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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	call_v	eternal_a	life_n	7,511	5	4.9442	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70932	True gain, opened in a sermon preached at Pauls, Nov. 9. 1656 by Edward Reynolds, D.D.	Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676.	1659 (1659)	Wing R1300; Wing R1245A; ESTC R18711	21,848	41

shall finde it The way to attain life eternal is to lay down a mortal life when the glory of Christ and his service calleth us thereunto 2. Another great scandall of the Cross is that it strips us of the world and the comforts and delights thereof this is removed v. 26. Admit a man could not onely escape the Cross by forsaking Christ but exchange him away for all the world and make himself master of all the comforts which a confluence of all worldy dominions could pour into his bosome yet if after all this he must die and lose his soul and that for ever without possibility of recovery he would in the issue finde it but an unprofitable bargain 3 The last scandal of the Cross is the Ignominy and shame of it In which respect Christ is said to have taken unto him the form of a servant Phil. 2.7 because the death of the Cross was servile supplicium as the Historian calleth it and to have despised the shame Heb. 12.2 and this is reomoved v. 27. The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shal reward every man according to his works As he though he were put to shame on the Crosse was yet after exalted unto glory and sat downe on a throne Hebr. 12.2 so with the same glory he will reward those that suffer shame for him and their reward shall be according to their works the measure of there glory answerable to the greatness of their shame and sufferings Of which having according to his promise v. 28. given a short but most ravishing tast unto some of them in his transfiguration they afterwards esteemed it a great honour that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for his Name Act. 5.41 The words of the Text contain the removal of the second great scandal which the Disciples might be apt to take at this doctrine of selfe denial They hoped as it may seem to be great men in the world and to enjoy the liberties and honours thereof and now they are told that they must leave all to follow Christ And least they should be offended he assures them that if they should do otherwise and for love of the world should forsake him 1. They would lose their souls which is better to them then all the rest of the world 2. Having lost them they would finde nothing in all the world able to redeem and recover them again The words are set down by way of Interrogation intimating a more vehement Negation What shall it profit That is It shall not at all profit It carrieth a kinde of universal concession and unquestionable truth in it which no man can deny Even they themselves who cast away their souls to gaine the world cannot themselves being Judges but confess that it is an absurd thing to expect profit from any thing when the soul is lost or to prefer all the world above a mans own eternal happiness When a thing is exceeding manifest the Scripture useth io make men themselves whom it would thereby reprove the Iudges of it Iudge in your selves saith the Apostle is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered 1 Cor. 11.13 and the Lord in the Prophet Isa. 5.3.4 O inhabitants of Judah Judge I pray you between me and my vineyard And elsewhere Is it not even thus O ye children of Israel saith the Lord Amos 2.11 So the force of the Interrogation is such a deniall as the heart of him to whom it is made most needs subscribe unto as having nothing to alledge against it And in a plain Position it is this That man who to gain the world doth cast away his soul shall finde no profit in such a gain it will prove like the gain which the Apostle speaks of Acts 27.21 a gaining of nothing but losse and that an irreparable losse which can never be recovered It is dangerous venturing on such an Error in quo non licet bis peccare in which being once involved a man can never get out again Such is the loss of a soule lose it once and it is lost for ever there can no ransome no change be made for it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} nothing can be put in the other scale to weigh with it The Civil Law saies Ingenui hominis nulla est estimatio How much more truly maye we say of the soul Immortalis animae nulla est aestimatio No valuable consideration for a soul but the blood of Christ If we forsake him to gain the world we shall never finde any thing in the world precious enough by the exchange whereof to regaine our souls The words have many particulars couched in them by way both of Supposition and of Position I shal reduce all unto this one Proposition As Christ doth allow his servants to be moved by Considerations of gain in his service so he doth withall assure us That this gaine doth not stand in winning of the world but in saving of the soule That the soul being infinitly more precious then ●ll the world therefore the gaining of the world is nothing but losse where the loss of the soul is the purchase of that gain in asmuch as the world being gained cannot be kept and the soul being lost can never be recovered All men have a merchandise and trade to drive in this world whereon doth depend the issue of their profit or damage therein their principal wisdome is to ballance and poise their gains and losses so as that they may thrive and prosper in this their trade wordly love is a great obstruction unto the true gain which a wise Christian should pursue They who for preserving that do take offence at the crosse of Christ will suffer damage in their souls the love of the world and the love of the soul being inconsistent Since therefore both will not stand together and of the two the soul is much more precious and excellent then the world therefore a wise Christian should have his trade heavenward for the inriching of his soul rather then downward for the possession of the world The branches then to be touched are three 1 The lawfulness of a Christians looking after true gain 2. The inordinateness of worldly love and inconsistency thereof with true Christian gain 3. The preciousness of the soul of man in saving advancing and inriching whereof this true gain doth consist 1. Then Christians may be moved in matters of Religion with arguments drawn ab utili from considerations of profit or disprofit of such good things as are really beneficial and advantagious unto us It is the voice of nature in every man who will shew us any good Psal. 4.6 There is a naturall indigency in us whereby we are constrained to look abroad for foraign supplies of that good which we are wholly insufficient to furnish our selves withall This wicked men look for in ways of sin there are few men that are wicked

