end Use last Minde that serious question What you shall do to bee saved 299 Object But wee must inquire after all truth Answer Yes but seasonably and in its due time 300 301 Rules about our inquiring how to be saved ib. 1 Do it timely 2 Do it earnestly 202 3 Do it sincerely 4 Do it constantly 203 Reasons why wee should thus inquire ib. Because 1 By nature wee are in a lost condition 2 Salvation is a difficult thing 3 There are but few that shall bee saved ib. The true Question of what wee should do to bee saved Answered 306 1 If you would have your souls saved joyn with God in what hee hath revealed to you concerni g your own condition ib. 2 Break off the acts of thy sin at least 308 309 Wherein is shewed the reason of this Rule 3 Take off your heart as much as you can from the world 310 4 Acquaint thy self with the mysteries of the Gospel ib. Quest What is there in the Gospel and Covenant of Grace wee must inform our selves of 311 Answ 1 Informing our selves of the necessity of satisfaction to Divine Justice ib. 2 Of a necessity of peâ—fect Righteousness 3 Of an absolute necessity of the application of Christs Righteousness 313 4 Of the necessity of Regeneration ib. 5 The fear of God must bee mighty and strong upon your spirits 314 6 Attend upon those means that God hath appointed to save your souls 317 Quest Can wee do any thing towards the working our own salvation Answered 317 318 319 7 Take heed of resting upon false hopes of thy salvation 320 Question What are those hopes Answer 321 1 Such hopes as are not Scripture-hopes 2 Such as are not wrought by the â—pirit 323 3 Such as are not lively hopes 324 4 Such as are not purging hopes 325 Next thing is by laying the foundation sure of salvation Where that Question is answered what it is 328 9 Keep thy soul under the authority of the word 331 2 The authority of conscience 332 10 Take heed of sinning against the price of thy soul against the good of the Covenant and against mercy 333 334 335 11 Take heed of sinning against the Spirit of Grace 336 12 Account the preciousness of the time of your lives to consist in this that it is a day of salvation 337 13 And lastly Bee sure to go with those that go in the streightest and in the safest way 337 338 339 The last thing treats of the transcendency of the Souls loss above the worlds gains 340 Sheweth Three things that may help a natural man to see the things of the world to bee as nothing ib. 1 If God wound his conscience and terrifie him 2 When God laies his hand upon him in afflicting of him 3 Even strength of Reason 343 As 1 Though thou shouldest gain the world and yet bee a man like to perish at last thou hast gotten but little ib. 2 Hee is never a whit the better for any thing in the w rld 346 3 All these are things beneath the soul 347 348 4 They are such things as God hath denied to the choicest of his servants 349 5 They may stand with Gods eternal hatred of his creature 350 6 They have no real good in them ib. 7 There is nothing that can satisfie the heart 352 8 What ever a wicked man hath of the world hee hath it without God ib. 9 All these things turn upon a wheel of uncertainty 353 354 Use It shews us not to envy at the prosperity of the wicked 357 2 Let all those that seek the world in those waies wherein they are like to lose their souls think upon this truth 360 The Souls Excellency The Worlds Vanity 3 It shews the way to answer all Temptations 365 By thus comparing the World with the Soul 365 4 And lastly Incouragement to those that will rather venture all in the waies of God than to hazard their Souls Mr. BVRROVGHS on the BEATITUDES The First SERMON ON The Excellency of the Soul I Have endeavoured to shew somewhat unto you about the Excellency of the Name of God and likewise the Excellency of Jesus Christ and what hee is that so you might have right apprehensions of God and Christ Now in the third place I shall desire to shew you somewhat about the Excellency of your own Souls And to that end attend to Matth. 16.26 For what is a man profited if hee shall gain the whole world and lose his own Soul The Text. or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul OUr Saviour going himself to suffer tells his Disciples what they must expect in the following of him Vers 24. If any man will come after mee let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow mee These are the tearms saith Christ upon which you must follow mee you must bee willing to deny your selves and to take up your cross to suffer hard things if you follow mee Christ would have his Disciples know the worst at first and not please themselves in a fools Paradise thinking that by following of him they should get great matters to themselves in the world no saith hee expect no such matter but deny your selves and take up my cross But this may seem to bee hard it may bee our cross may bee the loss of all the loss of our lives and must wee take up that yes saith Christ in the verse before my Text bee not solicitous what your cross is like to bee onely bee willing to take it up And the truth is the more willing you are to take it up the better will it bee for you and you will get nothing by seeking to shift for your selves For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall finde it Vers 25. It may bee when you meet with sufferings in the world you will think to shift this way or that way but you will get nothing If you would save your lives by forsaking the truth it is the onely way to lose your lives But if you bee willing to lose your lives for my truth you shall save them or what if by forsaking mee and my truth when you meet with suffering you should save your lives and your estates and live bravely in the world do you think you are any gainers by this you are infinitly mistaken If you cast up the account you will finde that you have gotten nothing all For what is a man profited if hee shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul And thus you see how the words come in These words that I have read unto you are of exceeding serious consideration And indeed they should bee as Thunder in every mans ears Some Scripture that a Minister may preach on may concern some particular person in a Congregation more than others But here is a Text concerns every one that hath a soul Man and woman high and
him as musick good cheer friends estate yet there is that horror and torment in his spirit sometimes through the consciousness of the guilt of sin that hee is not able to bear nay were there not somewhat beyond this bodily substance certainly this could never bee verily then there is a spirit in man and hence therefore you see that there is somewhat doth concern you all beyond your present outward and bodily condition Let no man think that hee hath provided well for himself when hee hath provided mony and house and lands and good chear and cloaths and such kinde of things do not think that thou art happy in that for these are things that concern thy outward man there is still another substance in thee that thou art to look after that takes little notice of such things as these are Neither do you think that you have provided well for your children when you have provided an estate an inheritance somewhat to leave them know that there is another substance in your children besides that outward bodily substance you look upon Do you see a fine feature comely parts comely countenance and your children finely cloathed I but know there is a spirit in that childe besides that bodily substance that you are to look to Certainly man is very far fallen from God that none scarce takes notice of his own spirit We do not only naturally live without a God in the world so as to know little of that infinite divine Spirit that is the first being of all things but wee live without the knowledge of our own spirits of our own souls Truly few men there are that know their own souls As a