is bet­then the wandrings of the desire; 'Tis in the Hebrew, the walkings of the soul; then the soul of man is a walking thing, the heart of a man hath its outgo­ings; It's true of the heart as it is said of the Angells, Ezek. 1.13. they go forth with in­credible swiftnesse like light­ning, so doth the heart, Eccel. 11.9. there you read of the way of the heart; the heart is rendred by Montanus as a thing that is ever in motion: most men do make choice of their chiefe good in their youth, and their hearts go af­ter it. Ezek. 33.31. Their hearts [Page 120]go after their Covetousness; their hearts walk after their Cove­tousnesse, so the Hebrew: you will say Covetousnesse is a sin in the heart, how then doth the heart go after it? ei­ther it is spoken of Covetous­nesse here as the Predominant lust; or else Covetousnesse is put for the Object of Cove­tousnesse on which it is set, hence 'tis that in Scripture the soul of man is made up of lustings in a good sence, Luke 22.15. with desire have I desired to eat this passover with you, and in an evill sence, Eph. 4.22. Put off the old man, which is cor­rupt according to the deceitfull lust; faith the Church, draw us and we wil run after thee. Cant. 1.4. how so? by discovering the great sweetness & excellen­cies that are in him; are soules [Page 121]drawn to him, then we shall have a delight in fellowship and Communion with him, and the heart is drawn out sutably to a mans Treasure: here are four Demonstrative Arguments that I shall give you, how it comes to passe that the Treasure is attractive of the heart.

1. Every unrege­nerate man hath some predomi­nant lust. Every man in an unre­generate estate hath some Predominant lust, and this lust is said to be Predominant, be­cause in the object that is en­joyed by that lust, there lies his Treasure; tis called the stumbling block of a mans iniquity, the Fathers use to stile it a mans darling sinne. Iob. 20.12. It is sweet in his mouth, and he hides it under his tongue: Every sin Rules over a man, but there are some sins [Page 122]that rule more immediately then any other, and these sins are a mans Treasure, that sin which he makes all other sins subordinate to, in that he pla­ceth his chief good, and then that's the sinne he is least able to resist; and what's the reason of it? because the heart will go out after its. Treasure, Iames 1.14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn aside of his wn lust, and enticed: sinne drawes a mans heart aside; But remember there is no man doth perish that ever did make a profession of Religi­on, but he did meet with this stumbling block of his darling sin, and because there was his Treasure, his heart would go out after it. The opportunity of Temptation is when a man is tryed in his master lust, hee [Page 123]cannot hold his heart from his treasure, because the treasure hath such a command and rule over the heart that he cannot resist it.

2. The heart is impati­ent of de­lay, in pursuit of its trea­sure. It will appeare the heart goes out to the treasure, be­cause in the pursuit of it, the heart is impatient of opposi­tion, and of procrastination; of opposition it can beare no denyall, of procrastination it can bear no delay, Prov. 17.12. It is better to meet with a Bea­robbed of her whelps, then a foole in his folly: who is Solomons fool there? every wicked man that hath no fear of God, an unre­generate man that is in his fol­ly, and hath no minde to get out of it, he is a fool; I, but when is it most dangerous to meet with him? when he is in his folly, it is when the lust [Page 124]is got up, and is ruling and raigning in the man: What's the reason a man had better meet a Bear robbed of her whelps, then a Foole in his folly? 'Tis because you stand betweene the heart and the treasure, and it can beare no opposition. As it can bear no denyal, so it can bear no de­lay; thus it is when covetous­nesse is a mans predominant lust; Balaam's lust was too swift for his Ass, saith the Prophet, They shall come as an Eagle doth hasten to the prey. (It is spoken of a covetous man) of all Birds, an Eagle flyes swiftest, and never flyes swifter then when she hastens to eat the prey; so it is with every one that persecutes his chiefest good whatsoever it be.

3. Let a man change his [Page 125]Treasure, A mana [...] heart changes as he changes his trea­sure. and presently his heart changes and returnes from that which before it went out after with the grea­test earnestnesse in the world, and now it returnes from it with the greatest swiftnesse: this is the first and the great change in Conversion, a mans changing his chiefe good, and when that is done, the soule returns to God.

There two things that make Conversion; one is an Aver­sion, the other a Conversion; the man turns away from his other treasure, and then his heart runnes after God for his treasure, Psal. 63.8. My soule followes hard after God. There are two expressions much a­like, one is, Numb. 14.24. My servant Caleb hath followed me fully; To fulfill after the Lord, [Page 162]that's the Hebrew: another ex­pression is, To cleave unto God: the one points the sincerity of a mans heart, and the other points the constancy of a mans heart; the heart that did be­fore follow sinne and vanity, now followes after his chiefe good, because he hath chang­ed his other good for God, Hos. 14.8. Ephraim shall say, what have I to doe any more with Idols? Now where the Treasure is, there will the heart be. The Fifth Particular, The rea­son why the heart goes af­ter the treasure. is to give you the Reasons or grounds, why the heart goes out to its treasure: I shall give you six great grounds from that, that the treasure is to the soul.

1.The treasure is the soules food. Because the treasure is the food that the soule feeds on, then its no wonder the soule goes out after its treasure, and [Page 127]cannot live without it: take an unregenerate man, he eats the treasures of wickednesse, and drinks the wine of vio­lence: take a godly man, hee feeds upon spiritual food, Ioh. 6.27. Labour not or the meat that perisheth, but for the meat that en­dureth to everlasting life: That which is the food of the heart, the heart makes after, and cannot live without it; that's the first ground.

2.Its the support of the soule. The chiefe good is the support of the soule, a man is not able to support himselfe without it, Psal. 41.12. Thou upholdest my heart, the Hebrew is, Thou hast underpropt my heart; the heart is not able to stand by it selfe, but the chief good holds it up; then it wants a support, and this support is God, Iob 8.15. There is a man [Page 128]that leanes upon his house: his house is the object of his hope, he is born up by it, and not able to stand without it: A Saints support is onely in Gods strength, My flesh and my heart failes, but God is the strength of heart and my portion for ever. Ps. 73.26 Riches are an ungod­ly mans treasure, and he runs to them to support him; the name of the Lord is the righ­teous mans treasure, and hee runnes to it to support him. Every man hath and must have something to support and defend him, and that the heart will go out after.

3.Its the delight of the soule. Reason, why the Trea­sure is attractive of the heart, because it is the delight of the heart, and a man cannot live without delight; but he can­not have delight, but by re­tyring [Page 129]to his chiefe good, and there he must delight him­selfe; the chiefe good is the object of the greatest, the highest, the fullest de­light, all its joyes come in by its chiefe good, without de­light the soul cannot live, take away all delight, and the soul dyes, saith Austin; therefore it must needs go out after the treasure, because the treasure is the delight of the soul.