True Gain OPENED IN A SERMON PREACHED At Pauls Nov. 9. 1656. By EDWARD REYNOLDS D. D. LONDON Printed by Tho. Ratcliffe for George Thomason at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-yard 1659. To the Right Honourable ROBERT TICHBORN Lord Major of the City of London and the honourable Court of Aldermen Right Honourable BEing invited to preach before you and the Chi●f Assembly of this great City I thought it would not be an unseasonable Argument to encourage Citizens whose labours and employments have a special aspect unto Gain to look after the Works of God and the interests of their precious Souls upon the account of that a full and b great and c sure reward which ever attendeth heavenly negotiations We read in the Scriptures of an d unabiding City and a e City which hath foundations of f winged riches which flie away and g of durable riches which stay by us Of the Scheme the Pageant the h fashion of this world which passeth over and of a i massie and eternal glory which never fadeth away Of comforts which we k leave behinde us and put off when we lie down to sleep and of a l Comforter which abideth with us and m works which follow us and are transportable into another Countrey Inasmuch therefore as the Apostle telleth us that we are n {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} fellow Citizens with the Saints and that we have o {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a traffique and negotiation in Heaven and in as much as when we go from hence the earth and all the contents thereof will p stay behinde us and nothing will go along with the soul into another VVorld but those graces which did here enrich it I have in this plaine Sermon endeavoured to perswade my selfe and mine hearers to be wise Merchants for an abiding City and above all the interests in the world to look after those two most precious jewels without which the possession of the whole VVorld would be but specious beggery our souls and our Saviour And because this is a Doctrine most generally confessed and yet too too generally neglected even good men oftentimes suffering Martha's many things to divert their thoughts from Maries one necessary thing I have the more readily obeyed the Order of your honourable Court in publishing this Sermon Though there be nothing but the wholsomnesse of the Doctrine it self to commend it to the view of this curious Age Wherein if mens fancies be not gratified with the dresse and garnish as well as their consciences nourished with the substance of sound Doctrine If there be not either Elegancy of Stile or New and Polite Notions to commend old Truths to our more quaint and delicate palates we are apter many times to censure the manner then to value the matter which is set before us As it is I offer it to your favourable acceptance and humbly commend you and all your weighty affaires to the special blessing of the Lord Your Honours most humble servant in the work of the Lord EDWARD REYNOLDS TRUE GAIN MATTH. 16.26 For what is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul OUr Savior acquainting his Disciples with what things he was to suffer at Jerusalem and being thereupon rebuked by Peter doth not only reprove Peter doth not only reprove Peter for the carnal apprehensions which he had of his Kingdome assuring him that he was therein an adversary and an offence unto him as going about to hinder the great work of mans Redemption by disswading him from those sufferings whereby it was to be accomplished but doth further assure both him and all his Disciples That they are to be so far from expecting earthly honours and preferments from him as that they must learne to deny themselves and in stead of Crowns and Dignities must be ready to take up a Crosse as he should do and to follow him without the camp bearing his reproach He assures them that as all the good which he was to work for them was to be Purchased by his sufferings and denying of himself so the way whereby they were to be brought unto the fruition of it was by denying themselves and being conformable unto him in sufferings That which was necessary for Christ to do by way of merit to purchase it was necessary by way of preparation of heart for them to do to attaine unto it As He so we likewise are first to suffer and then to be glorified so Christ saith of himself Luke 24.26 and so the Apostle saith of his people Rom. 8.17 And because they might be offended at this doctrine as contrary to those opionions which they had entertain'd of their Messiah whom they beleeved him to be who was in their aprehensions to restore the Kingdome unto Israel Acts 1.6 and to be King of all the world whence there arose a general belief not only amongst Jews but others as Tacitus observeth that out of those Countries should arise a Prince who should rule over all the world which the Romanes thought to have been verified in Vespasian who was sometimes Praefectus Iudeae and afterwards Emperor of Rome therefore our Saviour further sheweth them that in these reasonings they had indeed too low apprehensions of him and his Kingdome for they ought to look upon their Messiah as a Prince who would deliver them from the great●st of all evils and advance them to a condition beyond which a more blessed could not to be found But now admit that he were to be King of all the world and would advance them proportionably to as great dignity as such a Kingdom could dispense yet if after all this they die and their souls perish and go to hell what good would such a Kingdom such a Messiah do them Is there any thing worth the soul of a man which he would not expend and part with to save that Therefore he would not have them to think that a worldly domination was such as he came to purchase for them but a glorious and eternal kingdome which at last he would come with his Angels to take them into the first fruits and glimmerings whereof are more worth then all the crowns and diadems of the world wherof he promiseth quickly after to give them a tast which accordingly he did the eighth day following in his Transfiguration on the mount The Context from vers 24. to the end of the Chapter containeth 1. An Assertion 2. A Vindication thereof The Assertion That whosoever will come after Christ must take up his crosse and deny himself v. 24. The Vindication from three great scandals which this severe doctrine of the Crosse was attended withall 1. Death and this taken away v. 25. Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever wil loose his life for my sake