man by his eye sees things that are without him but he doth not see his own eye so by the soul wee come to understand many things without us but yet how little do wee understand of our own souls well might the Psalmist therefore complain and say in Psal 49.20 Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish God did indeed make man at first in honour but now hee is become like the very beasts hee doth minde little or nothing more than the very beasts themselves hee blesses himself if hee hath but content for the body for a while as if there were nothing else concerned him I appeal unto your consciences in this thing whether the uttermost sphere of your thoughts have been any further than meerly within the compass of bodily content If you should come to a beast and talk to it about Trades and titles of honour and Arts and Sciences and such kind of things why what is all this to a beast Give a beast hay or corn and such kinde of things that are suitable to it and it mindes that more than it doth any high notions that you are able to tell it and truly thus it is with sensual men even as the Atheist who saith in his heart That there is no God so a kinde of Atheism there is in their hearts to say they have no souls that there is no difference between them and the brute-beasts hence it is that they savour spiritual things so little Tell carnal men of the excellency of the Name of God Tell them of Jesus Christ how wonderful hee is of the wonderful mysteries of the Gospel and of the things of eternal life they are dry things to such a one hee savours them not Tell him of money and meat and drink and sports and cloaths and such kinde of things they are suitable unto him there is some savour in them but for the great things of the Kingdome of God and of eternal life there is no savour at all in them and thus far is man fallen from God and lives for the most part as if so bee hee were capable of no higher good but meerly to eat and drink and live for a while here like a beast Thus doth the Devil gull and deceive most of us Now my brethren this is a work that I have undertaken and it concerns as much the Ministers of God to shew unto you what you are your selves what God hath made you as to shew you what God is and what Christ is that you may come to understand your selves you can never come to know your reference unto God untill you come to know what God hath made you this is therefore my scope in this Scripture to shew unto you what God hath made you and that you have souls within you and souls of exceeding great worth I will not say infinite for none is infinite but God himself but more worth than all the world than all the creatures that God hath made except the Angels in heaven The souls of the children of men are most excellent creatures did but a man or woman consider seriously that they have souls in them beyond their bodies it would raise them up a little But this next Point that is the main and principal Doct 2 Did they but know the worth of their souls it could not but raise them very high above those poor empty vanities that they have minded all this while Therefore there is in man not onely a soul but that that is more worth than all the world that if it should bee lost that man that gained the whole world would bee a great loser in his bargain Know therefore this that there is not the poorest man or woman living nay not the poorest childe that lyes begging a crust of bread at your door but this childe hath a soul in it that is more worth than heaven and earth this poor ragged tattered childe that lyes in rags I say crying at your threshold and begging a peece of bread it hath a soul in it that hath greater excellency than the Sun Moon and Stars than all the Heavens than the Sea than the Earth put all the creatures in the world together that are under Angels the spirit of this poor childe hath more excellency in it than all these things and that is the thing that I am to make out unto you Why natural life hath more excellency in it than any creature that hath no life I remember Austin saith of a Flye because it hath life that it hath more excellency in it than the Sun its self because though the Sun bee a glorious creature yet it hath no life in it life in the meanest creature hath a greater excellency than any thing else that hath not life But now the soul hath the highest natural life that is and capable of the highest happiness that any creature is capable of and therefore more excellent than all the world But that wee shall come too in its order The excellency of the soul may bee discovered first In the relation it hath to God The Excellency of the Soul discovered 1 In its relation to God God doth challenge a peculiar relation to the spirits of men and therefore in Heb. 12.9 â—od is called the Father
the fire burning I and if God should have said thus unto us from Heaven wee had all cause to have fallen upon our faces and have blessed God for his mercy towards us but now God doth not require any such thing as this at your hands but requires the abandoning of your lusts and the attending upon him in his Ordinances and hee requires the keeping of your souls under his Word and Conscience and the following of the motions of his Spirit and the beleeving in his Son such things as these the Lord requires upon which your souls may eternally bee saved and will not you accept well that soul that God intends to save hee will perswade and the Lord perswade your souls in these things that so you may bee saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ The Tenth SERMON ON The Excellency of the Soul Matthew 16.26 For what is a man profited if hee shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul NOw then having done with that point wee are to come to the last thing That as the loss is great as in all the respects I opened so it is such that suppose a man to have gained the whole world in a way of the loss of his soul yet that gain will never recompence it Job 27.8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite though hee hath gained when God takes away his soul There are some men that seek the world and yet lose both the world and their souls they neither gain the world nor their own souls and some there are that do gain the world and their souls both But there is no necessary connexion between either gaining the world or losing ones soul or losing the world and gaining the soul but one may bee severed from the other But suppose God should let a man gain what hee will though many men seek for gain by sinful waies and God crosses them in it they have not their gain and yet they are damned eternally for seeking gain but suppose a man had gotten all the world as hee would desire and yet this man wicked and losing his soul hee is a most miserable man Now this is the thing that I have to do to shew unto you what a poor gain a man hath that is wicked though hee hath got the world when hee hath cast up all his reckonings it may bee said of him as wee usually say of men that have got little They may put all their gain in their eye and never see the worse So certainly if thou hast sought after gain in this world in such a way as thou hast not provided for thine own soul when thou comest to summe up all thine accounts thou wilt see that very little is got There are many waies whereby a man may come to see all the glory in the world to bee but darkness By seeing the glory of God the glory of Christ and the infinite consequence of an eternal estate those three things make the spiritual man to look upon all the glittering vanities of this world but as meer darkness and as nothing But now there bee three other things that may help a natural man to see the things of the world to bee as nothing and the gains of it to bee very poor gain I mean one that is not sanctified that hath no grace The first is If God do but please to wound his conscience