irremediable notwithstanding the most passionate desires of an exchange or remedy which shall ever enflame the loss Now a Corn of Wheat saith Christ to this purpose except it die abides alone it can never be any more than a Corn of Wheat and at last as such it putrifies but if it be cast into the ground and die it rises in all the flourish of Nature So if a man say He 'll be this great man this rich man this man of Power and Honour this man of Mode and pleasure in this World and adventure for what is to come say what you will saith he I will not diminish from the Figure I am or can hope or attain to make Why if so saith Christ you may as you can be that Figure but you shall never be any more and when you come to die what becomes of that Figure And besides beyond that viz. when That Figure is to be no more there arises the Loss of a Soul and of Life Eternal which is beyond all expression a Loss dreadful and without any reprisal or recovery And to this very purpose is that so known Discourse of the Apostle James Thus the Truth of that Faith which justifies appears by the mighty Operations of it in self-denial self-resignation and of all our Interests in this World as Abraham and Rahab made Such Acts of Faith as the Apostle gives a Catalogue of Heb. 11. by which the Elders obtained so great so good a Report which if well consider'd would much abate the Controversal part of that Scripture the Apostle being not in discourse upon the constant Ordinary Works of Moral Obedience but of those Heroick Acts opposing to the Body of Profession that mighty Spirit of Justifying Faith giving up all to God and Christ I will therefore but name the Particulals wherein this is to be shewn that we are ready to forsake all to follow Christ 1. It is certain the very forsaking of all in the plain Letter or Matter of Fact was the Case for three hundred years and more after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ it was so dispos'd by the Supreme Lord of Time if a man would be Christ's Disciple if he would take up him to be a Christian at that time he must undervalue for the sake of Christ the whole World and all Relations and Interests in it or else he could not be so So that this was continually brought to the Beame to the Scale whether a man 's own Soul or the whole World weighed most Indeed after three hundred years and something more the Kingdom of Christ made some appearance in the Christian Empire and the Christians came to be in a Condition of Honour and Estate and outward prosperity and the Bishops and Hierarchy as they call'd themselves became the greatest of the Earth But if we believe Ecclesiastick History there was a Voice from Heaven at that time This day is Poyson diffus'd into the Church But whether that were so or not certainly the thing was most true For hence arose an Opinion That Christianity in such a low and impure state as the World was then in and hath continued in to this day did yet advance to worldly honour and greatness or that the profession of Christ and his Gospel made men with no greater Influences of holiness appearing at the same time great and rich and Lords then which nothing is more contrary to the Kingdom of Christ and which brought in Antichristianism a mock Kingdom of Christ immediately upon and even out of the Christian Empire But this was the State of what we call Antiquity before the Christian Empire or the time of the purest Christianity it was a laying down all at the foot of Christ 2. It is certain every one of us ought to be prepared to have a Mind Fixed and ready to give up All to Christ else we cannot be Disciples of Christ suppose any of us have Advantages of Descent of Place of Estate of Credit of Reputation of Great Abilities of Understanding of all the Splendor of Living Attendance Equipage Garb If we cannot be willing to lay all this aside for Christs sake and to be wrapt up in the vilest Appearance we cannot be Christs Disciples and so cannot be Christians For Disciples are called Christians by Oracle And as I said before of the Christian Empire until it came in there was nothing but Poverty Persecution Disgrace and all the Torments the wits of Pagans could invent upon Christians so in After Times when Antichristianism came to a height there was no enjoying the Purity of Christianity but the Name of Hereticks Entitled all those who would be Christians not according to what they call'd Holy Church but according to the Gospel it self to all the Cruelty Persecution and Torments the Heathen had before found out and Practised upon Christians which now Antichristians took up against sincere Christians But for this last Age and almost another to it our Reformation hath brought in a greater Liberty of the Protestant Profession and the same Honour Titles and Grandieur on Protestants But we had need take care we do not abuse it For if we are not in the preparation of our Hearts Dying as a Corn of Wheat we cannot in the Sense of the great Master and Founder of Christianity be his Disciples or Christians And it is much to be consider'd All things of Worldly greatness and Enjoyment are still under this Perjudice that the Kingdoms of this World are yet in Beastian Hands of the Last of Daniels Beastian Powers the Antichrist the Pope so that the Succession of Christ's Kingdom cannot yet be The Kingdoms of this World are not yet become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ It is therefore very observable that Counterfeit of the Kingdom of Christ as it is a Mock Kingdom in regard of the Worldly Grandieur of Popery Cardinalls Arch-Bishops Bishops c. So it hath served it self of the Counterfeit of the Self Denial of the Gospel in thoâ—â— Austere Self Denying Orders under such strict Laws of Mortification and Despisal of this World Both Teaching us if we would Learn That there is indeed a Time of the Glory of Christianity in that Kingdom of Christ but not Carnal and Worldly yet full of outward Glory and Enjoyment but that at the present All is in Patience and Affliction 3. Every one ought at least to look to this to see what instances of Secret Mortification Self Examination Humiliation and profoundest Abasement of Himself before God Self Condemnation in Sense of his own Unworthiness and manifold Transgressions with all the Aggravations of Them Self Denial Holy Self-Resignation he Lives in the Practise and Exercise of laying our selves low at Christs Feet bringing all the Glory to Christianity and bringing as many into it as we can Seeking not our own but the Things that are Jesus Christs Suffering Affliction with the People of God in the State of our Minds and Contributing All we can to the
more than he knows what to give in exchange for his life if once lost And why should he of all persons think a Soul miserable for ever an impossible thing tho not certain or so much as improbable that thinks so many things have been and are that no one as he thinks can tell how they come to be Sure that man that will believe nothing but upon sense transgresses the very Law of his own Sense that sees many things come to pass he look'd not for and will not believe because he does not yet see and against his own Prudentials upon Sense for he takes heed and guards against things possible that he has never seen yet by the eye of Sense why not then against this so dreadful prossibility Application 2 If it be so desperate a case to lose a soul for a whole world how great madness is the loss of a Soul for a little of the World Men that live in Allyes and Dungeons and eat in darkness all their days and yâ—t lose their Souls Oh how earnest should all the poor be to receive the Gospel preached to them as the most fit Subjects of it in that gracious Expression of Christ to them The poor are evangelized and to lay hold on Eternal Life to make a Vertue of that Necessity they are under On the other side they that live in gaiety and splendor and value it so much and have such abhorring thoughts of a contrary condition how earnest should they be to live so for ever in a Divine Sense being receiv'd into the Inheritance of the Saints in Light and not to fall into the miseries of a lost soul as so horrible a descent from their present state Application 3 Let me beseech you to take the things that have been conveyed to you in these Words out of Words and as things to weigh them well for Things are greater than words and canot be deceived or turn'd off any more than Mountains or Walls or Gates of Iron and Brass in our way Let any one but for an hour think of these Words he will find them rise up to him as Things and meet him with inward assurances and so let him often do and especially with humblest supplication to the Father of Spirits the Creator of Souls through Christ the Lover and Redeemer of Souls by the Spirit the blessed Inhabitant of all holy and wise Spirits to impress upon him this great Oracle concerning the value of Souls and Spirits and he shall find by the Evidence and witness within himself of the value of his own Soul There is such a sense of these things possible to us that he that hath lost Houses Lands Wife Children for Christ's sake may receive a hundred fold in this life even now and in the very midst of Persecution which is the greatest evidence of their Reality in the comforts and assurances of preserving all unto Life Eternal For Christ adds In the world to come life eternal Mark 10. 29 30. Application 4 Seeing things are so dark in the present smoak black Vapour thick Steam of this World and the Lusts thereof and are so hardly considered and weighed duly in the noises and dust the rolling wheels of this World raise Oh how earnestly desirous should we be of that day dawning that day of the Kingdom of Christ but dawning from on high that shall make all these things so clear as to put the World into another state and posture as towards God and all holiness and the more earnest should we be seeing the day may by the sure word of prophesy shining in this dark place be seen to be near approaching and how great relation this great Saying of Christ hath to that Kingdom appears in that Christ goes on immediately to his coming in the Glory of his Kingdom of which he gave a Type in the Transfiguration Chap. 17. following FINIS ADVERTISEMENT THere is an Exposition upon the whole Book of the Revelation Explaining the Sacred Text Word by Word and opening and arguing the Divine Senses of that great Prophesy Sold by Richard Wellington at the Lute in St. Pauls Church-yard and are to be had at Mr. Marshals at the Bible in Newgate-street and of Mr. Salisbury at the Rising-Sun in Corn-hill Books Sold by VVilliam Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-Street Books Written by the late Dr. John Owen In Folio 1. HIs Exposition on the whole Epistle to the Hebrews with Exercitations concerning the Messiah Wherein the Promises concerning him to be a Spiritual Redeemer of Mankind are explained and vindicated His Coming and Accomplishment of his Work according to the Promises is proved and confirmed The Person or who he is declared The whole Oeconomy of the Mosaical Law Rites Worship and Sacrifices is explained And in all the Doctine of the Person Office and Work of the Messiah is opened The Nature and demerit of the first Sin is unfolded The Opinions and Traditions of the Antient and Modern Jews are examined Their Objections against the Lord Christ and the Gospel are answered The time of the Coming of the Messiah is stated And the great foundational Truth of the Gospel vindicated In four Volumes Folio 2. A Discourse concerning the Holy Spirit Wherein an Account it given of his Name Nature Personality Dispensation Operations and Effects His whole Work in the Old and New Creation is Explained The Doctrine concerning it vindicated from Oppositions and Reproaches The Nature also and Necessity of Gospel Holiness the Difference between Grace and Morality or a Spiritual Life unto God in Evangelical Obedience and a Course of Moral Virtues are stated and declared Fol. 3. The Doctrine of the Saints Perseverance explained and confirmed Or the certain Permanency of their 1. Acceptation with God and 2. Sanctification from God manifested and proved From 1. The Eternal Principles 2. The Effectual Causes And 3. The External Means thereof c. Fol.
shall he give in exchange for it We deferr this to every Wise and Honest Man We allow this Honour to him that He is able to speak of the Things wherein he deals according to their true worth and value We give this Credit to Merchants that deal in Foreign Commodities to any great Purchaser we look upon his Judgment and estimate as a Standard Now He that knew above any in Heaven or Earth the price of Souls He who is the single and alone Purchaser of Them For as to any other The Redemption of Souls is Precious and ceaseth for ever said this And he is not only the Purchaser but the Creator and Supreme End of them They were all created by him and for him Who then as He could Lift up his Hand as it were to Heaven and say What shall it profit a Man if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a Man give in exchange for it He saw and searched it out and declared it from his own certain knowledg in the making Souls and from his Experience in the Purchase of them 2. Let us observe how our Lord lays us in one Scale whatever is highest even the uttermost that can be supposed tho' it never has or shall be attained He does not speak of a little thing when he lays a Soul in the other Scale but whatever can be supposed to Counter-sway or Counter-ballance a Soul Suppose all the Honours Profits Pleasures of the World could be gained at the price of a Soul whatever the Covetous or the Ambitious or Proud the Sensualist or Voluptuary do or would roll themselves in Suppose a Man could have all this with all immaginable advantages All this saith our Lord could not weigh against one Soul We know it is a very little of the World we adventure for we engage our Souls for There was never yet any Man that could say He was Master of the whole World and All Things in it But suppose a Man could say He had it and upon the longest Term of Life and at the highest Elevation or Exaltation yet if we believe Him who had all Reason to know it All this were not to be named with a Soul Nay in Solomon's Judgment they are not sufficient to defray the Charges of Life the Vanity and Vexation of Spirit that press upon this Life in this state of Sin and Misery one may say it is Mortgaged under 3. The Foot of the Account the Ballance of the Account at the lowest that can be given is this That a Man would not be profited if he should gain the whole World and lose his own Soul All that he got by it would amount to just nothing Our Lord Conveys it therefore under the shade of a Man Adventuring upon the Sea and getting how much soever can be supposed by the Adventure and then his Life Himself be cast away suppose it were a World in his Arms What would such a Man get If that whereby we Taste Enjoy Take in whatever can be given into our possession be lost All that whole World becomes immediately nothing to him For whose then shall that World become If Solomon says Seeing there are many things that increase vanity What is Man the better How much more if his whole becomes an absolute Cypher a Nothing to him What can He be the better This is experimental Truth The Devil truely said Skin for skin all that a Man hath would he give for his Life This is true in the sense and verdict of Nature God therefore the Great Arbiter of Life hath this Bridle in the Mouth of the most Atheistic the Fools that say either in their Heart or openly There is no God They are under this Despotic Absolute Power whatever they call it they must dye and they cannot secure against how soon And this blanks all they can propose Their Breath is at some ones Pleasure some Will and Dispose that is not their own but above it It goeth forth and in that very day their thoughts perish concerning all things under the Sun And this proportionably falls on all who are Rich towards themselves and not towards God Luke 12. 21. 4. By these words of our Lord and Saviour there will come a great and sad review upon a Man's loss of his Soul There is a survivor to this loss that will have an earnest desire to this Soul to this Self again that will cry out Where is that Thing that I may find out to give in Exchange as a Reprizal for my lost and undone Soul And what is this Survivor but the lost and undone Soul it self reviewing and looking back on it self as so lost So our Lord intends to intimate to us by adding as a Clap of Thunder falling upon the Lost state of a Soul What shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul The words are spoken in a vehemency or in a Passion of Anguish Horror and Despair upon the sense of so miserable a Bargain Were it not for this after Account a Man might please himself in this if he could Gain the whole World or make some Noble as it might seem Acquist of it That he had laid his Hand upon the Prize as he said Hoc nobile Feci quod perii I have this satisfaction that I have brought what I desired to pass though I perish in it But this so terrible Review this so dear Repentance will sting and torment for ever because such Exchange is not possible to be found such an Exchange is neither to be found above nor below which a Man may give in Exchange for his Soul For when our Lord says What shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul It is as if he should say There is no such Possible to be found Here are two Questions then our Lord has put which can no way be Answered but by submitting to his Advice To lose our Lives here that we may save them for ever rather than to save them here and lose them for ever by being put upon the necessity of seeking an Exchange for our Souls that cannot be found These things being thus premised I will now state the sense of the Words and so lay down the Proposition to be Discoursed In stating the sense of the Words Three things are to be enquired into 1. What is meant by a Soul 2. What by a Soul lost 3. What by an Exchange for a Soul lost 1. That which is the shade and similitude under which the Lord conveys his Divine sense of a Soul is Life We know all Tast and Enjoyment is by the benefit of Life If you take away Life Man to all Things here in the World is a Carcass or lump of Clay He cannot enjoy For the Body by which the Soul had any enjoyment here is so and it is no other than a dead Body and so cannot enjoy Put all you can upon a Dead Body it is all one to it All the Funeral Pomp