4.Its the beauty of the soul. A mans chiefe good is that wherein the beauty of the soule doth lye, take the soule off from this and its naked, because the chiefe good is the beauty and orna­ment of the soule, Ier. 2.32. Can a Maid forget her Ornaments, saith God? it is intimated, God is the Ornaments and the attire of the soule. Take one [Page 130]whose chief good is in cloath­ing (that's it that beautifies the body) and he will not ea­sily forget his attire. Can a maid? There's not a naturall impossibilitie of a maids for­getting of her attire, and the Bride her ornaments; but there's morall impossibility, because they are her chiefe good, and the heart goes out after them. But take a godly man now, God is the beauty and ornament of his soul, his glory, and chief good, and therefore his heart must needs go out after God. All the ad­orning of the soul is from the Treasure, and therefore it must needs attract the heart.

5.Its the breath of the soul. The soul must go to the Treasure, because it is the breath of the soul, the soule [Page 131]strangles and dies if it do not enjoy it. The Soul is alwaies breathing after the chiefest good, Psal. 42.1. As the Hart pants after the water brooks, so my heart pants after thee O God, saith David, the chief good causeth the breathings of the soul after it.

6. Because the chief good is the onely rest of the soul, Ps. 116.7. Return unto thy rest O my soul, the soul is restlesse till it come to the enjoyment of him, therefore return unto thy rest.

The next thing is, How the heart is carried out to its trea­sure. how is the heart of man is carri­ed out to his Treasure? doth it alwaies go after it? here let me lay down these six Con­clusions.

1.Conti­nually. That the heart goes after [Page 132]the Treasure continually, the soul of man is alwaies active and never idle, and what's the ground of all its motions? its the chief good, that's the ground of it, therefore the soul moans continually after its chief good, Eccl. 2.23. the wise man speakes there of a Covetous rich man, whose chief good is his wealth, the heart takes no rest in the night; because his heart is continu­ally carried forth after his treasure; the abundance of the rich will not suffer them to sleep.

2.Infinite­ly. The heart goes after the Treasure infinitely, and unsa­tiably, it is never satisfied with any thing else, till it be arived to its chief good: They that place their Treasure here below, they are never satisfi­ed, [Page 133]but their hearts are going forth after it without mea­sure, as Hab. 2.6. 'tis said there, they load themselves with thick clay; A wicked man man have as much as may sink him, but hee never hath so much as will satisfie him, they are like the horse-leach that cries give, give; so a godly mans heart is alwaies gasping after God, and going out with bounless desires after Heaven.

3.The heart possess­eth it for his own. The heart taketh fast hold of its Treasure, and possesseth it for its own; There be other things that a man may look on as his own, but this chiefly, Iob 8.15. he shall take fast hold of his house. Take a proud wo­man, her vanity is in her ap­parell, her apparell is her trea­sure, and how fast will shee hold it? Take a covetous man [Page 134]that makes Riches his Trea­sure, he takes fast hold of his Treasure, and will not let it goe; so take a man that makes God and Christ his treasure, when temptations and afflicti­ons come, that labour to pull a man from his treasure; yet he laies fast hold of it, and wil not let it go.

4.The heart re turnes to its trea­sure. If at any time the heart be shaken, yet it returnes to the chief good again. So you shall finde an unregenerate man that hath his treasure be­low, the man is shaken with Afflictions, Crosses, Troubles, Sorrowes; yet he returnes a­gain to that which he hath ta­ken up for his chief good; So let a godly man be shaken by temptations from God; yet for all that the soule returnes to God again, Hos. 2.19. I [Page 135]will return to my first husband, &c.

5.The change of a mans chiefe good is the first change. The change of a mans chief good is a godly mans first change, and a godly mans great change, and his chiefe change. There is a change to destruction, they have forsaken me the Fountain of living waters; But there is a change to per­fection, and that is forsaking of broken Cisterns for living wa­ters, do not talk of the change of Actions, but talk of this, the change of the chief good; change thy Riches for a God, thy pleasures for a Christ.

6.In this the liber­ty and bondage of the heart lies. In the chief good the li­berty and the bondage of the heart doth lie; wherin lies the liberty of the soul? 'tis in this, that the soul is fastned upon God as the chiefe good, and looks upon all other things in [Page 136]no other way then as they are in subordination unto him; when the soul cleaves to God, and God alone, and lookes upon all other things as no­thing, but as in subordinati­on unto him; Then, and not till then, the soul is at liber­ty; the more thou art taken up with thy chief good, the freer thou art, for his service is perfect freedome; on the contrary all men that have their Treasures below this spirituall life, they are in bon­dage continually, because their treasures are below themselves.

There is another thing wee are to open, Such as the trea­sure is, such is the heart. as the heart and the treasure are inseparable, that the heart will bee where the treasure is; So such as the [Page 137]treasure is, such is the heart, as well as where the treasure is there will be the heart, and such as the heart is, such is the man; if it belaid on Earth, then men are said to be Earth­ly, if laid up in Heaven, men are said to be heavenly, Phil. 3.19. Your Conversation is in Heaven, though their soules go up and down among many Creatures; yet their Conver­sation is in Heaven, for the heart of man doth cheapen here and there before itbuyes: yet notwithstanding all is in­cluded in things below, to a man whose treasure is in Earth; if a mans treasure be in Heaven, his mind is in heaven, hence it comes to passe that a godly man is said to be a stranger here, Psal. 39.12. I am a stranger; and a Sojourner, [Page 138]what's the reason: because hee doth not converse here as in his Country, but seekes a Country above, he is a stran­ger here, travelling towards his owne Country. Bernard saith, a godly mans heart is in Heaven, because the Lord dwells in Heaven; hence it is that grace is called glory, not onely because its of the same nature with that grace which a man in glory shal receive the the perfection of; nor onely because it is a pledge and an earnest, and will end in glory; but because the soul immedi­ately enters into glory after his treasure, for his treasure immediately being in Heaven, his heart is there; hence 'tis, a godly man is more in Hea­ven then in Earth, for his trea­sure is in Heaven, and his heart is there.

But let us see in particular, What i [...] meant by the heart. what is here intended by the heart; more especially there is meant all the things that are seated in the heart, and let's begin with the first of them.

1.The ain and ben of the cart. The heart is put for the aime, tendency, and bent of the heart, it is Animi Proposi­tum, it's the propension of the heart, Deut. 24.15. Hee is poore and setteth his heart upon it; he is a hireling, and his heart is set upon his waies, hee doth not work for love to his master, nor love to his work, but the aime and bent of his soul is for the good hee shall receive by his work; therefore the Scrip­ture speaks of a double heart, Ps. 12.2. what makes a heart a a double heart? some apply it to instability in opinions, [Page 140]that which is called halting between two opinions, when the mind is in suspence, Luke 12.20. Be not of doubtfull mindes: But whether it be in reference to opinions, or what ever it is, the mind is in doubt, and hee is double minded. But the in­tention of the Scripture by a double heart doth mainly aime at the intentions of the heart, the heart goes not al­waies one way, but sometimes for God, sometimes for the Creature; sometimes for Hea­ven, sometimes for Earth, when men have not a single Eye, when they have not sin­gle aimes, this the Scripture calls a double heart. When a man hath an aime at God, and the things of God, and looks it other things in subordina­tion thereto, this the Scrip­ture [Page 141]calls a single eye, or a single heart: but when men go sometimes very hotly after the things of God, and at o­ther times pursue after Riches immoderately, this is a double heart, Act. 8.1. Thy heart is not right in he sight of God: and Hab. 4.12. The word of God is the discerner of the intents of the heart. Now then thus, where a mans Treasure is, there the bent, the aime, and the tendency of a mans heart is; one of the great things you are to look to, is the heart, for in the heart lyes the grea­test deceit, but in the heart, above all other things, the bent and tendency of the heart is that you are to looke at, and there are two Reasons for it.