and terrifie him hee will see all things to bee poor things indeed Or secondly When God laies his hand upon him in afflicting of him upon his sick-bed or upon his death-bed It is reported of Musculus that when hee lay upon his death-bed and his friends coming about him and seeing what a poor condition hee was in that had been an eminent worthy Instrument of God and an excellent Preacher in his time and they mourning for the sad condition they saw him to bee in O quid sumus say they as hee lay in his bed hee over-heard them Fumus said hee that is O what are wee smoak Many a carnal man in the time of his sickness and apprehension of death will say that all this world it is as nothing A third thing that may make even a carnal heart to see all the things of this world to bee as nothing It is strength of Reason though there should not bee terrour of conscience nor any afflictions yet strength of reason may discover the gain of this world to bee as nothing in comparing of it unto the soul and this strength of reason God is pleased sometimes to sanctifie by his Spirit when it is helped by the Word by the sanctified reason that there is in the Word I say when it is helped by that then God blesses it so as to work off the heart from the world to the things that concern the everlasting good of the soul And it is that that I shall speak to at this time to convince you what a poor thing the gain of the world is even by strength of reason and yet such reason as is founded upon the Scripture I have already shewn you the things that may make a spiritual heart see a vanity in all things in the world as the excellency of God and of Christ and the consequences of eternity Now the other two terrour of conscience and afflictions they are Gods work and God when hee pleaseth to shew the vanity of the World â—oth ordinarily bring them upon the creature but now for the third way of God to discover to the creature by the sanctified saving work of his Spirit the vanity of all things I shall indeavour to shew it you by strength of Argument and Reason out of the Word As First Surely though thou shouldest gain the world and yet bee a man that art like to perish at last thou hast gotten but little and it appears first in this that all those that ever came to have true wisdome and that are in Scripture commended for men of true wisdome they have lookt upon all the things of the world as very poor things First What do you think of him that was the wisest man upon Earth meer man even Solomon that had the greatest experience that ever man had of what good the honours or pleasures or profits of the world could do and yet after all his experience see his testimony of all in Eccles 1.2 Vanity of vanity saith the Preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity Observe these five things in it First The things of this world are not onely vain but vanity in the abstract Secondly They are an excessive vanity vanity of vanities Thirdly A heap of vanity vanity of vanities Fourthly All is vanity Fifthly Hee adds his name to this Saith the Preacher Now the word that is translated here Preacher in the Hebrew as those that know the tongue know it signifies one gathered and it is in the feminine gender and so some think it notes the soul of Solomon that gathered wisdome after hee had
in Heb. 13.17 Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you Oh it is a sad thing if one that God sends to watch for the souls of people shall bee forced to return his account to God with sorrow of heart and say Lord thou that knowest all things knowest what desires I have had and what indeavours to do good to the souls of this people how it hath been my study my prayer to finde out what might bee most profitable for their souls how willing I was to venture my life in seeking to do good to their souls but Oh Lord I have spent care and study and strength and even almost my life in vain little good do I finde done to the souls of this people Lord they reject thy word they contemn it they minde it not there are other things that their hearts are upon to follow the lusts of their flesh as if so bee they had no immortal souls to look unto I say if any faithful Minister of God shall go to God and make his moan thus unto God with grief and trouble of heart it will bee very ill for you it will bee a fearful moan in the ears of God against a people when any Minister shall justly make this to God against them therefore saith the Apostle here Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief Consider so far as any have charge of souls it is a heavy burden that is upon them a heavy weight surely whosoever should take charge of so many thousand souls as belongs to this Congregation would have weight and burden enough upon his shoulders you should pitty them that have this charge over you I remember Chrysostome in his writing upon this very Scripture saith Hee wonders how any of these that are here said to watch over mens souls how any of them could bee saved because the charge is so great that is upon them And I have read of one being called to the work of the Ministery would by any means avoid it and professes that hee would not for all the world have the charge of a soul one day upon him Certainly it is a great work and requires very much seriousness and diligence to have a soul committed to one If a man had a precious Pearl committed to his charge that were worth ten thousand pound that hee must look to it and keep it hee would hardly bee able to sleep quietly after hee had so great a charge committed to him And truly if men are careful that have but beasts committed to them as Jacob said concerning his Unkle Labans cattel that hee look'd to them so as that hee indured the frost in the night and the heat of the day much diligence and care then should they have that have the charge of souls But wee let that pass Yet in the fourth place If souls have such excellency Use 4 then certainly those who have most soul-excellency are the most excellent people wee may judge here who they are that are the most excellent upon the earth The Righteous is more excellent than his neighbour perhaps his neighbour is richer than hee hath a comlier body than hee but yet hee is more excellent why because all excellency must be judged by that that is most proper to the Creature and that that is the chief part of the Creature as if you would judge of the goodness of a knife you will not judge by the haft of it whether it bee good or no but you will judge by the metal of the knife you judge by that wherein the chief of the knife is so if you will judge of the excellency of a man or woman you must judge of his excellency by the excellency of that that is most proper to him Now for Sense for the body why the brute-beasts they have sense they have flesh and blood as well as wee onely wee differ in these rational immortal souls that God hath given to us therefore such whose souls are filled with divine excellency they are to bee most honoured they are indeed the Lords and Ladies of the world therefore the Scripture speaks of those whose out-sides were mean enough in the latter end of the 11th of the Hebrews that wandered in sheep-skins and goat-skins yet they were such as the world was not worthy of them Indeed a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit wee read of the Ark the outside was of Badgers-skins it had a poor and mean outside but within were the Cherubims and Gold was within And so many have very mean outsides but within there is a great deal of excellency and others that have brave outsides and well clad without yet if you look within them oh what vile souls have they the heart of the wicked is little worth saith the Scripture Perhaps his Land may bee somewhat worth and his House but his heart is little worth As many a man that hath perhaps a hand full of sores yet may have a fine imbroidered Glove upon