find saith he what will be taken in Exchange for a lost undone Soul For who can make his Bed in the Torments of a Wounded Spirit scorching worse than Flames Who can dwell with the Devouring Fire the Consuming Anger of the Living God or with the Everlasting Burnings of an Enraged Conscience To make out this in full Discourse and Argument I propose Three Heads 1. To shew That if a Man could dye with the whole World in his Hand he would be a Lost Man on this Account That the World could be no provision for him or the least suitable in that True and Everlasting Self his Soul as in the state of Separated Spirits or Himself in the state of the Resurrection and so he must be Lost on that Account 2. That this Lost State cannot be slumbered away in silence but he must and shall come to those vehement searches after some Exchange for a Lost Soul and Self and there being none to be found those searches must needs turn into Rage and Fury upon their so dreadful disappointment 3. I shall therefore enquire into the way of losing a Soul according to our Lords present scope and drift of Discourse because if we closely attend we shall find it out of the Road of our Common Thoughts And unto all these I will subjoyn the most pressing Applications that so naturally flow from those Heads fully open'd and enlarg'd upon I begin with the First The True Real Solid Sense and Reason of Things that none of us can deny That a Soul must needs be lost that hath no Provision but the World though it were the whole World that is If such a Thing could indeed be And though I must humbly acknowledg I am no way sufficient for these Things or the mighty considerations pertaining to this Subject yet they themselves are so great that if they be extracted out of all Discourse and be but felt in and by themselves they must needs prevail in our Thoughts the Holy Spirit thereunto working in us mightily 1. There is no Comparison between a Man's Soul a Man's Self in the Heighth and Depth the Breadth and Length of his True Being his True Self and the World though it were the whole World A Being Apprehensive of God capable of enjoying Him capable of Eternal Things of Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit For what Compare can there be between a Being prepared with Sentiments and Capacities for these Things and the narrow and pent up notions and dimensions of our selves as Creatures that eat such Meat and drink such Drinks that wear such Cloaths and dwell in such Houses or Appartments have such an Equipage and Retinue So widely different is the proportion between the World and an Immortal Spirit an Immortal self For the World is suited only to those low Notions and Apprehensions of a Man's Self and it can extend no further So that the Spirit and True Self of a Man even now in this State in this Body finds a want in the greatest abundance of these Things and cries out upon them all Vanity and vexation of Spirit and though it be buddled up and muffled and kept quiet by all Arts imaginable yet it complains and inwardly mourns to it self because it hath not the true satisfaction and enjoyment the Fibres as I may so speak of the Spiritual Stomach and Appetite are so often twitched with the hunger of something more Excellent and Divine I mean Those deep and inward Sentiments We are made for higher enjoyments than of this World often stir and move do what we can to the contrary And if it be thus now much more will this be in that future state when a Soul will be fully explicated unfolded let our into its utmost Capacities Then will all the World plainly appear to be no other than the fitting the Coat of an Infant to a Giant Oh! how much too wide and too large is that true Self for all these too extensive to be so provided for To tell an Immortal Spirit or a Man risen from the Dead of Meat and Drink and sumptuous Cloathing of Houses Estates and Money you speak I may say Infinitely below the Dignity and Majesty of such a Being It will say to the World All these thy things perish with thee That thou couldst think I could be provided for by them or that Eternal Things could be purchased with them Oh that therefore now we could say to our selves Can I think of God of Christ of his Spirit of Eternal Happiness or Misery Have I Thoughts that can embrace such Things as these Am I great enough for such Thoughts Can I think of enjoying God and Living in the purest entercourses of Reason and Holiest Understanding Can there be an enterview between my Spirit and the Father of Spirits God in Christ and do you talk to me of such poor and low things as are first most proper to Beasts and Creatures of Sense only the food of Brutes the meat of Worms and to me only in that low state and part wherein I am allied to them I know how very hard it is for us in this low Carnal state to take in the Reason of this as it were vain to entertain Beasts with the Discourses of Mathematicks of Reason or of Virtue And hereby the Children of Men may know themselves to