1.The aime of his heart is the godly mans comfort in all failings. Because this is the great [Page 142]Comfort, nay the onely com­fort that a godly man hath to flye to in all failings, and in all his falls the bent and aime of his heart; In any particu­lar failing and infirmity, what is it the soul can retreat to? tru­ly when a godly man can say, this hath been my transgres­sion, but this was not my in­tention, this is the onely com­fort of the man; so it was with Peter, it was a desperate fall to deny his Master, and wish himselfe accursed that hee knew not the man; but Peter could say, Lord, This was the bent of my soule, not to de­ny thee, but to die for thee. Sinne comes upon a godly man at unawares, sinne comes upon a godly man as judge­ment comes upon a wicked man by way of surprisall, but [Page 143]the bent of his heart was not to sinne, therefore this is a comfort to him. 'Tis an ex­pression of David, Though he did offend with his mouth, yet I have purposed that my mouth should not offend; it was my transgression, but not my intention, I have plotted that my mouth might not of­fend; In all your failings, this is that that must support you, yea in every transgression, that it was not your intention so to do.

2.It is his comfort after his failings. Sometimes a godly man can take comfort in this after his fallings: many times the Saints commit wickednesse out of consultation, Psal. 19.3. the Scripture calls them Presumptuous sinnes, sinnes that they doe intend before hand, 1 King. 15.5. 'Tis said, Da­vids [Page 144]heart was upright in all things all. he dayes of his life, save onely in the matter of Uriah the Hit­tite. Then Davids heart was not upright in this matter, his dissembling and his lying was clearly demonstrated. But now what may a godly man retreat to? to the generall bent of his heart, when hee failes in a particular act, 1 Kin. 15.14. Neverthelesse Asa his heart was upright with God all his daies; he doth not speak of particular Acts, but of the generall bent of his heart, though in some particulars he contrived sinne: wicked men when they are carryed on in a designe that's sinfull, they will not be beaten from it, but the generall bent of their soul is to go on in it.

Now would you know [Page 145]which way the bent and ten­dernesse of your heart goes, Six rules for disco­very of the bent of the heart. there are six Rules I shall give you: It was the saying of a godly Minister, I blesse my God I have stadied my own heart more then Boukes; It would be very hap­py for you to say, I have stu­died my heart more then the would, more then trading.

1.That which its casryed after un­der diffe­rent con­ditions, is the aime of the heart. Rule. That which the soul is carryed after under diffe­rent conditions, this declares what the aime and bent of the soule is, and so you must judge of the tendency of the heart; as waters, though you turn them out of their proper current and alter their chan­nell, yet they all runne into the Sea, you will say then the tendency of them is to the Sea: If you see the Sun, whe­ther the day be cleare or clou­dy, [Page 146]it makes to the West, it concludes there's the end of its course, this is the race it hath to runne: the going of the heart is the same in diffe­rent conditions, it doth won­derfully cleave to that which is its chief good, & is never at rest til it be centered there: As for example, suppose it be the heart of a naturall man, his aime is at his owne exaltation, now pride being his predomi­nant principle and master sin; this mans pride or prosperity vents it self in Exaltation, Ad­miration, and seeking glory from men, he sets himselfe in the face and glory of the times, despising of others, ex­alting himself: bring this man under trouble of conscience, and then pride vents it self in humility, and debases into [Page 147]poverty: As faith is an hum­bling grace, so despaire is the highest fruit of pride, here's the heart now shewing the same aime in different condi­tions, and all this doth clear­ly argue, where the bent of the heart is, there's the aime of a mans heart: If a mans heart goe out to covetousnesse, the love of money, when he is in a low condition, if he did but observe his soule, his heart went after his covetousnesse; let him be brought into a weal­thy condition, he is scussling after the world still: Judas his heart went after his money, when he was an Apostle, though in a different condi­tion; take a man in what con­dition you will, you hall find the aime and bent of his heart is still the same. On the con­trary; [Page 148]take a godly man who makes God his treasure, who hath another treasure and ano­ther aime, put him into what condition you will, still you shall find his aime is the same, the bent of his soule is still to­wards God, Psal. 44.17. All this is come upon us, yet have wee not forsaken thee, nenher have we dealt falsely in thy Covenant: He looks beyond them all, for his aime is at his treasure: Looke upon Job upon the dunghill, the aime of his heart was the same, fearing God, and eschewing evill: Now consider what you were, when you were a pri­vate man, and what you are, now you are advanced to pla­ces of dignity, and see by it where the aime of your heart is.

2.Thats the bent of the heart which it greedily catcheth at upon all oc­casions. In all places & in all com­panies, [Page 149]if opportunity be af­fected, consider what it is that the heart doth most greedily catch at upon all occasions, and in all places: If the aime of the soule be lust, he went af­ter her speedily, as a soole to the correction of the Stocks Prov. 7.22. Suppose it be gain a mans heart aimes at, It goes after it presently. Josh. 7.21. When I saw a goodly Babylonish Garment, and two hundred shekles of silver, and a wedge of Gold, I coveted them and tooke them, &c. So let there be at any time a godly motion offered to a godly man, his heart catcheth at the motion. By this you may see what your souls are, by the first motion you close with, as according to the aime and bent of the heart, so all temp­tations are suited; whats that [Page 150]then which your heart closeth withall with the greatest rea­dinesse? according to that is the bent of your heart.

3.Accord­ing to the bent of the heart, so [...]t fran [...] object t [...] i [...] [...]. According to the bent of heart, so the heart gathers un­to it selfe, whether there bee occasions given or no, Gen. 6.5. Every imagination of the heart is onely evill, and that continual­ly; Imagination of the heart, it should be read, Every Crea­ture of the heart; the heart frames to it selfe something whether there be occasions or no, according to the bent of it, 1 Joh. 2.16. The lusts of the slosh; lust there, is put for the object of lust, as faith is put for the object of faith, and hope for the object of hope; there is nothing tha [...] lust [...] not make some [...] ther of, 2 Pet. 2.14. [...] [Page 151] eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sinne, though they have no occasion at all, Psalm. 41.6. David Complaines, If he come to see me, his heart ga­thers wickednesse to it selfe. On the contrary, take a godly man, look on the aime of his heart, here's no occasion given at all, yet he hath something the heart gathers up to it self, therefore David cryes out in the middest of a crooked and perverse Generation, Teach me O Lord to number my dayes, that I may apply my heart unto wisdome; Ps. 90.1 as one gathers wickednesse, the other gathers holinesse for the heart of man hath a selfe-sufficiency in it, Jam. 1.15. when lust hath conceived it bring-eth forth sin: lust is said to bee the Father and the Mother, able to beget and able to bring [Page 115]forth, therefore looke which way the aime goes, there the heart goes, there it centers, according to the generall bent of the heart, it gathers some­thing to it selfe, whether there be occasion given it or no.

