THE Souls Worth and Danger OR A DISCOURSE Exciting and directing to the Due Care of its Eternal Salvation UPON THE WORDS OF OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR S t Mat. 16. 26. What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul CAMBRIDGE Printed for the Author 1677. THE Souls Worth and Danger S t Mat. 16. 26. What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own Soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul OUr Saviour v. 24. tells the Apostle Peter and all other his faithful disciples that rather then deny him they must deny themselves for his sake and that so far as should be needful they must take up their Cross and follow him In all which they must not be hindred 1. with the loss of life for says he v. 25. the words before the Text Whosoever will save his life shall lose it c. nor 2. should they be hindred with the loss of reputation for says he v. 27. the words immediatly following the text The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father and reward every man according to his works and then there shall be a resurrection of their names as well as of their persons Nor 3. should the loss of the world hinder them for says he in the words of the text it self What is a man profited though he should gain the whole world and lose his own Soul The question is put so as to include a strong denyal What is a man profited That is he is not profited at all And again what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul that is there is nothing that he can give in exchange for it And therefore our Saviour is to be understood as if he had said They that will disobey me may 't is true be gainers in the world for a while but if they should be gainers of the whole world their gains would not be so great as their loss the incomparable invaluable irrecoverable loss of their precious Souls Job 27. 8. What is the hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained though he hath gained never so much when God taketh away his Soul For as it is Psal 49. 6 8 17. He that trusted and boasted in his wealth here when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him Or if it might it would not buy his pardon or be a sufficient ransome to God For the redemption of the Soul is precious and therefore thus ceaseth for ever Whence we may observe as the subject of the following discourse That each ones Soul is to them more worth then the World Or that they will be exceeding great losers that lose their own Souls though it should be by the gaining of the whole World And this may be made out by considering first what it is to gain the World and the worhtlesness thereof though gained and next by shewing what it is to lose the Soul and the preciousness of that if lost First therefore as to the gaining of the world we are to remember that 1. By the world as S t John 1. 10. is sometimes meant the whole visible fabrick of the heavens we breath in and the earth we tread upon and thus the Text must be understood only by way of supposition for otherwise neither Ahasuerus nor Alexander nor any the greatest Conqueror ever gained so much as to become absolute Master of the whole earthly Globe 2. By the world may sometimes as S t John 15. 19. be meant the wicked of the world And so but too many think they have gained what they most desire if they may but enjoy the frequent Society of the most lewd and wicked people concerning whom says Saint Hieron Discamus Sanctam superbiam sciamus nos esse illis meliores As if he should have said Let us Christians learn an holy pride and as it may be without any Pharisee-like boasting let us know our selves too good for the Company of such infectious lepers of the world 3. By the world may here be Chiefly meant the things of the world worldly profits honours and pleasures As 1 John 2. 16. The lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes the pride of life And so with some to gain the world is by men-pleasing or time serving by flatteries or briberies to get honours and preferment in the world Not a few being willing to give away the world in this sense to gain it in another Again with others to gain the world is by immodest apparelling or inticing behaviour or by the frequent use of unseasonable and immoderate recreation or by luxurious and riotous living to get the sinful sensual pleasures of the world And further with the most to gain the world is to get the wealth and profits thereof by covetousness or by oppression extortion or by fraudulent unrighteous dealing or by abusing a lawful calling or using that which is unlawful so as to live much upon the sins of others in furthering their pride or idleness or prodigality or quarrelsomness or wanton lewdness or beastly drunkenness or the like In a word to gain the world in this sense is by any undue means to get whatsoever in the world the heart of carnal wretches can most desire and which is as a world to them Between whom and sincere Christians there is always this vast difference Good and faithful Christians seek the favour and fruition of God in Christ and their own Souls salvation as their main end and in order thereunto make religion their business and all worldly things even which may be innocently used with them come in but on the by so as if it shall seem good to God they can either have them or be without them Whereas to carnal people that lose their Souls in the pursuit of the world their main end is the pleasing of the flesh thereby some way or other which their sex age education constitution of body or condition of life most tempts and leads them to And with them Religion that comes in but on the by and if they need it not for a pretence they can most easily be without it Yet after all when such people have with the contempt of Gods service the wounding of their consciences and the abuse of their pretious Souls gotten the most they can of the world at the last they are forced by their own sad Experience to confess the vanity and worthlesness of it 'T is true these outward worldly things as they proceed from God and may lead to him as they may fit men for great offices and noble imployments as they may be used for our own and others wellfare and as they are a means to sustain us in this life while we are seeking after eternal life so they are the good blessings of God which we may labour after and ought to be