be but Beasts as Solomon speaks a higher kind of Beasts And it were well for them if their Spirits who have thus conversed in Body might be suffered to go downward as Beasts so indeed such Men would have them do when they come to dye But this cannot be as God said to the Israelites They would fain have been as the Heathen Families but He would Bring them under the Bond of the Covenant of Israelites of those He called his People so such would fain be as the Beasts But this shall not be God will bring them under the Law of Spiritual and Everlasting Beings and of the Family of never dying Spirits Let us but a little Appeal to our own Minds and put them a while into their own Action into their own proper Exercise and we shall find in their Enquiries after God after Righteousness after the enjoyment of him in the Blood and Redemption of Jesus Christ and the operations of his Spirit That they are made for these Things And how poor then will all the things in this World appear to be when we come to the height of this Action and Activity And though we take so much pleasure and delight in these now yet seeing we can rise up to higher things and frame notions of them it is certain we are made for those higher things and they must be our state for ever For it is certain this is a great Rule and Maxime By the most excellent part in every Thing is its proper and lasting Good to be known and judged of It is therefore our Degeneracy and Depravedness or to speak the most Favourably and Charitably
It is our Childishness and Imperfection that we are so pleased and that we have not Higher Greater Larger more Constant Thoughts in the highest Things as the Apostle says When I was a Child I thought as a Child I spake as a Child I did as a Child but when I became a Man I put away Childish things from me Men look upon the things of their Childhood with great disdain and so put them away from them as nothing to them when they come to be Men they change both their overvalue of Trifles and their undervalue of Weightier things they then had This indeed the Apostle speaks of our Highest Attainments in Grace here and it is hardly allowable to apply it to the Case we are upon but in a charitable Condesention to our weakness it may be alluded to But it is most certain when we come to know what the enjoyment of God is what it is to drink of the River of his pleasures when he shews us the Path of Life when we come to his Presence where is fulness of Joy and to the Pleasures of his Right Hand that are for evermore What Trifles will all these things appear to us And on the other side even the sorrows of a lost state will make us see what empty Vanities they all were On both sides then Oh with what a despisal shall we look upon the things we are so fond of now that we have been so endear'd to here Those things that if we cannot have them we as Amnon are ready to die for we shall then with Scorn and Hatred put out and shut the door upon If we could really think with what an Eye Angels and Saints look upon those things we make such a do with that take up our time and we call Great Business How do we say such a Time we must take care of such an Ornament for the Body such a Provision for our Table such Conveniencies and Furniture for our Houses such a concern of Trade such a settlement of our Revenue and these are things that pass for great things as we think them now especially Trade Estate or such like For even some of these wise Men count Trifles now and despise those who are taken up about them But even the highest the weightiest of them when we come to understand them in another World we shall wonder how we could lay out so many thoughts upon them in the neglect of things so much greater that concern our much more worthy Selves in our Spirits in our Immortal State With what admirable Divine Eloquence therefore Solomon says Happy is the Man that findeth wisdom and the Man that getteth understanding For the Merchandise of it is better than the Merchandise of Silver and the gain thereof than of fine Gold She is more precious than Rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her Length of days in her Right Hand and in her Left Hand Riches and Honour Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace She is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon Her and Happy is every one that retaineth her Prov. 3. 13 14 c. Here now is the Provision proper to Immortal Spirits to the state of the Resurrection of the dead and if we have Wisdom in degree and preparations to that Great State now these things will be our Choice There is a solemn Inquiry Job 28. 12. Where shall wisdom be found and where is the place of understanding Man knoweth not the price thereof neither is it found in the Land of the Living The Depth saith It is not in me and the Sea saith It is not in me that is it does not Rise from the Riches of the Earth nor from the Treasures of the Sea It cannot be gotten for Gold neither shall Silver be weighed for the price of it It cannot be valued with the Gold of Ophir with the precious Onyx nor the Saphire stone The Gold and the Chrystal cannot equal it and the exchange of it shall not be for Jewels of sine Gold No mention shall be made of the Coral or of the Pearl For the price of Wisdom is above Rubies Thus the Spirit of God is pleased to go on like an Orator and to shew us that the whole World is not worth one Soul and therefore it is not worth Wisdom that Wisdom to Salvation of Souls and without which Souls are lost For He that sinneth against Wisdom wrongeth his own Soul All they that Hate it Love death Thus the whole World is Inventoried as it were It s chief Riches are weighed and found too Light for Wisdom In the same manner there is a sad Reflection on the Misery of Lost Souls For Death and Destruction say we have Heard the Fame thereof with our Ears a most lively and elegant expression of the state of Lost Souls who in two regards may be said to have Heard or to Hear the Fame thereof with their Ears 1. They that are Lost and in a state of Death and Destruction had while in this Life Heard the Fame of Wisdom with their Ears in those Discourses of the Gospel in that Law written in our Hearts in many motions of Conscience c. but despised all its Counsel and would have none of its Reproof so they only Heard the Fame but never Received or Entertained Acquaintance with it It was never as their Sister or Kinswoman as Solomon speaks in intimacy with them Christ is said in this very sense to have Preach'd of old to the Spirits lost Spirits now in Prison So Death and Destruction have Heard the Fame of it with their Fars 2. The Fame of it comes near to them They Hear it with their Ears but cannot come at it as Dives in Hell Hearing the Fame of the Wisdom of Repentance to Salvation desir'd his Brothers might take that Benefit of it which he had lost and could make no purchase of no Exchange for it out of all that World he had had Death and Destruction can find no Exchange for a Soul because they have nothing to give in Exchange for Wisdom Thus this Expression is parallel to our Saviour's What shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul And thus now 'T is evident The World and all the things of it are no more Commensurate to the Greatness of a Soul or of an Everlasting Self in all its Offertures than as if Man should say He would make a Garment for the Sun though never so Rich and Beautiful a Garment you know it could bear no proportion to the Beauty and Excellency of Light or to the vastness of the Orb of the Sun No more can all the Riches Pleasures goodly Houses or Divertisements of the World extend to a Soul or to a Man considered in his future State The very Quality and Dignity of a Being made to be for ever does so beyond all Expression and Comparison exceed the Quality and Intrinsic value of
little and short interest men have in this World how far from an indefeisable state of Inheritance as they love to speak a Term not so much as for Life That is a Provision so long as we are to be and to live For this as we have seen is to Eternity not so much as a Term for years which is a time certain whereas This night our souls may be required of us and then whole shall those things be we have provided All therefore we do or speak or magnifie our selves in though upon any thing in this World is but so much Theatre Farce and Masquerade as to all that arises from this World And thus much we might learn from the Stage Herein we are more foolish than those Actors however their Profession is justly more despicable than of the poorest Mechanick or Day-labourer that they do not think themselves to be what they act but know their true State and Character and use those Theatrical Garments and Representations for a real support of themselves and their Families and consider in the midst of all those feigned Appearances their true Necessities at home Even thus as Christ instructs us should we make to our selves Friends of the mammon of Vnrighteousness make improvement of all we seem to be heer that when we fail from all these we may be received to Everlasting Habitations But alas how generally do we value our selves by our acquitting our selves as upon a Theatre we give our selves a secret Applause as we are Men of Mode as we have behaved our selves in our Business Trade Appearance in Courts of Judicature in the Courts of Princes in such or such Company and Men will praise us when we do as they think well for our selves in these things because they are like unto us We think our selves what we are in Acting and forget that true Self at home that though it be indeed the Noble and Princely part the Lasting and Eternal part the only True and Real Self yet is put under the disguise of a Slave But oh how amazed shall we be when that Self starts out and appears like it self and we have lost it for a Thing a Life a Being a Happiness so only in a Vizor Oh! How will this Amaze and Torment us for ever when in