4.Accord­ing to the bent, so it will break through alloppo­sition. That's the bent of the heart, that breaks through all opposition to accomplish its designe; the bent of the heart is such a thing, that look what ever the thing be its set upon, though never so costly, it will spare no cost to obtaine it; you that delight your selves in vanity of Apparell, you will spare no cost to obtaine it, Gen. 34.6. Shechem's heart clave to Dinah, and what doth this bring forth, Aske never so much dowry and it shall be given. Thus in Isaiah, they spare no cost to lavish away Gold for [Page 153]their Idoll Gods, because the bent of their hearts was set upon it, you that stick at all costs in Religion, and at none in Rebellion, you may easily see which way the bent of your hearts goes. If the bent of a mans heart be revenge, it will stick at no cost, Haman will get the King abundance of Treasure for the destructi­on of the Jewes: If the bent of the heart be for Ambition, Absalom will not stick to mur­der his Father if it hinder his rising: If it bee halting and dissembling in Religion, Jehu will not stick at it to get a Kingdome; if it bee the ma­king Merchandize of the souls of men, and the establishing of Artichrist in the Chaire of Christ; if it be the change of Times and Laws, if to change [Page 154]the fundamentall Laws of a Nation, if the bent of the heart beset upon it, no oppo­sition will hinder: So its true in reference to spiritual things, if the bent of a mans heart be set on God, no Creature op­position shall divert it: That's an excellent expression, Psal. 84.6. Who passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well: They will digge Wells in the desart, intimating that no op­position can hinder them that are fully bent to come to Christ: The losse of a right hand, the losse of a right eye, the soule doth not stick at, he will cut off the one, and pull out the other; and what's the reason? its all to attaine that which the bent of his soule is after.

5.The heart is restlesse untill it obtain that af­ter which it aime, Where the bent and aim [Page 155]of the heart is, there it is con­tinually restlesse, untill it at­tain that which it tends to; the aime of the heart is Pondus a­nimi the weight of the soul; my heart pants after the li­ving God, so for worldly things, to Mat. 6.32. After these things do the Gentiles seeke, and they are never quiet till they find them; if it be after Knowledge, the soul is still in a pursuite after it, and the man never gives over, but is rest­lesse, because the bent of his heart goes out after it; If it be after riches, they rise up early, go to bed late, they eat the bread of carefullnesse; Ps. 127.2. If it be a desire of rule and Dominon the soule is restlesse and never quiet till it gets some superi­ority in the world.

6.The heart makes al other things subservi­ent un­to that, after which it aims. That which is the aime [Page 156]a mans heart, hee doth make use of all other things to at­tain it, makes all other things subservient to it: If the bent of his heart be set on hono­ring God, hee cares for riches no farther then that hee may honour God with his substance, Pro. 3. 9. and ordinances no further, then in them hee may enjoy Communion with God; nay, he looks on the Lord Jesus Christ no farther, then he is brought to God by him: wil the name of Religion and the gifts of the Holy Ghost do it? Simon Magus will buy them with money rather then hee will be without them: wil the countenance of godly men do it? then they shall be courted by all parties; Iehu when hee meet withs Ionadab, salutes him, 2 King. 10.15. and faith, Is thy heart [Page 157]right as my heart is with thy heart? there's a doubt, dost thou love me truly as I love thee, no man professeth more sinceri­ty, then he whose trade is Hi­pocrisie; hee had destroyed the house of Ahab, but it was to set up his owne house, the one was in order to the other, he was a man for Religion and reformation while Religion would serve his purpose; and he courts Ionadab to joyne with him (who was a godly man) that he might the better colour his design; how many are are there that are Execu­tioners of oppressors, and yet succeed them in oppression? A man may be an Executio­ner of an Idolater, and yet succeed him in his Idolatry.

2.The heart is put for the con­trivance of the heart. The heart is put for the wisdome, the studies, the [Page 158]plots, the contrivances of the heart: now where the heart is, there are all these, Pro. 8.5. O yee simple, understand wisdom; and yee fooles be yee of an under­standing heart; and in Hosea 7.11. Ephraim is said to be a silly dove without a heart. Now a man whose plots and designes are in Earth & never riseth a­bove the Earth, the mansplots Earthly, therefore the mans wisdome is Earthly, James 3.15, 16. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is Earthly, Sensuall, devilish; if a mans treasure be in Heaven, his wisdom is heavenly, Iam. 3.17. But the wisdome that is from a­bove, is pure, peaceable, gentle, &c. so Luke 16.8. The Children of this world are said to be in their Generation wiser then the Chil­dren of light: There are two [Page 159]sorts of men, and two sorts of wisdoms; ther's the Children of this world, and they have the wisdom of this world; and there's the Children of light, and they have the wisdome of another world: the one is the wisdome that reacheth not beyond this life, the other reacheth to the life that is to come: Both these are wise in two things; in doing their own businesse, and in accom­plishing their own end; now the wisdom of both these is seen in three things, in getting, in keeping, in encreasing and using their treasure: all the wisdome, and designes, and plots of a man are exerci­sed about one or all of these thre ethings.

1.Every mans wisdome is exer­cised in getting his trea­sure. Every mans wisdom is exercised in getting his trea­sure; Amnon his lust was his [Page 160]treasure, and do but see the devises he found for the ob­taining of it 2 Sam, 13. so Jeroboam his aime, was to be the head of the ten tribes, & see his wisdome in obtaining of it, 1 Kings 12.26. According to mans Treasure, so his wis­dome and designes have been laid for the obtaining of it. Now a godly man, all the Re­ligion that he hath attained to it, is to make him wise to Sal­vation; A godly man hath but one design in the world, and that is, that he may enjoy God in Christ where his Treasure is laid up; therefore Bernard well observes, a wise mans heart is with the Lord, that is, all his plots and contrivances are how he may bring about those designs as may give him Communion with God.

2.In keep­ing his treasure. All the plots and designs [Page 161]in the world are how hee may keep his Treasure; Thus it is with men here below Ier. 51, 1. The Prophet speaking of men that gathered many rich­es, saith the Lord by him, I will send unto Babylon fanners that shall fan her, and shall empty her land; because men use their wisdome to keepe their trea­sure, the Lord saith, hee will send fanners that shall take a­way those honours and riches which they use such meanes to keep with them, Iob 20.15. there's a man that hath swallowed down riches, yet in the fullnesse of his sufficiency he shall be in straights, ver. 2 [...]. they thought that when they had swallowed down riches, they should never vomit them up again; but vor. 15. Hee shall vomit them up again And ver. 23. when he is about to fill his bel­ly, [Page 162]God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, & shal rain is up­on him while he is eating: the wis­dom of the men of the world is not onely how they may get their Treasure, but how they may secure their treasure. So a godly man, God in Christ is his Treasure, he knowes it is sin onely that separates be­tween him and his God, and so his desire is not to sin, that he may not be separated from his treasure: A godly man hath but one necessity that lies upon him, and all his aime tends thereunto; and that is, that hee doth not sinne, and thereby lose his treasure.