it and a dunghill may bee strewed with herbs and in the winter time filthy dunghills you know are covered with white Snow that in a fair frosty day look as glistering as the Snow that is upon a fine Meddow but still nothing but filth So it is with many a man that hath a fine outside covered over it may bee with a great many outward excellencies but within their spirits nothing but carrion nothing but abominable stuff that is filthy and loathsome in the eyes of God as a sore legg may have a fine stockin oâ— boot upon it and so a sore putrified soul may have a brave outside upon it But that God that is a Spirit that looks unto Spirit and those men that know what spiritual excellency means if they see a man or woman have a filthy defiled corrupt soul they cannot but esteem of them accordingly Whatsoever the body or the out-side bee those are the most excellent in Gods esteem and the holy Angels and the Saints that have the most excellent souls for that is the best part of man Use 5 But fifthly If the soul of man bee so excellent Oh let us bless God for our souls bless God I say that hath given unto you these immortal souls that are of so great a worth Oh what cause have every one of you to bless God that hee did not make you a Toad a Dog a Snake that hee did not make you any vile brute creature but that when you were before him in the common lump out of which God made his creatures that hee would rather choose you to bee one that should have an immortal soul so precious rather than to bee a
by which you come to bee a new Creature certainly you perish till this bee wrought in your hearts by the power of the Spirit you are in a perishing condition there is nothing more plain than this in Scripture You know what Christ saith to Nicodemus Verily verily I say unto you except a man bee born again John 3.3 hee cannot see the Kingdome of God Therefore it is not enough that it may bee thou livest somewhat better than heretofore thou hast done It may bee when thou wert a young man thou wert wanton or unclean and prophane and abroad in the fields and in wicked houses on the Lords day I but now thou hast more wisdome and understanding and now thou dost not so this is well and good and this is to bee encouraged I but what is this to such a mighty change as to bee born again If so bee that your bodies had no other kind of soul than that that is of sence and afterwards a rational soul should bee put into it what a mighty change would there bee in that body before they could onely see and hear and feel but now having a rational soul they can understand understand reason understand the waies of men this is a mighty change and truly there is as mighty a change when God puts a new life into the soul and doth regenerate it making it partaker of the divine Nature and even to come to live the life of God according as the Scripture phrase is Now this must bee in every soul that must bee saved and if the time bee not come that this regeneration is wrought then certainly thy soul is yet in a perishing condition God knows onely what hee doth intend to do hereafter but for the present thy soul I say is in a perishing condition The first work that God made that is the work of Creation by sin was quite spoiled Now Jesus Christ the Son of God that is his honour and his work to rear up a new world and that is a better world a great deal than the former world was and the special creatures of this world they are his Saints and the new Creation in their hearts now this is the condition of a converted soul it is made a new Creature All old things are done away 2 Cor. 5.17 Thou that livest in thine old waies and art altogether for thine old customes and what shalt thou do contrary now to what thy Fore-fathers did and thou thy self hast done all thy life time and the like oh this is a dangerous kind of reasoning why thou must bee a new Creature and all things are to become new in thy soul thou must know that the Old Man is dead in thee and that the New Creature is reared up in thee or else thou canst not know that if thy soul should this night depart but that thou shouldest bee an undone Creature for ever Yea Shall I yet say further because it is a point of a wonderful consequence for men and vvomen to put themselves to it I fear that there is many men and vvomen here that yet all their lives time have not put this question to themselves What are the tearms betvveen God and mee vvhy I hope that God vvill vvork grace in mee I but vvhat hath God done is it so vvrought at this present that if I were this moment to die I were in a safe condition and the hazard of my miscarrying to all eternity were over A man may joyfully go thorow all conditions in this world if hee were able to say well vvhatever befall mee in this world yet my condition is such that I know the hazard of my miscarrying for ever blessed bee God that is over Oh that people would but put this question to themselves In what estate am I now it if I were to die this instant Ninthly Wherefore then another thing is this That soul that yet hath not gone beyond those that the Scripture doth brand and note for Hypocrites or Reprobates if thou hast yet no more wrought in thee than the Scripture shews that they had then certainly if thou shouldest now die thou must needs perish As now the Scripture holds forth these examples Pharaoh confessing his sins The Lord is Righteous saith Pharaoh and I have sinned Saul I have sinned against the Lord. Ahab Hee humbled himself in sackcloath and went softly when the Prophet threatned Gods anger against him The Scripture tells you of the stony-ground which received the Word with joy Of Herod That hee heard John Baptist gladly and reformed many things Of Judas Hee came and acknowledged his sin and brought again the thirty peeces that hee had gotten by it and cast it down yet these of which the Scripture thus speaks all of their souls were lost for ever and yet I say they went thus far Now it concerns us very nearly to look to our selves and not to think wee are safe upon every sleight apprehension if the Scripture holds forth such examples that went thus far and yet vvere lost vvee had need bee careful to examine our state To vvhat end do you think doth God set dovvn these examples of vvicked men vvhose souls vvere lost and shevv you hovv much good they did certainly this vvas Gods end that men and vvomen might not flatter themselves vvith every little good thing that they do but that they should bee ferious and very solicitous in the examination of the estate of their souls hovv the terms are betvveen God and them this vvas Gods end in it and this being Gods end vvee are to make the use of it that God did aim at in holding forth these things in his Word unto us Oh therefore do not satisfie your selves vvith a little do not say if I should novv die this night and no further vvork vvrought yet I hope the vvork is so far wrought that my soul will not bee lost The Seventh SERMON ON The Excellency of the Soul Matthew 16.26 For what is a man profited if hee shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Quest BUt you slay wee must go further How shall a man know that hee is gone further than those whose souls are lost Answ To that I vvould briefly ansvver thus Canst thou say vvith David Lord thy Word is pure therefore doth thy servant love it I beleeve not one of these could say so Lord God Thy Word is a pure Word I see a holiness and beauty in thy Word and therefore my soul doth close vvith it because it is pure this is further than any of them vvent David could say so Saul could not nor Ahab could not nor Herod could not the stony-ground and Herod rejoyced in it but it vvas not from the purity of it that they did rejoyce for then they vvould have rejoyced in all the Word of God every part of Gods Word being pure and holy Secondly They could not say thus That they did prize Jesus Christ for a Sanctifier as