vain we shall cry out I never knew nor thought my self to be such a one as I now find my self and as Christ says So is He that lays up Treasure for Himself under so false a Masque of self and is not Rich towards God and his True Self so shall we find it Such Fools such Enthusiasts heated with vain and wordly Imagination shall we be found And yet dayly are seen such Servants on Horseback false Selves set aloft and Princes the True Self the Immortal Soul made to walk on Foot Thus the Spirit of God setting out the State of wicked Men in the World Psal 73. He sets it out as in this Masquerade till the Disguize and Vizor be pulled off There are no Bands in their Death but their Strength is firm They dye oftentimes as they say in the Bed of Honour with all Advantages about them without fear of what 's to come They are not in Trouble as other Men neither are they Plagued as other Men Therefore Pride compasseth them about as a Chain He means of Gold They take state upon them as great Princes or Magistrates with their Rich Collars their Chains of Gold Violence covereth them as a Garment They take Power and Command to themselves to enforce their pleasure Their Eyes stand out with fatness They carry Great Port and Presence as we speak They have more than heart could wish They are Corrupt and speak wickedly Concerning Oppression they speak loftily Who dares undertake them Who can attack them or make War with them They speak Great and Big as if Heaven and Earth was their own They set their Mouth against the Heaven and their Tongue walks through the Earth These are the ungodly prospering in their way This looks very great for a Time but it is all but as on a Stage It is all Stage-Play However Good Men are ready to be troubled at it as if it were real But I did but go saith the Psalmist to the House of God then understood I their end I saw the end of the Play and it ends as we say in a Tragedy All Horror at the last Surely thou didst set them in slippery places Thou castedst them down to destruction How are they brought into desolation in a moment They are utterly consumed with Terrors I am fully assured All the Wit of Man could never have reached this height no Poetry no Oâ—aâ—oâ—y only the Spirit of God who perfectly knows and speaks Things Things so great as to find themselves such loughty and massy Words when understood as the Divine Spirit understands them How are they brought into desolation as in a moment They are utterly consumed with Terrors As soon as they are got but never so little on that side the Line beyond this World They are All in Desolation and Terror As a Dream when one awaketh so Oh Lord when thou awakest thou shalt despise their Image All their State here is but Dream and Image meer Stage Appearance Masquerade and Disguise To bring all this home then to what we should be and do according to the same Psalmist We should acknowledg our Brutishness and Folly in being at all concerned with such Spectres of Happiness losing in the mean time their Precious Immortal Selves We should resign our selves wholly to Divine Conduct To be led by his Counsel till we are brought to his Glory We should look wholly to and for him Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth I desire beside thee c. All fails even a whole World All except God alone All far from him perish It is good then for us to draw near to him that we may declare the wonders of his Power in his Grace to us setting us before his Face for ever I come to the second Head to shew you in what way according to our Saviours Discourse and the scope of it we come to lose a Soul For this is a very critical Point and that if closely applied would try us as by a Jealousy Water whether we are Christ's or not I shall endeavour to be very brief in it though the Things themselves require vast and largest Discourse Now therefore I must tell you that we even Protestants are under the name of Christians and Protestants a very Degenerate Race We end where Christianity in its own True Genuine and Transcendent Powers begins For Christianity either finds Men Sober and as we speak of Good Lives as the young Man in the Gospel that was Lovely in the Eyes of Christ for all Moral Accomplishments Matt. 9. compar'd with Mark 17. or it presently makes them so as Zaccheus and other Converts and then it plants them with its nobler
more than he knows what to give in exchange for his life if once lost And why should he of all persons think a Soul miserable for ever an impossible thing tho not certain or so much as improbable that thinks so many things have been and are that no one as he thinks can tell how they come to be Sure that man that will believe nothing but upon sense transgresses the very Law of his own Sense that sees many things come to pass he look'd not for and will not believe because he does not yet see and against his own Prudentials upon Sense for he takes heed and guards against things possible that he has never seen yet by the eye of Sense why not then against this so dreadful prossibility Application 2 If it be so desperate a case to lose a soul for a whole world how great madness is the loss of a Soul for a little of the World Men that live in Allyes and Dungeons and eat in darkness all their days and yâ—t lose their Souls Oh how earnest should all the poor be to receive the Gospel preached to them as the most fit Subjects of it in that gracious Expression of Christ to them The poor are evangelized and to lay hold on Eternal Life to make a Vertue of that Necessity they are under On the other side they that live in gaiety and splendor and value it so much and have such abhorring thoughts of a contrary condition how earnest should they be to live so for ever in a Divine Sense being receiv'd into the Inheritance of the Saints in Light and not to fall into the miseries of a lost soul as so horrible a descent from their present state Application 3 Let me beseech you to take the things that have been conveyed to you in these Words out of Words and as things to weigh them well for Things are greater than words and canot be deceived or turn'd off any more than Mountains or Walls or Gates of Iron and Brass in our way Let any one but for an hour think of these Words he will find them rise up to him as Things and meet him with inward assurances and so let him often do and especially with humblest supplication to the Father of Spirits the Creator of Souls through Christ the Lover and Redeemer of Souls by the Spirit the blessed Inhabitant of all holy and wise Spirits to impress upon him this great Oracle concerning the value of Souls and Spirits and he shall find by the Evidence and witness within himself of the value of his own Soul There is such a sense of these things possible to us that he that hath lost Houses Lands Wife Children for Christ's sake may receive a hundred fold in this life even now and in the very midst of Persecution which is the greatest evidence of their Reality in the comforts and assurances of preserving all unto Life Eternal For Christ adds In the world to come life eternal Mark 10. 29 30. Application 4 Seeing things are so dark in the present smoak black Vapour thick Steam of this World and the Lusts thereof and are so hardly considered and weighed duly in the noises and dust the rolling wheels of this World raise Oh how earnestly desirous should we be of that day dawning that day of the Kingdom of Christ but dawning from on high that shall make all these things so clear as to put the World into another state and posture as towards God and all holiness and the more earnest should we be seeing the day may by the sure word of prophesy shining in this dark place be seen to be near approaching and how great relation this great Saying of Christ hath to that Kingdom appears in that Christ goes on immediately to his coming in the Glory of his Kingdom of which he gave a Type in the Transfiguration Chap. 17. following FINIS ADVERTISEMENT THere is an Exposition upon the whole Book of the Revelation Explaining the Sacred Text Word by Word and opening and arguing the Divine Senses of that great Prophesy Sold by Richard Wellington at the Lute in St. Pauls Church-yard and are to be had at Mr. Marshals at the Bible in Newgate-street and of Mr. Salisbury at the Rising-Sun in Corn-hill Books Sold by VVilliam Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-Street Books Written by the late Dr. John Owen In Folio 1. HIs Exposition on the whole Epistle to the Hebrews with Exercitations concerning the Messiah Wherein the Promises concerning him to be a Spiritual Redeemer of Mankind are explained and vindicated His Coming and Accomplishment of his Work according to the Promises is proved and confirmed The Person or who he is declared The whole Oeconomy of the Mosaical Law Rites Worship and Sacrifices is explained And in all the Doctine of the Person Office and Work of the Messiah is opened The Nature and demerit of the first Sin is unfolded The Opinions and Traditions of the Antient and Modern Jews are examined Their Objections against the Lord Christ and the Gospel are answered The time of the Coming of the Messiah is stated And the great foundational Truth of the Gospel vindicated In four Volumes Folio 2. A Discourse concerning the Holy Spirit Wherein an Account it given of his Name Nature Personality Dispensation Operations and Effects His whole Work in the Old and New Creation is Explained The Doctrine concerning it vindicated from Oppositions and Reproaches The Nature also and Necessity of Gospel Holiness the Difference between Grace and Morality or a Spiritual Life unto God in Evangelical Obedience and a Course of Moral Virtues are stated and declared Fol. 3. The Doctrine of the Saints Perseverance explained and confirmed Or the certain Permanency of their 1. Acceptation with God and 2. Sanctification from God manifested and proved From 1. The Eternal Principles 2. The Effectual Causes And 3. The External Means thereof c. Fol.