RELIGIOUS AND MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. Extracts of letters from the Rev. J. A. Mer- Revival of Religion in Alford, red so much of Bishop M-Kendree's Ad- 225 231 THE METHODIST MAGAZINE. FOR JANUARY, 1820. Divinity. A SERMON ON COL. III. 1, 2, 3, 4. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. THE more carefully we examine the principles of Christianity, and compare them with the maxims of worldly wisdom, the more fully shall we be convinced of the superior excellence of its doctrines, precepts, and motives. The one teaches us to indulge our senses, our passions and our desires in the pursuit of honour, wealth and pleasure, under a thousand flattering forms, while the other requires self-denial, the mortification of our appetites, the crucifixion of our carnal affections, a voluntary renunciation of worldly honour and emoluments, and a universal submission of our hearts and lives to the discipline of Jesus Christ. The one is suited to the dispositions of our fallen nature, the other is calculated to raise us from the fall. In short, the one teaches us to live for the world, the other instructs us to live for eternity. But while the religion of the gospel furnishes rules of life which obscure the lustre of the proudest maxims of philosophy, its superiority is not diminished in the character of its motives. Philosophy must enforce her precepts by motives which lie within the sphere of her operation;-her sphere is limited-her efforts are weak: but the gospel of God our Saviour is perfect in all things. Does it prohibit our love of the world? it wraps that world in flames before our eyes, and lights our path to nature's funeral pile. Does it require self-denial? it assures us that the indulgence of the flesh will damn our souls. Does it enjoin devotion? we are not our own, but God's. Does it require us not to set our affection on things on the earth? we are dead. Does it teach us to seek the things which are above? we are risen with Christ. In short, does it require us to live soberly, and righteously, and godly in the present world? it assures us that an eternal weight of glory will be our reward, and that an opposite course will inevitably issue in everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. That the subject before us may be rendered useful, We will consider, first, the Christian's duty; and, secondly, the arguments by which it is enforced. I. The duty of Christians, as comprised in the text, embraces three particulars. 1. Set not your affection on things on the earth. From the method in which the Apostle introduces this branch of the subject, it may, at the first view, appear unimportant in the connection of the whole; but a more careful inspection will convince us of how great consequence it is, in relation to the chief design. Our attachments to earthly things are generally strong, and difficult to be broken. The relations in which we are placed to the world, and the circumstances inseparable from our present mode of existence, have a tendency to incline our affections to earthly objects. In the midst of such a state of things, it requires no ordinary exertion so to detach and separate our hearts from the world, as to prepare them for spiritual and heavenly exercises. But however difficult the work may be, it is indispensably necessary. Our hearts can never be the dwelling places of the Holy Spirit, and the seats of heavenly mindedness, while the love of the world dwells in them. We can never set our affection on heavenly things till we are weaned from the things of earth. We shall never seek the treasures of the kingdom of God, till we are convinced of the vaniity of all earthly good. Hence the importance of the direction in the text, Set not your affection on things on the earth.' 6 By things on the earth we are to understand the honours, riches, and pleasures of this present world. The sum total of creature good. To set our affection upon them is to esteem them as our chief interest, and to seek our happiness in them. We may satisfy ourselves of the state of our hearts in relation to earthly things by proper self-examination. An undue attachment to the world may be known to exist from an inward desire and thirst after earthly things-from the pleasure we feel in the possession of them-from the inquietude and anxiety we experience |