3.In en creasing and im­proving his trea­sure. Where his Treasure is, there is his plottings and con­trivings how to improve and increase it: a treasure is not filled up all at once, but by [Page 163]degrees, therefore this is the great study and plot of men, how they may improve and increase their treasure, Hab, 2.5. There's one desires do­mination which was his trea­sure, he looks on himselfe, as a man born to Rule, but looks [...] all other men, as born to be Ruled; what doth this put him on? to increase his trea­sure; how doth he do it? the Text saith, He is a proud man, he keeps not at home, but enlar­geth his desires as Hell, and is as death, and cannot be satissied, he [...]thers all Nations to himselfe: and Dan. 11.24.25. O how earnest are men in fore-ca­sting devices, in contriving and plotting how to increase and improve their treasure: If a mans treasure be in hea­ven in the enjoyment of God [Page 164]and Christ, what ever his e­steem is in the world, it doth not trouble him, so he can but go on to the obtaining of more of his treasure. Now where your treasure is, there is your heart, that is, there is your wisdome, your plot­tings, and contrivings for the getting, keeping, and im­provement of it.

3.The heart is put for the thoughts and me­ditation of the heart. The heart is used for the thoughts and meditations of the heart Psal. 139.23. Trye me O Lord, and know my thoughts: there's nothing carryes the heart with it more then the thoughts; thoughts are the first born of the soule, the im­mediate issuings forth of the heart. The way to tast water and not be deceived, is to cast it at the Spring; and Wine, if you would not bee deceived [Page 165]by the Vintner, you must tast it at the Wine-presse; so if you would judge aright of your hearts, you must look to your thoughts, Solomon speaks of one, that invites to dinners Now saith he, Eat not the bread of him that hath an evill eye, nei­ther desire thou his dainty meats: for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he; eat and drinke saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee, Prov. 23.6, 7. what way your hearts goe, Three Rules for discovery where your thoughts & hearts are. that way your thoughts go.

There are three Rules that will much discover which way your thoughts goe; and by these you will know where your hearts are, and by that where your treasure is.

1.Whither doe your thoughts retyre when you ar alone. When you are alone se­questred from company, out of worldly imployment; whi­ther [Page 166]then do your thoughts u­sually retyre? for the man i [...] as he is alone, such as th [...] thought is, such is the man: Take a godly man, would you know where his thoughts are when he is in his Closet in his bed? when I awake saith David, I am still with thee, early in mor­ning will I direct my prayer to thee, and will look up, Psal. 5.3.

2.What are these thoughts in which you finde the grea­test sweetness Rule, by which your thoughts may be discovered, and you may judge where your hearts are, is this; what are those thoughts that you use to find the greatest sweet­nesse and delight in? Psa. 12 [...].17. How precious are thy [...] unto me O God! [...] great is the summe of them! To one man the thought of his lefts are sweet, and he acts over his wickednesse in a contempla­tive [Page 167]way with delight, and the thoughts of God are bitter unto him, and trouble him; there's no sweetnesse in think­ing upon God to a wicked man, and there's nothing but sweetnesse in the thoughts of God to a godly man.

3.What thoughts are of longest continu­ance with you. Rule, What thoughts are they, that are of longest continuance with you, that your soules doe most abide upon, the thoughts that abide in your soules most, discover where your hearts are? Jer. 4.19 How long shall vaine thoughts abide in you? Psal. 10.4. God is not in all his thoughts; nay God is not in his thoughts at at all: what do your thoughts stay on? Take a naturall man, and cast in some thoughts of his treasure, his thoughts will abide there; but cast in any [Page 168]thought of heaven, and those dye presently as a fish out of its element. Then examine your thoughts when you are alone, what thoughts come into your mind and abide up on your spirits, for your trea­sure is as the meditation of your thoughts and hearts are.

4.The heart is put for the love and af­fections of the heart. The heart is put for the love and affections of the heart, Iudg. 5.9. My heart is towards the Governours of Israel that offered themselves willingly a­mong the people: Its Deborah's speech. The people of God love all that are imployed for God, and the more men are imployed for God, the more their hearts are drawn out after them. The heart of man is said to be where it loves, rather then where it lives; now the heart is here taken [Page 169]properly for the loves of the heart, so where the heart is, there's the Treasure.

Now how should a man know where his love is set? 'Tis a thing of marvellous great consequence to consider where a man sets his love, Its a thing of great concern­ment where a man sets his love. and upon what his love is fixed; And this is the maine of this Text, and there are 4 grounds why 'tis a thing of so great Concernment, where a man sets the loves of his heart.

1.Because a mans love is his grea­test gift. Because a mans love is his greatest gift, there is no­thing else a gift indeed with­out love, but love is a gift of it selfe, though there be no­thing else. It's so if you consi­der the love of God, though the Lord have not given you any thing, if he doth but set his love upon you, its a great­er gift then Heaven or Earth [Page 170]could be: so likewise the Lord Jesus Christ if he had not given us interest in his victories, in his sonship, in his priviledges, so hee had given us but his love, it was a greater gift then heaven or earth, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 13.1. If I had all things, and had not Charity, it profiteth nothing; Hypocrits ma­ny times give God great gifts, but they reserve their love, so God gives many of them great gifts but he reserves his love for the saints; so that love is the greatest gift that a man hath from God, and 'tis the great est gift a man can give to God.

2.He that gives his love, gives himself. Because he that gives his love, he gives himself, he gives all things else whatsoever hee hath; That's pure and free love indeed that gives all things to the person beloved: the Lord sets his love upon [Page 171]his people from all eternity, and when hee purposeth to give all things, hee gave him­self, love first gives it self, and then all things else, Revel. 21.7. he that overcommeth shall inhe­rit all things, how so? I will be his God, and be sh [...]ll be my Son; So tis with men, he that gives his love, gives all things, and hee that withholds his love withholds all things, for a mans love Commands all that he hath; Therefore 'tis a mighty thing to consider where a man sets his love.

3.A mans love maks the [...] loved his own. A mans love is that which makes the thing beloved his own. A learned man saith, God is our owne above all things we call ours: Estate is ours, and friends are ours, but God is more ours then they, because he loves us more then they. 'Tis by the love of God [Page 172]that we come to be his, by our love to God that he comes to be ours. Its our love that makes the thing beloved ours, thou canst call nothing thine but what thou lovest.