well as a Saviour None of them did look upon Jesus Christ that hee might deliver their souls from the power of their sin and work righteousness in them as well as deliver them from the wrath that is to come Therefore though some of them would bee glad to bee saved from hell by Christ yet to look upon Christ in regard of his purity and holiness as altogether lovely this none of them could do Thirdly and lastly None of them did lift up God as the highest end of all and give up themselves and all that they had or were or could do being empty of themselves so as to lift up God as revealed in Christ as the highest end so as God and Christ to bee all in all to their souls they went not thus far And therefore do not think that it is a putting people to great streights to tell them how far many went whose souls were lost and if they went no further their souls would likewise bee eternally lost Now then these things being so what remains but that you should lay them to your hearts Oh lay them to your hearts and if God would but bee pleased this evening to cause every one in this Congregation to examine themselves and call their souls into question O my soul how is it with thee how do things stand between God and thee art thou in such an estate as if God should call for thee out of the body this moment that thou shouldest bee saved Oh bee not satisfied in any thing in the world till you come to a resolution in these things And if you finde that these things speak against you and your souls bee cast by them for the present do not sleight them for verily God will make them good upon thee these things shall stand when thy soul shall perish Wherefore then this is the last use about this point of the dreadful loss of the soul Use Oh then let every man or woman propound this question Act. 16.30 What shall I then do to bee saved The world is troubled with a great many questions at this day questions that have no great necessity in them but here is the great question Men and Brethren what shall I do to bee saved And if people when they meet together would bee taken up and bee asking of this question one of another it would prevent a great many wrangling and jangling questions that men spend their time in oh when they are asking of you many such vain questions answer those vain questions but thus I but do you know how one may do to be saved tell mee something of the way of God about the salvation of my soul and that is that that both Ministers and Christians should most aim at to help one another in they should not fill peoples heads with curious questions and specially young ones for that is a great deceit of the Devil at this day There was never a time wherein there was a more hopeful harvest of young ones than there was two or three years since in England and in this City and because the Devil saw it was in vain to tempt their hearts to their former prophaneness hee labours by all means to cause them to fall into the hands of vain jangling people that shall fill their heads with a great many curious questions about controversies and things that they do not understand and so take away the very strength and life of the work of the Word upon them when as the Scripture tells us plainly that wee must not receive the weak in Faith unto doubtful disputations Rom. 14.1 But Object You will say wee must inquire after all truths Answ It is true but seasonably in their due time It is not for young converts before they bee setled in the main things of Religion to have their heads filled with doubtful disputations it is the plain Scripture and it is as plain if wee would understand it as Thou shalt not steal or commit adultery oh this hath hindered the salvation of many a soul Now therefore this is that that I would aim at to turn the strength of your souls into this great question What shall wee do to bee saved in Ecclesiastes 7. saith the wise man there God hath made man upright but hee hath found to himself many inventions so your books have it but I finde it translated in the old Lattin Hee hath mingled himself with many questions so they turn the phrase Now the Lord take off your hearts from those and give you hearts to attend to this great question What shall wee do to bee saved It was the question you know of the Jaylor in Act. 16.30 And it concerns those that yet have not assurance of what condition their souls are in for salvation to ask this question speedily and not to put it off till they come to sickness and death and then send for Ministers and godly Christians and say Oh! what shall I do how many upon their sick and death beds that never minded to inquire before what they should do to bee saved theâ— are in dreadful anguish and then cry out Oh what shall I do Oh the distressed condition I am in I am afraid my soul is lost for ever what shall I do why dost thou ask it now is this question to ask now when thy soul is going before the great and dreadful God to have the sentence of its eternal doom to bee past upon it Oh it concerns you betimes you young ones as soon as ever you come to know you have souls it concerns you to bee asking this great question What shall I do to bee saved And wee have an example of this of a young man that Christ lookt upon in love because hee was inquisitive about the salvation of his soul the story is in Matth. 19.16 Behold one came and said unto him Good Master what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life and vers 20. It appears that this was a young man The young man saith unto him All these things have I done Oh it were a comely thing for young men to come to Christ and say What shall wee do to have eternal life and it appears that hee was a young Gentleman a man of great possessions and hee is called in the Gospel by St. Luke a Ruler some Interpreters think that that was meant onely in the family for the Jews had some chief in the family that did rule and govern there but this young man hee comes to Christ and that running Mark 10.17 as in Mark 10. where you have the story and Christ lookt upon him and loved him as in vers 21. Oh it is a lovely thing to see young people begin betimes to inquire what they should do to bee saved and wee have had great hopes of young people but here is the policy of the Devil when the Lord was bringing the greatest harvest of young people within this three or four years
many ignorant people that pervert the Word to their own destruction If God bee not merciful to them therefore why should wee pray or read or hear or use any means let us lay aside all wee can do nothing wee are dead in sins and the like Now wee are to know that though nothing can bee done by us till God bring us into a state of grace and salvation that is acceptable so as certainly shall bring us to Heaven yet if it bee but that that shall stop us in the contrary way a little it is worth our labour If it be but that that any way may tend towards the bringing of us unto any means that may do us good why it is worth our labour and all our pains but especially if wee consider this that though wee are not able to do that that shall save us yet God is pleased often to convey his strength to those hee doth intend to save through the use of those means rather at that time when they do improve their natural abilities than at that time when they sit idle and do nothing and therefore you must bee up and bee doing Wee read in the Gospel concerning the young man that I told you came to Christ and inquired what hee should do for eternal life Christ profest to him that hee was not far from the Kingdome of Heaven hee was not so far as others It is true if a man abuses his doing and rests in his doing that sets him as far from the Kingdome of Heaven as prophane ones and therefore Publicans and Harlots may enter into the Kingdome of Heaven as soon as Scribes and Pharisees But there may bee many actions done by a common assistance