A Treatise of Earthly-Mindedness

Book excerpt: In "A Treatise of Earthly-mindedness," Puritan author Jeremiah Burroughs exposes many of the evils and dangers of being earthly minded. One of the evils brought out by the author is that earthly mindedness is the root of apostasy. He cites the example of Demas. The apostle Paul said that Demas forsook him because he loved this present world. Burroughs exposes the emptiness of worldly pleasures in favor of the heavenly vision that we all should have, and in good Puritan fashion, manages to lucidly address a hundred other essential topics in passing. Christ proclaimed that we are to "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" and to avoid being "of the world" and in this work one can discover the scriptural means of true joy and godly sanctification. "This is the great difference between a wicked man and a godly man," write Burroughs, "one minds earthly things, and the other has his conversation in heaven." Burroughs book is a real gem. Out of print from 1649 until now, its message needs to be read again in an age where worldliness abounds in the professing church.