without wisdome to guide it is but a weary idleness 3. We may receive the things of this world from God in Christ as a fruit of his gracious Covenant 1 Tim. 4.8 4. We may lay up and provide for our selves and those that belong unto us so far as the necessities of life and decency of our particular state and condition do admit Christ himself had a bag in his family Ioh. 13.29 1 Tim. 5.8 But we may not love nor set our hearts upon the world When riches increase set not your heart upon them The world is for the back and the belly but God onely is for the heart Though we may eye our own gain yet the gain of the world is not that gain which we are chiefly to eye The soul being the most precious thing which a man hath the saving and inriching thereof is the only true Christian gain First Take the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} here for life and even so the truth of the Text will hold what gain is it to get the world and to lose the life Is not the life more then meat and the body then raiment Luke 12.23 1. All the world cannot hold or lengthen life beyond the period set it by God Our times are in his hand Psal. 31.15 the efficacy of all second causes is suspended upon his blessing man liveth not by bread alone but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God Mat. 4.4 2. Life is necessary to the enjoyment of the world what good doth light without an eye to see it Or musick with out an ear to hear it what good do dainties without a mouth to tast them Or Crowns without an Head to wear them Nay a man may have his life so clog'd with sickness sorrow discontent of mind distress of conscience that all the world shall not suffice to revive and comfort him 3. When life is lost the world is all lost with it a living porter is richer then a dead Prince death translates properties If a man purchase land to himself for ever that ever is no longer then his own life if he will have the purchase extend further he must put in his heirs with himself Secondly Take the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for the soul as Luke 12.19 20. and then the truth holds much more For 1. If a man could keepe his soul and the world together there is so vast a dis-proportion between them that the one could never replenish the other 2. If it could satisfie it for a time yet it would cloy and satiate it at the last there is excesse in wordly enioyments and all excess is nauseous and painful 3. If they could replenish and not cloy that there were a commensurateness between them yet there is not an equality of duration One generation saith Solomon passeth away and another cometh but the earth abideth Eccles. 1.4 If when a man goes away the earth did go with him happily the same content which he found in it here he would find in it elsewhere but when he goes and that stayes behinde him all the content which he had in the fruition doth vanish in the separation 4. Being parted the soul must be for ever as long as God is merciful to save or just to punish and what comfort is it think we in hell for a man to remember the pleasures of a short life of which nothing there remains but the worm and the sting The Poet could say If the headach did come first no man would be drunk If men could feel but a little of hell before they sin they would easily by that understand how empty and vanishing the pleasures of lust are and how easily extinguished in a tormented Conscience as a drop of wine loseth all its sweetness in a barrel of water Again what addition is it to the joyes of heaven for a man to recount the comforts of a perishing world What content takes a grave wealthy learned man in remembring the joy which in his childhood he was wont to take in his top and counters 5. The nature of the soul is spiritual and must have spiritual objects to converse about Sensitive faculties may be delighted with material objects Meer natural reason may gaze with some content upon the beauty order contexture concatenation of natural causes and effects But the supream spiritual part of the soul is of a more high and noble extraction then ultimately to delight it self in any thing but in God from whom it was breathed It is capable of the knowledg of God whom to know is perfect wisdome and eternal life It is capable of the image and grace of God of righteousness and true holiness to beautifie and renew it Capable of the peace of God of the joy of his salvation of the earnest the seed the seal the witness of his Spirit of the sense of his love in Christ which is unspeakable and glorious Capable of that fulness of joy which is in his presence and of those everlasting pleasures and rivers of comfort which are at his right hand Capable of the heavy wrath of God which is beyond the fear or the fancy of man to comprehend As the goodness of God exceeds our faith so the anger of God exceeds our feare 6. The dignity of the soul appears by the spiritual enemies which war against it Of whom we may say as the Prophet of the Medes Isai. 13.17 that they regard not silver or gold they fight neither aganst house nor land but against the soul only Satan saies as the King of Sodom unto Abram Gen. 14.21 Give me the souls and take the goods to thy self 7. By the guard of Angels which God hath appointed to protect it And convey it to heaven Luke 16.22.8 By the heavenly Manna the breasts of Consolation the wells of salvation the bread of life the feast of marrow and fatted things which the Lord in his Word and Ordinances hath provided to see it one sentence and period whereof is more worth in an hour of Temptation then rocks of Diamonds ot mountains of Gold 9. And above all the dignity of the soul appears by the price which was laid downe to redeem it We were not redeemed by silver and gold but by the blood of God 1 Pet. 1.19 If silver and gold could have bought the soul silver and gold haply might have blessed it but since no price can purchase it but the blood of God no treasure can enrich it but the fruition of God The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance Psal. 16.5 Very many Uses might be made of this most important doctrine As. 1. To adore the infinite love of God towards the souls of poor sinfull men in finding out of his own unsearchable wisdom an expedient which neither men nor angels could ever have discovered for the punishing of the sin and saving of the soul that sinned 2. The infinite love of Christ who so loved us as