4.Its a mans love that sets the price upon all things. It's a mans love that sets the price upon all things. Great things are of small value where love is wanting, and small things are of great value where love is present; its so with God, and so with the Saints. If God give to un­godly men the greatest heaps of Gold in the world, how do the Saints value this? 'tis but a bone cast to the doggs, why so? because there is no love in it; so likewise let a godly man give but to God a small thing, there is love in it, and indeed that love raiseth the price, the poor widow cast in [Page 173]but two mites, Luke 21.12. it was with more love and affection then others, & there­fore more in acceptance.

What should a man set his love upon, that by this means he may know where his heart is? All love is lovely where­soever it is, and to be bel­oved, even naturall love, God loves all his Creatures, and all pure love should be set upon him, Mark. 10.21. He that loves Father and Mother more then me, is not worthy of me. Whe­ther may we not love that which is good? Yes, and no­thing else: As all truths are to be known and be believed, so all good things are to bee embraced and loved, Mark 10.37. He that hates not Father and Mother &c. cannot be my Disci­ple: To love Father and Mo­ther [Page 174]is a duty; but you see what it is that must have the chiefe place of your love; 10. 12.35. He that loves his life more then me, and my truth, and my wayes, this man is not worthy of me, 1 Joh. 2.15. He that loves the world, the love of the Fa­ther is not in him. Is it not lawfull to love the world, and the things of the world? Yes, but not more then me. To love the Creature more then God, is that which makes it lust; To love the Creature in sub­ordination to God, is that which makes it love: Then what is that which you love most? would a man know where his love is, there is trea­sure is.

And because this is the main thing in the Text, Rules [...] know where [...]ur love [...]d trea­sures are. I shall give you eight things to know [Page 175]where your hearts are, and where your treasure is.

1.What is it you do espe­cially desire u­nion with. What is that you doe e­specially desire union with? for love is an affection that carries an affectionate tenden­cy to union, and this will ap­peare if you observe the love of God; Union with God is first in Gods intention, be­cause it is last in his executi­on; the people of God in glo­ry are brought into two things

1. Into an immediate vision of him.

2. Into the closest union with him. There is a two-fold union. 1. Is generall of all the Creatures to God, that's the union of Dependance, In him me live, and move, and have our being, Act. 17.28. They can­not live separate from God, because he is the life of them. [Page 176]2. There's a speciall union peculiar to the Saints, which is the indwelling of God in them, and their indwelling in God; such an union none but the Saints have by the enjoy­ment of God in their soules. God loves the Saints, and his love carries a tendency to u­nion; Jesus Christ loved his people, and he seekes alwayes to become one with them. There is a natural union which is by constitution; there is an union of likeness & fruition, a union of similitude, & there is an union of enjoyment, 1 Cor. 6.17. They that are joyned to the Lord, are one spirit, the Greeke signifies, they are glewed to the Lord: If a man love God, he is glewed to God; where a mans love is, there the soule goes after the thing beloved to be united: If a man love [Page 177]God, then the heart followes hard after God and all, that it may be made one with him; to this end, you have two Metaphors remarkable in scri­pture, one is in Gen. 10.9. There Nimrod is called a mighty hunter before the Lord; It is an expres­sion to set forth the pursuite of the soule after a thing: A godly man is a mighty hunter after God, his soul pursues af­ter God continually. I read a story of one that was going in hast, one asked him whither he was going? he said, he was going to hunt after God. The other Metaphor, is the mer­chandize & trading for Christ and grace in the things of eter­nity; and he that trades for Christ and grace, is called a Merchant-man, Mat. 13.45. & in a Pet. 2.3. A worldly man is [Page 178]called a Merchant, hee doth wholly trade for things below. Now observe what's your trade; if thy trade be for Jesus Christ, and the things of eter­nity, then there's thy love: What is that you pursue after and desire union with? accor­ding to your pursuit, so is your loves, and acording to your loves, so is your treasure.

2.Love moves the swif­ter, the nearer it comes to the thing be­loved. The neerer love comes to the thing beloved, the swifter it moves towards it; the nea­rer a mans love comes to pos­sesse the thing hee loves, the swifter he moves after it, Psal. 62.10. If Riches encrease, set not your hearts upon them: wicked covetous men, the richer they are, the more their heart is set on riches, the more miserable, and griping, and scraping they are to get their treasure; why [Page 179]so? because the nearer that love comes to the thing belo­ved, the swifter it moves after it. Bernard saith, God puts his love into betrothed persons; what's the reason of that? because there must be a time between the betrothing and the marri­age, that the desire may be kin­dled so much the more: The nearer a man comes to the en­joyment of anything he loves, the more vehemently his heart is carryed after it. Now if it be so, examine by this Rule, the more you have of God and of Christ, the more do your hearts runne after them, the more you have communi­on with Christ, the more your hearts act towards him with the greatest impatiency.

3.Whe [...] love is is bou [...] tiful. Love is bountifull, and where ever thy bounty is, there [Page 180]is thy love; for where a man shews most bounty, there cer­tainly is most love. Acts of the greatest bounty, are demon­strations of the highest love, for love opens the heart, and that opens the hand; God loves you, and because he can give you no greater gift, hee gives you himselfe; he loves us, therefore he gives his Son to us. Men may think some­times Ministers speak for pri­vate respects; alas! 'tis to prove the sincerity of your love the more: Tell me there­fore where your bounty is laid out; if your bounty be laid out about feasting your bellies, or cloathing your backs, there your love is: Is thy bounty towards God? As he that loves his belly, thinks no­thing to much for it; so he that [Page 181]loves his God, thinks nothing too much for God, thinks no pains too much that he layes out for God: so Haman loves his revenge, and he will give the King much for the ruine of the Jews. David when he came to build the Temple, thought he could never spend enough about the Temple; It is a large heart that makes an hand, therefore where your love is, there's your bounty.

4.Love is labori­ous. Love is laborious, it grudgeth no pains, Heb. 6.10. It is called the labour of love; a mans labour is sutable to his love, he that labors most, loves most. If a man loves riches, he labours for them, Hab. 2.13. Labouring in vain, is called, labouring in the fire: you shall know where your love is by your labour, Eccle.4.8. There's [Page 182]a man hath no end of all his la­bour; why so? There's his love, His eye is not satisfied with Riches: The Lord Jesus Christ his love to his Father, made him la­bour in the worke of his Fa­ther, till he had spent his strength and dryed up his radicall hu­mours, Isai. 49.4. For a man that's sloathful, there's no love in him, lazy love is pretended love; where love is according to the degree of it, such a mans labour will be. O you that are dead and dull in holy duties, strengthen your love, and you will mend your pace. Its an observation of one of the An­cients, That love that doth not put forth it selfe to its ut­most endeavour, is unsound love; that which goes to its strength and no more, that's true love, but weake love; [Page 183]strong love bends to impos­sibilities, it will labour in those things which 'tis impossible to obtain. It's observed of Mary, her love out-bid her strength; therefore examine where the great labour of your lives hath been, how much have I labou­red for the things of this world, and how little have I laboured for the things of ano­ther world, for God, & Christ.

5.Love is ventu­rous. Would you know where your love is? love is ventu­rous, it will hazard any thing for the thing beloved; our Sa­viour Christ gives you an evi­dence of it, he doth not onely venture his life, but lay down his life; Greater love hath no man then this, that a man lay down his life for his friend, Ioh. 15.13. and Psal. 69.9. The reproach of them that reproached thee, hath fal­len [Page 184]upon me. It was a gracious speech of an Ancient, If the Lord make use of me to keepe off re­proach from himselfe, I shall looke upon it as a great priviledge, as a great honour. Where is the man, that for the truths of God and Christ, will hazard the losse of friends, the losse of his e­state, the losse of his blood? True love turns cowardize in­to courage; the Hen, though but a feeble Creature, yet will hazard her selfe against the most ravenous Birds that come to devour her Chickens; so will the mother, if her child be in danger. Take a man whose love is set on lust, and what will not the man hazard for it? he will lose his friends, he will spend his estate, he will blast his reputation, he will hazard his soule, and all for [Page 185]the love he beares to sin: and indeed what's that which makes men despise the judge­ments of God? it's their love to sin: then enquire and ex­amine your selves, where your adventures are, there is your love.

6.Love is zea­lous. Love is zealous; I doe not mean by zeale, a zeale of suspition of evill in the party beloved which we call jea­lousy, for love thinks no evill, 1 Cor. 13.4. But when I say love is zealous, I meane, it is full of solicitude, fearing that any in­jurie or wrong should be of­fered to the person or thing beloved. Moses, the meekest man upon earth, yet Moses's meeknesse is turned into an­ger, when wrong is done to the God of his life, and the God of his love, and he breaks [Page 186]the Tables. The Lord Jesus Christ out of love to his Fa­ther, saith, The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up, Iob. 2.17. Zeal in the heart is like boiling wa­ter that wasts in the seething, it makes a man over-look all in­terests, considering himselfe in the world, to be wholly in­tended to carry on the inte­rests of the party belove. So it is with godly men, for zeale is a mixt affection, 'tis nothing else but love provoked: ther­fore Hoster speaks the language of love; How should I endure to see the evil that should come upon me and upon my people, Est. 8.6. Tel me, what are you zealous for? where's your zeale? Touch a man in his Reputation, and you may quickly see where his love and zeal is; touch God in his name, & Christ in his truth, [Page 187]then saith Paul, To whom we gave place, no not for an houre, that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you, Gal. 2.5. Love is pro­voked with any thing, and comes contrary to Christ and his truth; I would have zeale to be turned into fire, and so it will be, (where love is) for God and his glory. Examine therefore what it is, that makes you hot on every occasion; where thy zeal is, there is thy love, for love is zealous.

7.Love i [...] fearful of separati­on. Love is very fearful of se­paration from the thing belo­ved, it desires nothing more then union, it fears nothing more then separation; its the Spouses expression, Cant. 3.4. When I sound him, I held him, and would not let him go. Austin gives that as the difference, between true and uncleane love, be­tween [Page 188]the love of a Wife, and the love of a Harlot, both fear the husband, but the one fears lest the husband should come, the other fears lest the hus­band should depart; the af­fections of the soule in this way are seen very much Death is called the King of terror, be­cause its a separation of the soule from the body; love, it loves union, and he that loves, dyes himselfe to live in the thing beloved; for this cause, the great consolation of the Saints, lies in this, who shall se­parate us from the love of God & c? Rom. 8.30, 31. For in the ab­sence of the love of the thing beloved, the heart languishes: [...]n union with the thing loved, the heart rejoyces, and in se­paration from the thing loved, the heart dyes and perishes; for [Page 189]this cause, is this the great cor­dial to the Saints, that there is no separation between their love, and their beloved. The unhappinesse of wicked men lies in this, that they love that which shall be separated from them; Riches make to themselves wings & flie away, P, o. 23.5. And thou fool, this night shall thy soul be taken away from thee, and then whose shall these things be? Luk. 12.20. So Amos 4.2. I will take away thy posterity with fish-hooks: As easily as the fish is drawn out of the water with a hooke, so will I take them away with Fish-hooks. There­fore when an ungodly man dies, his love dies, because his beloved ceaseth when he dies: A godly man, because he shall never be separated from the thing beloved, his love shall [Page 190]continue for ever in heaven, and he shall never be separa­ted from it. Then examine your selves, that which you feare to be separated from, is that which the love of your heart runs out unto.

8.Love is victori­ous. Love is victorious, Cant. 8.4. 'Tis strong as death; there's a kind of dominion in love, looke over the love that men bear to the things of this life, let them have but Riches, and if Christ, and the glory of hea­ven be tendered to them, as the young man had in the Go­spel, and bid them sell all, they will go away sorrowful; why so? the love of the world o­vercomes them. On the other side, offer a godly man all the comforts of this life whatsoe­ver his heart could wish, yet notwithstanding he doth not [Page 191]imbrace it; why so? his love to God out-bids them, and o­vercomes them. Love, it is like Lime, in that respect many wa­ters cannot quench love, Cant. 8.7. Nay the more you pou [...]e upon lime, the hotter it burns. Its not onely faith that over­comes the world, but love o­vercomes the world, for love is a victorious Grace as well as Faith. If you be offered great things in this world, greater things in another world doth overcome them: therefore ex­amine where your love is, for where your love is, ther's your heart; where your heart is, there's your Treasure; where your Treasure is, there's your Heaven, where your Heaven is, there's your God; and where your God is, there's your happinesse.

There are onely three short uses I shall make, and so shut up the point.

Use 1. 1. Use. Shall be in generall in two things.

1. To dis­cover the fulnesse that is in every scripture sentence. From hence see the ful­nesse of Scripture, every short sentence of it, how full of mat­ter is it? the smallest things in Scripture there, are great things depending on them, therefore a Father cryes out in admiration of the fulnesse of the Scripture: Its observed by Chrysostome, he saith, Its the greatest Blasphemy that can be, to think that in the Booke of God there should be found one idle word: hee that will judge you for idle words, will not write one idle word. There's one place which Chry­sostome himself insists upon, its 1 Tim. 5.23: Drink no longer wa­ter, [Page 193]but use a little wine for thy sto­macks, ake; and he hath eight mighty truths out of that or­dinary portion of Scripture.

1. Godly men out of love to duty, neglect the body.

2. Godly men are very mode­rate in the use of the creatures, left they should be brought under the power of them.

3. Consider in his weakness hee did not cease from his charge, he had infirmities, and often infirmities, but he did not neglect the affaires of the Gospel.

4. Take a little wine: That godly men may too far neglect their bodies, even to offend therin.

5. Every creature of God is good in it self; yea, those crea­tures of God that are most a­bused.

6. Godly men may be sub­ject [Page 194]to many bodily infirmi­ties, and that often.

7. In the decay of nature, the Creatures are to be used for its repair; but according to the proportion of natures infirmi­ties.