of Gods Spirit that may bring some nearer to the Kingdome of Heaven than others and the denial of such a thing as that is would bee an extream boldness in any for they are the very words of Christ to the young man That hee was not far from the Kingdome of Heaven and therefore notwithstanding your inability and notwithstanding the things that wee do are not the things that save us yet wee have ground enough to put on men and women to do Now the meaning of this great question is this What is the way that God ordinarily takes to bring men and women to salvation by or how should I follow God on in his way that is a certain truth of the Antients Though God made thee without thee yet hee will not save thee without thee God works upon us as upon rational creatures and therefore it doth concern all the children of men that would have their souls saved to observe the work of God and to stir up what is in them to joyn with the work of God in the way of salvation and certainly whatever conceits there are to the contrary they are not onely foolish but extream dangerous and Satans policy and cunning is exceedingly much seen in them A further thing that I would premise before I come to particulars is this when I speak of any thing that should bee done I prescribe no particular order knowing that the works of God are various And sometimes God stirs up a soul to do one thing and sometimes to do another thing but take them in what order you will yet wee must name them for memory sake in some order and God expects them from you and you are to joyn with God in those works if you would have your souls to bee saved The great Question of what wee should do to bee saved answered First If you would have your souls saved do you joyn with God in what hee hath revealed to you concerning your lost condition labouring to understand those truths clearly that are delivered in the Word concerning the lost condition of souls by nature and to work those truths upon your hearts to bee sensible of them Those whom God intends to save hee shews unto them what this salvation is hee shews them from what it is they are to bee saved that so they may not run away vvith the meer word Salvation and saving of souls now God reveals this in his Word and when hee intends to save a soul hee doth by his Spirit stir it up to joyn with the Word of God and work those things upon its self so as to bee made sensible of them As thus the soul being solicitous how it should come to bee saved it searches the Scripture and there it findes how wee are by nature the children of wrath there it findes that God had made man according to his own Image at first but man hath sinned against God and broken the covenant upon which his eternal state did depend and in the sin of the first man all men have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God and now are conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity so that there is a most dreadful breach between God and the soul and that man by nature is become an enemy to the Infinite God That now hee hath the seeds of all kind of sin in him and that all his life while hee continues in his natural estate here is nothing else but a fighting against God a flying in the very face of God Hee findes that by sin hee is brought under a most dreadful curse the curse of the Law and that hee is bound over by the bonds of the Law even to death to eternal death as the wages of sin these things the soul findes in Scripture now if thou wouldest bee saved when thou findest God revealing such things labour thorowly to convince thy soul of the truth of them and are these things so indeed is this my condition am I thus and thus naturally Oh what good then will it do to mee to have all the world and bee in such a condition as this is Oh my soul when wert thou sensible of this condition dost thou walk as it becomes one that is sensible of such a lost estate as this is Oh! labour to drink in these truths and to work them upon thy heart and cry to God to set them home upon thy spirit to make thy soul thorowly sensible of them as hee uses to make those whom hee hath a purpose to save Here 's the first thing And yet one thing about this further is That you must come to a conviction not onely of your lost estate but of your inability to save your selves and the inability that there is in all creatures in Heaven and Earth to save them that thy fall from God is so dreadful that all the created power in Heaven and Earth cannot help thee yea and that thou thy self now art unable to help thy self to save thy soul bee convinc'd thorowly of this This was the way that Christ took with the young man hee tells him of the Law first and then afterwards because hee was conceited that hee had fulfilled the Law and done it Christ puts him upon a duty that might convince him
inheritance among them that are sanctified by Faith that is in mee Saith the Lord Christ to Paul I will send thee to open the eyes of men and to turn them from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and this is the great ordinance that I intend for this end and that I will accompany to those that I purpose to save at any time Therefore when you come to hear the Word you should come to it as the great Ordinance that God hath appointed to save souls by Is there any soul that begins in this Congregation to bee awakened and to think with it self Oh Lord What shall I do to bee saved I tell thee that every time thou comest to hear the Word preached thou shouldest come to it with such thoughts as these Now am I going to that great Ordinance that the Lord hath appointed to convey his power thorow to the salvation of those souls that are appointed to eternal life I am going to the Pool of Bethesda and there will I wait until the Lord shall bee pleased for to send his Angel to stir in my heart and I have begun to feel some power of Christ already which doth incourage mee to hope for further power There is many a soul hath met with Jesus Christ and hee hath brought it from the power of Satan to his own Kingdome of light and why may not my soul meet with the same power of Jesus Christ however I am resolved that as long as I live I will wait upon God in the way that hee hath appointed Oh the Word it hath a great deal of efficacy for the salvation of souls therefore if thou wouldest have thy soul saved attend upon it for that end I shall apply one Scripture which may bee for the preparation to what remains You are about inquiring how you should bee saved and wee are about answering Oh take heed that you bee not found in this like unto those wretched Jews which God forbid that there should bee any one in this place found like unto that would fain have the Prophet Jeremiah be inquiring what the mind of God was concerning them and they profest that whatsoever the Lord should reveal by him that they would do but when it came loe they fling off all and it was to no purpose the Scripture is in Jer. 42.5 Then they said to Jeremiah The Lord bee a true and a faithful witness between us if wee do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us Wee desire thee to go and know the mind of God and tell it us and here wee profess and call God to witness that wee will do what lies in us to perform all that the Lord thy God shall require This was a very fair promise and I hope there are some souls if not generally all of you have such a kinde of disposition Oh let his servant search his Word and finde out what should be done and whatsoever hee shall speak according to his Word that will wee do and God forbid it should bee otherwise it were just with God that our souls should perish if wee should do otherwise but there is a mighty deal of deceitfulness in the hearts of men Jeremiah went and did as they desired him but mark chap. 44. 16. and you shall see what a different disposition there was in them to what there seemed to bee before first you shall finde in chap. 43. they begin to wrangle at what Jeremiah spake to them all the proud men began to wrangle at what Jeremiah spake mark it is all the proud men they are proud spirits that do contend with Gods Word but mark first they wrangle chap. 43.2 and then they grow resolute and stubborn chap. 44.16 As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee why what are these the men that called God to witness that whatsoever Jeremiah should declare in the Name of God they would do it and yet now first they wrangle at what he saith and then they resolve that as for what hee hath spoken to them in the Name of the Lord they will not hear it Now God forbid that ever there should bee found among any of you such wrangling spirits with the Word of God certainly God will justifie the words of his servants that they speak in his Name one day and will make them good upon you and they may lye heavy upon the soul that shall neglect them but then where there is first wrangling at the Word of God there usually grows an impudent proud stubborn casting off the Word of God As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord wee will not hearken unto thee Why should not wee do what wee have a mind to why should not wee take our liberty on the Lords day as vvee vvere vvont and follovv our business as vvee vvere vvont let them say vvhat they vvill vvee vvill do as vvee vvere vvont to do and vvee vvill keep our company as vvee vvere vvont to do let them speak vvhile their heart akes this vvas the very guize of this people that made such a profession before the Lord but oh the Lord forbid that it should bee so vvith any of you But Seventhly If thou vvouldest have thy soul saved thou must take heed of resting upon false hopes of thy salvation you must rase down even to the very ground all your false hopes of salvation there is nothing in the vvorld hinders the salvation of souls more than false hopes vvhen men dare build their eternal salvation upon every sleight and vain hope that they hold The hope of the Hypocrite the Scriptuie saith is like the Spiders-webb spun out of thine ovvn conceits but every little touch is enough to strike it dovvn again Oh the poor things that people thus venture their souls upon I shevved you in the opening of vvhat did cause the loss of souls that one thing vvas by venturing and their vain hopes vvas one novv these must bee ras'd dovvn you vvill say vvhat are those vain hopes that must first bee ras'd dovvn and vvhat do you mean by rasing of them dovvn That I may speak plainly in this thing that concerns the poorest and meanest that is of the meanest capacity in the world as well as the most able or learned for the poorest hath a soul to save as well as the richest and the weakest as well as the learnedst if such a one should say What are those things that are to bee rased down to that I answâ—â— First Such hopes as are not Scripture-hopes if they bee not Scripture hopes they must bee rased down Rom. 15.4 Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that wee through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope Wee have hope through patience and comfort
of the Scripture how doth the hopes of those that shall bee saved arise Why they rise thus either by reading or hearing something out of the Word of God and God darting some light some truths into their souls through his Word they come to receive it and there it lies working in them till at length their souls relish it and they taste the sweetness of the Word and come to have comfort in it and so through patience and comfort of the Scriptures their hope comes to bee raised the Scripture in raising hopes first it works patience it usually beats down the soul first and speaks hard things to it and the soul that God over-powers to himself it is willing to lye under the power of the Scripture and bee patient notwithstanding the Scripture doth reveal such hard things and puts it upon never such hard duties the heart I say yeelds to it and at length the soul comes to finde sweetness out of the Scripture and so hopes comes to bee raised that is the soul sees some eternal truth out of the Word of God the truth of God himself that is eternal a divine truth that it dares venture its eternal estate upon and upon this it doth raise its hope it is able to give an account from some place of the Scripture upon what grounds it doth hope I hope that God will shew mercy to mee and save my soul in the day of Christ will some say I but what ground have you for your hopes Now if your hopes bee right then there is somewhat in this Book of God to bee shewed as the ground of this and indeed you can have but little comfort of your hopes except you bee able to hold forth some Scripture of other upon which you build your hopes for when you say you hope you may not mean that you think and aâ—e perswaded that it is so but what Scripture have you for iâ—â—â— you will say what Scriptures have any to ground their hopâ—s of salvation upon what Scriptures a great many I will give you but this one that many have to ground their hopeâ— upon Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Upon this now saith a soul that God brings to himself What doâ—h God say in his Word that word upon which my soul stands and must bee cast one day for eternity that those that are in Christ Jesus shall never bee condemned I but who are they such as walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit such as the bent of whose hearts and the indeavours of whose souls are not after fleshly things the comforts of this world but after spiritual things such whom the Lord hath made to be sensible of spiritual things and such as the Lord doth act and guide by his holy Spirit in their waies and conversations God saith such shall never be condemned then upon this I will build my hopes for I feel that the Lord hath been pleased to work so on mee as to bring mee to Jesus Christ to see him to close with him and to relye upon him and I feel the fruit of the Spirit of Christ in mee that whereas before I walked after the flesh and spiritual things I did not savour now I finde that the lusts of the flesh are mortified and I should wrong the grace of God if I should deny the actings and the guidings of the Spirit in my soul and therefore I will build my hopes and rest upon this Scripture And the more any soul rests upon any Scripture if it rests truly the more shall it finde the power of that Scripture upon it Therefore you shall know the difference between an hypocrites resting upon Scripture and one that rests through the work of Gods Grace an Hypocrite rests upon such a Scripture and conceits that his heart is according to the Scripture but now hee doth not finde that the more hee rests the more his heart is wrought upon by the Scripture and daily grows to bee liker and liker to the Scripture to come nearer and nearer to what is required in the Scripture but now when a gracious heart doth rest upon Scripture it findes that daily it doth grow nearer and nearer to the Scripture and that works daily more and more upon it and indeed this is the way to grow in sanctification and to make our hearts like to the Scriptures Fall upon several places and let your souls rest upon them for eternity and so you will finde your hearts to grow more and more like to those Scriptures and the power of those Scriptures will appear more and more in your hearts and conversations This is the way of the Saints that have hopes to bee saved Secondly Again those hopes that are to be rased are hopes that are not wrought in the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost in the forenamed Chapter The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in beleeving that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost That hope that is right for salvation is such a hope as is wrought through the power of the Holy