Two treatises of Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs. The first of earthly-mindedness

Fifthly, An earthly minded man or woman, is one whose great business of his heart and endeavours of his life are about the things of the earth: he makes it his great business, and the strong endeavours of his spirit are exercised in the things of the earth: He eagerly and greedily works with the strongest intention about these things, his whole Soul, the whole man is laid out about the world, it is the adequate object of his soul.

You will say, Other men they are busy in their callings as well as these that you account earthly minded men, I but mark, they are busy about their callings in obedience to God; and for outward things set aside their obedience to God, then (I say) all the things that they busy themselves about in the world, were it not under that consideration that they were obeying God in it they would not be adequate objects for their souls. I mean by an adequate object, that that Is sufficient to take up the whole strength of the soul to lay it out fully: I'll give you this similitude to express my mind further, to show you what I mean by an adequate object, You have a little child, he is playing at sports, now this sport it hath as much in it as there is in his spirit, there is a kind of equality between his spirit and such a sport, there is benefit enough a child conceives in such a sport as it's worth the laying out of all his strength and might upon it: Now it may be, sometimes a man or woman will play with their child, they will do as the child doth to play with it, but this sport it's not an adequate object, that's thus, a man or woman for the while would please themselves with the child, but not so as if there were as much good in this as would fill their souls, so as they would lay out all their mind and might upon this thing as that is fully adequate to the desires of their ⟨p. 12⟩soul; But sport is fully adequate to the desires of the soul of the child, but though a man or woman doth sport so with the child, yet these things are not fully adequate to the desires of a man or woman, and they have other matters in their heads than these, and businesses of a higher nature: and so it is in those that are not earthly minded, though they may be busied about the things of this world, yet they use the world as if they used it not, the things of the world are not objects adequate to their hearts, a spiritual heart reserves the chief strength of it for higher things, I follow these things in the world but so, as I reserve the chief strength for a more desirable good: As a man now, if he hath divers friends to come to him, perhaps he hath some of an ordinary rank, they come first, he makes ordinary provision for them, but if he hath any choice things for entertainment he reserves them for some choice friends that are coming to him: