our eternall souls The soul is the wonder of wonders as the Philosopher cals it so it is saith David I am fearfully and wonderfully made what tongue can expresse or heart conceive the excellency and worth of the soul Shall we then spend no time to think and meditate of this choyse piece the immortall soul shall we be continuall drudges and slaves to these vile bodies and doe nothing for the soul shall we feed pamper and clothe and adorn the body and let the soul starve and perish shall we be so nice and choyce and circumspect about our bodies that there may not be a pin amisse and shall the soul in the mean time goe naked and bare languish and pine away and no care be taken for it or can the soul live and subsist in a spirituall way without spirituall food and clothing ô no no dear friends be not deceived the soul must have spirituall provision as the body hath temporall or it will starve and perish for ever for ever a sad word as once a dying man said thinking seriously what he was to doe that die he must ô this word for ever is a sad word to me if it were not for that word forever how well would it be for me O the most excellent dear and precious soull what shall I say of thee thou eternall soul I had like to a said infinite soul true it is the soul is not infinite but though it be not yet may it be Amplified in the extent of its faculties on and on infinitely saith the School In infinitum Thom. Aquin. And seeing then the soul is so great a matter the Horizon of the visible and invisible world sayth Aquinas shall we not set a high value upon the soul shall we run the hazard of eternall ruine of the soul for toyes shadows impostures vanities and empty lyes for so be all things in the world in regard of our most precious souls ye lyes bubbles vanities empty vanities ye lighter then vanity it self and not worthy to be spoken off in regard of the soul You that would take a serious survey of the souls excellency to purpose so as to prize it in a spirituall way yea and to melt at the very heart and tremble at the losse and ruine of the soul or highly to prize Divine grace consider seriously First the sin of the soul is so great as no tongue can expresse the greatnesse of it as the Apostle sayth Rom. 5.12 Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin c. Consider well that sin was not barren neither did it enter into the world alone but death followes close at the heeles of sin not barely the death of the body but that which is far greater the death of our most precious and immortall souls so that the most godly man or woman in the world may justly cry out with Paul O wretehed man that I am who shall deliver me c. Yea and sin though it came by one man and that but one sin only the breach of one Commandement yet is multiplyed on and on to such an infinite numberlesse number that passes the skill of the best Arithmetician in the world to sum up the totall of them consider farther the nature of the least sin is to damne the poore souls in hell and that for no lesse time but for eternity woe to my precious soul then if God should charge but one of my least sinnes though but a thought upon it I might cry out undone undone for ever if one sin be so great and the curse and punishment of unexpressible and unsufferable what may be said of all those Millions of Millions of sins which one poore soul stands guilty of who shall be able to undergoe the wrath of God Isa 33.14 Who among us shall dwell with devouring fire who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Secondly the losse of the soul is unrecoverable it is the greatest losse in the whole world the losse of health friends goods lands honours good name or any other things ye life It selfe is in comparision of the soul rather to be accounted gaine then losse though it be a great losse if these and all that might be named should light upon man yet all this is nothing to sin if all the evill of punishment should fall upon one man ye all that hath befallen the whole race of mankind yet all this were nothing to the evil of sin these could only hurt the body but sin endangers the soul and many times damnes the soul forever Nothing can defile the soul but sin sin is the plague of the soul it infects where ever it comes it is the leprosie of the soul it spreads it self over all the powers and faculties of the soule sin is the Canker of the soul it frets out every grace sin is the Gangreen of the soul it must be cut off or it proves Noli me tangere and kils the soule no danger to the danger of sin no losse to the losse of the soule all gain is losse with a witnesse if the soul lost for earthly gain What advantage will it be for a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soule Matth. 16.26 Lastly consider the excellency of the soule appears chiefly in the ransome and price that was paid to redeem it from eternal wrath and misery it was no small price this argues the soule to be a most famous and excellent piece that when by sinne it lay exposed to eternal wrath and misery there could be none in heaven nor earth found to satisfie Divine Justice nor to make an Attonement but the Lord Jesus Christ must come down from Heaven and lay down his life to ransome the soul nothing lesse then then the bloud of Christ will serve to ransome the soul Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousand rivers of oile shall I give my first born for my transgression even the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul Mich. 6.7 No this will not doe it must be the bloud of the Lamb Christ Jesus slaine from the foundation of the world so precious is the soul the bloud of Buls Goats and Lambs c. Will not serve turn O most precious soul what is there under heaven to be compared to thee the soul the soul shall I hazard my soul for a pin for a trifle for a shadow for in comparison of the soul all created excellency whatsoever are lighter than vanity it selfe You worldlings that take so much paines rooting in the world to joyn house to house and land to land till there be no place for the poore to dwell by you that you may be placed by your selves in the midst of the earth Esay 5.8 Woe unto you sayth the Lord of Hosts Let me tell you your gain is like to eternall losse with a witnesse if you exchange earth for heaven gaine the world and lose your precious
souls O! my dear friends be warned betimes and make all your worldly employments and your temporall gaine to be suborinate to the eternall peace of your souls make not earthly imployments heavenly impediments use the world no more then may make you more fit for the spirituall welfare of your Noble and most precious souls Woe to you Drunkards ver 11. that can rise early to follow drunkennesse and to you that continue till night till the wine inflames you it will be a sad bargain to you if you drink away your souls and while you drownd your estates and your wits and health you drownd your poor souls in the bottomlesse gulfe of hell Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as with cart ropes ver 18. surely it will goe ill with you one day if you for the profit or pleasure of your sin lose your souls O my beloved set a greater prize upon the soule then to sin away the eternall blessednesse of your souls Woe to you who ever you be that call evill good and good evill that put darknesse for light and light for darknesse ver 20. c. Will you thus flatter away the happinesse of your immortall souls ô poor people what will you doe if you lose your souls Woe to you that are wise in your own eyes ver 21. c. your wisdome is but folly and madnesse how many be there that thinke if they have but wisdome enough to drive on an earthly designe to be skilfull in trading or in Arts and Sciences or the like thinke themselves happy enough though they be as ignorant for their souls as the beast and is not the greatest number of poor mankind in this condition and yet poor creatures tell them but of their grosse ignorance they will be ready to fly in your face and tell you they know as much as you can teach them and they are as wise as your selfe and they scorne to live so long in the world to be taught what is good for their souls now and the like but alas all this while the Holy Ghost tels them they be but fools or at the best there is more hope of a fool then such a man Prov. 26.12 And the same spirit of God tels you what you get by reproving such Prov. 9.7 8. alas poor creatures will you not pitty your own souls I pitty you and oh that you would but pitty your selves Truly the most men take more care for their beasts a horse an oxe a sheep a hog or a good dog then for their souls nay they take more care for their old shoos then for their souls for a pigg or a goose then their souls for a cup of ale or a piece of bread then for their dear and precious souls nothing so base and inferiour under the Sunne but it is looked after with far greater pains diligence and industry then the immortall soul any thing for back or belly more then for the soule hence it is that men are so glad to heare that the soule dies with the body that it is not immortall and some that 's there no such thing as a day of judgement or a heaven or a hell that the Scriptures are but mens inventions that threatnings are but bug-bears to keep men in awe and a thousand such things as those that so they may more safely and securely sinne away their precious time without any thoughts of the hazard and losse of the soule therefore they can put far from them the evill day and make a jest of sinne But these men shall be no president for me to walke by seeing the soule is so precious and the losse of it so irrecoverable the price of it so great and happinesse of it so full of joy unspeakable and full of glory Worldlings take your fill eat drink get you riches and honours yea fill your selves brimfull with whatsoever the world can afford you but let not me taste of your delicates ô my soule my soule is ten thousand times more precious to me and so much the more precious because it was bought with the precious bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ for whom I account all things losse and doe judge them to be dung that I may winne Christ and might be found in him c. Phil. 3.7 8 9. this makes my soule leap for joy My body is from the earth my soule from heaven woe is me if for transitory profit or pleasure or honour or the like I should lose my own soul Farewel the world then there 's nothing in thee that can satisfie my soul welcome Christ Jesus in whom satisfaction is made in abundance Farewell all earthly pleasure and treasure my treasure is in heaven there lye all my comforts there will I treasure up my soule where Christ my treasure is Lord Jesus thou art my souls refuge my soule is so much the more precious because it is in thy keeping and no man or devill can take it out of thy hands Shall the pleasure or profit of sin carryme headlong to destruction shall I hazard my precious soule for honour case or preferment shall my own will be my law or my own opinion my rule shall I embrace every false principle in Religion and drinke in every unsound Tenent and dangerous and damnable Doctrine that the world swarms with in these dayes to the ruine of my soule No my soul cost more then