Ghost Now then that hope that is in men and women which is born with them and hath lived with them all their daies that springs from the root of nature for so that that is born with us and grows up with us all the daies of our lives I say it springs from a root of nature and so the hopes of most people they are no other but such as springs from a root of nature come from one to another and ask them do you think to bee saved I I hope so how long have you hoped so ever since I can remember I thank God I I thought so it is a hope that springs out of the root of nature and therefore you have had it alwaies whereas the true hope of the godly for salvation it is a hope wrought in their hearts by the Almighty power of the Holy Ghost And I appeal to you now what Almighty power of the Holy Ghost have you felt in your hearts to raise up those hopes that you have in you For certainly the grace of hope hath a difficulty in it as well as any grace whatsoever now all people almost finde an easiness in that but here the Scripture makes it to bee the glory of the Holy Ghost to raise hopes in any creature therefore those hopes that arise from a root of nature that are not wrought by an Almighty power of the Holy Ghost in the heart must bee rased down Do but put your souls to this question I have hopes to bee saved but Lord how are they wrought what power of the Holy Ghost hath been in my heart to raise these hopes Suppose there were no Holy Ghost as they said in the Acts that they had not so much as heard whether there were any Holy Ghost or no
do do they make the Carrion to bee less corrupt and putrified than it was truly all the bravery that wicked men have it is at the best but a few herbs and flowers strewn upon a filthy carrion which makes them not to bee the better The things of this world therefore in Scripture are called the things of another mans in Luk. 16.12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another mans who shall give you that which is your own You may know the meaning of it by the verse before If therefore yee have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon who will commit to your trust the true riches The riches of this world are called unrighteous Mammon now these are opposite to the true riches as if these were not True riches and then in vers 12. If you have not been faithful in that which is another mans that is in these riches of the world who shall give you that which is your own so that nothing is a mans own to make him better but grace the good things of the soul they are a mans own but the other things they are the worlds things they are not a mans own therefore what doth it profit a man that hee hath gained the world for hee is never a whit the better man Thirdly All these things they are things beneath the soul things of an inferiour nature what good is it for a man that hath gotten never so much food that hee hath laid up for his horses and doggs but hee hath nothing for his children or for himself So if a man hath gotten the world hee hath gotten somewhat for his body his inferiour part I but hee hath gotten nothing for his soul that is above it These are things beneath and under the soul what good would it bee for a souldier if hee have gilt his scabbard but hee hath a broken rusty sword within or but a wooden sword within Therefore I finde in Scripture that the bodies of men and women are called the sheath of their souls Dan. 7.15 I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body So it is in your books translated but those that understand the Original Text they know it is a word that signifies a sheath and so Arius Montanus turns it and likewise in your Margents in the midst of his sheath and by comparing this Scripture with another it is plain that that is the propriety of the word 1 Chron. 21.27 Where the Text saith The Lord commanded the Angel and hee put up his sword again into the sheath thereof Now the word that is here translated sheath I finde by comparing of them together that it is the very same word in the Original that Daniel translates body for the body is but as the sheath unto the soul and what will it gain a souldier to have a brave sheath and in the mean time have nothing within it or that that is of no use at all thus it is with many they seek great things for their bodies but their souls are left in the mean time without any succour or help and in a most miserable condition all things that are in the world should bee servants to thy soul for they are all inferiour to it Wee account it a great disâ—onour to a man to marry his servant a man of estate in the world if wee hear hee hath married his servant which is very mean wee account it a dishonour Now for thy heart to mingle it self with the things of this world as its chiefest good what dost thou but marry thy soul to that which should bee thy servant for all these things are but as servants to the soul and for the heart of a man to bee set upon the things of this world it is to have the curse of Cham to bee upon him A servant of servants shalt thou bee for the things of the world they should bee thy servants and thou art their servant and so a servant of servants the curse of Cham is upon thee when thou art a slave to thy estate or thy honours or to thy brutish lusts a servant of servants art thou Fourthly They are such things as God in his ordinary administration of providence hath denied to the choicest of his servants specially in the times of the Gospel Many of the choice of his servants in former times were in very low and mean conditions but for the times of the Gospel how did Christ himself who was the Son of God live hee had not a hole to hide his head in The fowls of the air had nests and the Foxes had holes but the son of man not whereon to lay his head Jesus Christ that was infinitely beloved of the Father and all the Apostles they were in a poor mean condition every one of them died a violent death but onely John wee have records of their several sorts of death some crucified some stoned and some other kinds of death but all put to death save John and read but the latter end of the eleventh of the Hebrews Those that the world was not worthy of how they wandered up and down In sheep-skins and goat-skins and dens and caves of the earth That was a little before Christs time hee speaks of those in the time of the Macchabes Now certainly if God hath so ordered things in his general administrations towards such as are most dear in his eyes as to deny them these things that they shall have but little of them there is no great matter in them surely if there were any great matter in them God would not deny them to his servants when a wicked rich man shall look upon a poor man that walks humbly before God and would not commit the least sin willingly for a world meethinks such a man should think thus Oh Lord what a difference is there between such a poor man and I and yet my conscience tells mee that God hath more honour from him in one day than hee hath from mee in all my life surely there is no such great matter in the things of the world that God hath denied them him If there were any great matter in them certainly such as walk most humbly with God and most close with God should have them if they were absolutely good And indeed this is one great reason that Gods own dear servants should have so little of the world and others so much it is that hee might hold this forth to all the world that the things of this world have but little in them Fifthly And consider but the next Argument which follows upon this and is of a near kin to it That all the things of this world the pleasures profits honours they surely have no great matter in them for they are no more than may stand with Gods eternal hatred of his creature Now certainly those things that have no higher excellency in them than may stand with the eternal hatred of the Infinite