8. There's a moderation ap­pointed in receiving the crea­ture, even when men take them for necessities sake, for he that prescribes him the wine, prescribes him the mea­sure: upon this accompt, the Scripture becomes exceeding sweet to a man; and 'tis a great Argument of growth of grace in him, and of profiting in spirituall knowledge when a man can take delight and sweetnesse in the word, not onely in the substance, but in every circumstance of it. Do not study the substance of the [Page 195]word onely, but the phrase of it: they are not only words, but such words as God him­selfe hath chosen out, & phra­sed it to our minds, and to our understandings.

2. There are some sen­tences of scripture that we should e­specially treasure up. Consider, though all the Scripture be to be studied, yet there are some sentences above all, that a man, should lay up in his heart; such as these we are speaking on, Where a mans Treasure is, there will his heart be.

There are fix parts of Scrip­ture, that the Lord puts spe­ciall marks upon, which scrip­tures are sutable to especiall occasions, and therefore wee should take especial notice of them.

1.Such as the Lord hath ad­ded anote of atten­tion unto. Those scriptures which the Lord hath added a note of at­tention and asseveration to, those especially we should stu­die; [Page 196] Io. 1.29. Behold the Lambe of God that takes away the sinnes of the world: Where the Lord doth put special marks upon them, there we should exercise a speciall study about them; Isa. 40.5. Behold, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it, &c.

2.Such as are of ten re­peated. Such scriptures as the Lord hath often repeated, such scri­ptures should bee diligently studied; As Riches profit not in the day of wrath; Pro. 11.4 Mark. 8.36. And what shal it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? And if Ri­ches increase, set not your hearts upon them, Psa. 62.10.

3.Such as have bin most ef­fectuall for your conver­sion. Those scriptures that God hath made use of in a speciall manner to doe you, or any o­ther good, these should bee mightily studied, God requi­ers you should take notice of them in a speciall manner; so [Page 197]did the Ancients, Rom. 13.1. And Luther made use of Rom. 1.17. and Junius, of Iob. 1.1. Those by which the Lord hath spoken Conviction and Con­solation, these he requires you should especially observe, and diligently study.

4.Such are suta­ble to your con­dition. Those scriptures that speak especially concerning thy con­dition, the Lord requires a man should study that word, that is sutable to his estate, whether thou art in poverty or riches, in health or sickness.

5.Such as speak to the contro­versies of the times Those Scriptures that speak to the present contro­versie of the Age that you live in, that you may be established in the present truth, and keep from falling into the present errors; the Lord requires you to be much in the study of these Scriptures.

6.Such as are most compre­hensive. Those scriptures that are very comprehensive, that car­ry in them the guidance of a mans life; as in the Text, Lay up for your selves treasures in hea­ven, &c. and that Heb. 13.5. Be convent with such things as you have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee: Heb. 12.14. And without holinesse, no man shall see the Lord. Such comprehensive directions as these the Lord requires our hearts should be exercised in the study of them.

Use 2. Use 2. To dif­cover the necessity regenera­tion. Is most proper in this point: Is the heart inseparable from the treasure? Then this shews to every unregenerate man, that there is an absolute necessity of Regeneration. Ma­ny a carnall man will com­plain, and fay, I cannot bow my thoughts God-ward; what commands my thoughts? Thy [Page 199]treasure commands them. If thy treasure be in God, the me­ditation of thy heart will be towards God. What is Con­version? 'Tis a change of a mans chief good; Thy treasure and thy heart will be changed together, change thy treasure, and thy heart will change. The mi­sery of that man whose treasure is on earth. The misery of that man whose heart is on earth, is unspeak­able, because then his treasure is on earth. Consider these things.

1. Let thy Actions be what they will, if thy treasure be be­low, thy heart will be below: A temporary man may and will goe forth in temporary actions more then a spirituall man can do: But in a Tempo­rary man there's no change of heart. Act, 8.21 Simon Magus he washed his hands, but kept his heart [Page 200]in the same blacknesse of co­vetousness that it was before; Till thou change thy treasure, thy heart will never change. The misery of an ungodly man is in this, he may change his love when he will, but his heart is not changed unlesse his treasure be changed.

2. This is the ground of the greatest bondage to an ungod­ly man in the world, because his treasure is below, therefore his heart cannot be above; for where his Treasure is, there will the heart be. This is that which keeps all unregenerate men in bondage; there is ther­fore an absolute necessity for the change of a mans treasure, or otherwise thou canst not be assured that thy heart is changed.

Use. 3. Use 3. Learn then the bles­sed [Page 201]condition of a godly man, To dis­cover the blessed condition of a god­ly man whose treasure is in hea­ven. he is every where blessed; his body is on earth, but his heart is in heaven. There's a two­fold blessing upon this ac­count.

First Let this man at any time go astray (for a godly man is apt to wander) this will re­duce and bring him home a­gaine, the heart will be to the Treasure: A godly man can never fall from God, why? be­cause the heart and the trea­sure are inseparable: As the misery of an ungodly man is, let him professe what he will, yet his treasure will bring him back; so a godly man, let him wander whither he will, yet his treasure will reduce him.

Secondly, He is a happy man that hath his treasure alwaies in Heaven; he is a happy man, [Page 202]because he is a heavenly man, his heart is in heaven. There are four Reasons, why he that hath his Treasure alwaies in Heaven, is a happie man.

1.Here by he is eviden­ced to be an hea­venly man. Because hereby he is evi­denced to be a heavenly man, 1 Cor. 15.48. As is the earthly, such are they that are earthly; and as is the heavenly, such are they al­so that are heavenly: Because thy heart is in heaven, therefore thou art a heavenly man: As that wisdome that is conver­sant about earth, is said to be earthly, so that wisdome that is conversant about heaven, is said to be heavenly. An earth­ly mind is a plague, an hea­venly mind is a glory.

2.His heart doth not change with his conditi­on. He that hath his treasure in heaven is a blessed man, in this, that his heart is not sub­ject to those impressions of [Page 203]changes that other means are. It a mans condition doth change, yet if his heart doth not change, its no great mat­ter, as Tertullian observes, though he was under great af­flictions on earth, yet his heart was out of danger, because it was in heaven; therefore Rev. 13.6. Saints are said to dwell in heaven; the heart changes not for any evil, because its bound up in an unchangeable good.

3.His con­versation will be in heaven. He is a happy man, who hath his Treasure alwaies in Heaven; because where his treasure is, there will his heart and conversation bee, Phil. 3.20. Our conversation is in Heaven, from whence also wee looke for our Saviour the Lord Je­sus Christ. Saith the wise man, Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, [Page 204]Prov. 4.23. The way of his life comes out of his heart. Now this man taking up of his heart with God, must have his life taken up with God al­so; he is taken up with God as his Father, with Christ as his husband, with the Saints and blessed Spirits as his com­panions.

4.His soul shall shortly be there. A mans heart being in heaven, his soule shall shortly be there too. And this also is an argument, that bodies shall be there shortly; for though bo­dy and soule be parted by death, yet it will not be long before they are united again; and what a comfortable thing is this then, for a man to lay up his Treasure in Heaven, seeing it is such an argument that he himselfe shall be taken up into Heaven.

FINIS.

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