so the precious bloud of Christ was not thought too deare for to redeem my soule and shall I cast it away for a straw or a pin Beloved you see how precious a piece the soul is but you have but a small glimpse of it at a little crevice the worth and excellency of the soul appears not in open view now while we are in this earthly tabernacle but here we see all things darkly as in a glasse but the beauty and excellency shal be most splendent when corruption hath put on incorruption But I say thrice happy are you if you now at last will resolue to study the safety and eternall welfare of your precious souls neglect no opportunity to do your souls good Besides consider what hath been said Death gives no warning As soone comes a Lambes skin to the market as an old sheeps it is an old Proverb which we see daily verified Carry this paper daily in your pocket and the meditation thereof daily in your hearts and think of that dreadful sound Arise yee dead and come to judgment Consider also the longest day hath his night and Methusalem had his period and our lives are compared to things of the swiftest motion and shortest continuance he that hath passed many yeares and purchased little profit hath had a long being and a short life for life is more to be measured by well doing then by the number of yeares seeing that men yee the most of men by many dayes doe procure many deaths and others in a short space attaine to the life
of infinite ages Consider that the body without the soul is but a corrupt carkasse and the soul without God is but a Sepulcher of sin Daily study God in Christ get better acquaintance with him it will make thee happy in thy soul in thy body in thy family in thy calling he that hath Christ shall be a gainer by all things life long or short is gaine riches or poverty is gaine prosperity or adversity is gaine liberty or imprisonment is gaine good report or evill report is gaine honour or dishonour is gaine What poore soul is there in this wide world that would not trade in such a commodity that brings in all gaine and no losse O my deare soul soare up daily in Communion with Jesus Christ who is thy true and perfect gaine Lastly Consider that all we doe while we live in this vail of teares is or should be for eternity and we hazard the ruine of our poore and precious souls for eternity we would count that man a very foole and worthy to beg his bread that having faire demeanes and a rich trade that would bring him in thousands and with all a time limited to enjoy it and after the end of that terme he must be turned out of all only to live upon what he had formerly gained and treasured up or else starve and perish Now if this man should squander away his time wast his demeanes spend up his stock run himselfe into an unrecoverable debt and at a certaine day be turned out of all naked and miserable truly few or none would pitty him But poore creatures it is so with the greatest part of the world the Lord hath given us a limited time here in this world great demeanes and a rich trade that would bring in Millions and ten thousand Millions that is he hath given us his glorious Gospel which daily reveals more and more of that inesteemable treasure Jesus Christ here 's treasure indeed Oh my friends trade apace for your souls for what is all this continuance of Gospel and Gospel opportunities and offers of grace yea free grace and eternall salvation but for thee who ever thou art to trade in for thy spirituall advantage Now wo unto thee if thou squander away thy time and wast thy rich treasures and dye an unrecoverable nay an eternall begger But thou mayst gather honey while some lasteth harken to the voyce of Christ while he calls lay hold upon him take him on his own termes Isa 55.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come yee buy and cat ye come buy oile and milk without money and without price Here is Christ freely tendered with all his graces and this is your feed-time he that expects to reap the benefit of a fruitfull harvest must not sow Teares and Thistles for such as a man soweth such shall he reap And he that lives under Gospell disspensations and will continue in unbeliefe drudging for the Devill all his dayes let him expect such a harvest at the end of his life Friends in the conclusion let me mind you of one thing that England is now sensible enough of at this day in a temporall way which is that we live in a hard and pining time many thousands languish under bodily scarsity let me tell you you have loathed heavenly Manna and willingly starved your precious souls and I must tell that it is just with the Almighty to starve your bodies first and then to destroy both but that his mercie is very large and he is unwilling to destroy a people that do not willingly refuse to come in unto him These unquiet hard times should now put us upon making provision for the safety of our souls and I hope it wil be your chiefest work if you have any care of them you know not the youngest of you how neer an end your day is make haste as death leaves you judgement shall finde let this comfort every poor soul that you can never be so willing to receive the Lord Jesus as he is to embrace you if you will but lay down the Arms of rebellion and come in unto him therfore now whilst he saith Seeke my face say thy face Lord will I seeke and when he saith Come unto me all yee that are weary c. Say Come Lord Jesus come quickly a day in the house is better then a thousand c. My soule longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord c. What will it profit a man though he win the whole world if he lose his own soule FINIS