Son through the Spirit with nothing but a state of grace and salvation and the fruition of God All that worth which silver and gold and such worldly things have is not so much in their own nature as from our esteem or from some outward humane appointment but we can never thus make them equally excellent with our selves 'T is true by a wilful slavery to sin we may as the Prophet speaks Jerem. 6. 30. turn our selves into brasse and iron and reprobate silver we may unman and unchristian our selves we may undervalue and debase our Souls blotting out the image of God and writing upon them the superscription of earth and the world Thus indeed the Epicure may greatly delight in sensual pleasures and the ambitious mind in flattering titles and the frothy wit in abusive lightness Thus 't is true carnal and worldly things to carnal and worldly hearts may become but too sutable dear and precious But the desires of a gracious heart are after higher and better things For every faithful Christian considers that God hath made even our bodies upright and our faces lifted from the earth that we might conceive how far from it our heaven-born Spirits should be elevated towards himself and Christ and heavenly Glory which are therefore most excellent because most proportionable and sutable to our Souls in their utmost capacities 5. And lastly the worthlesness of the world appears by its unprofitableness As Samuel said to the people 1 Sam. 12. 20 21. Turn ye not aside from serving and following the Lord for then should ye go after vain things which cannot profit because they are vain Too many indeed are ready to think the profits of the world worth their gaining even by the loss of their consciences of heaven and God himself And as for those who make conscience of their waies and endevour to walk circumspectly closely and humbly with God who scrupulously forbear prophane rash oaths and idle discourse who are sensible of the least secret sin who avoid what they can all occasions and appearances of evil who withstand the corruptions of the times and places they live in though they gain less in the world these are often accounted such as know not what is best for themselves But S t Paul assures us that such Godliness with contentment is the truest gain whereas the world when you have spent all your thoughts and the labour of your lives upon it though it may further you in some lesser respects yet it cannot profit you in the main thing necessary It cannot procure us the favour of God who regardeth not the rich man more then the poor for they are all alike the work of his hands He accounts of all not according to their meanness or greatness but according to their real piety and goodness Prov. 19. 1. Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity then he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool Prov. 28. 6. Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness then he that is perverse in his ways though he be rich Observe They are the poor that walk in their integrity that know love and serve God not that kind of poor who are grossely ignorant and neglectful of God and who lead sensual sloathful and heathenish lives though they above others might be most easily convinced of the emptiness and unprofitableness of the world and so have greater care of their Souls salvation seeking out after God in Christ to supply their Spiritual necessities that it may be better with them in the life to come Again the world cannot ease the pain of an afflicted conscience nor can it give us the grace we want Ordinarily 't is so abused that it makes people not more thankful but more forgetful of God nor doth it as it ought draw their hearts nearer to God but sets them at a further distance from him nor doth it make them more humble but more haughty nor more constant and sincere in duties but more unfit for any good word or work Nor can the world profit us in the day of wrath When the sinful pleasures of youth are ended by sickness age or death what can be left but the worm of conscience bred out of them to torment the Soul for ever Have you not sometimes considered with your self how soon the world and its pleasures will turn you off How can you but now and then take notice of your own frailties which tell you how certainly and shortly you must lie down in the dust Do you not sometimes go to the house of mourning or stand by dying people confessing the world to be nothing worth and complaining of the losse of their time and strength spent upon it And do you not see how little it doth for them in their greatest need Oh therefore let this prevail with us to prize our Souls above the world let this with what hath been considered in the foregoing particulars make us set as light by it as it doth or will do by us Let us henceforth make Christ our treasure and count it our happiness to honour and worship him as we ought to do Let us make God our portion and sit down content with him alone and let them who can get no better take the world and the pleasures of it Having now seen what it is to gain the world and the worthlesness thereof though gained we are in the next place to consider what it is to lose the Soul and the preciousness of that if lost As to the losing of the Soul the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred to lose signifies to have a mulct or punishment inflicted and so may import not only the fatal final losse or damnation of the Soul but also any losse or damage that belongs to it here or hereafter 1. Therefore to lose the Soul is to lose ones self A mans Soul is the principal part of himself and so it is in S t Luke ch 9. 25. What is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself Soul and body too and be cast away 2. To lose the Soul implies a being deprived of all further opportunities and seasons of grace of all virtuous and gracious endowments which are as the life of the Soul When Christ calls by death or Judgement they that like the foolish virgins have not oyl in their lamps and their lamps trimmed that have not their Souls adorned with the saving graces of his Spirit they shall not enter with him Having waited so long already and all in vain he will now stay no longer till they go and buy for themselves but will shut the door of mercy against them for ever 3. The losing of the Soul implyes the losse of all such earthly enjoyments as sensual hearts love and prize above their Souls and for which they undoe themselves for ever Oh who can express the wretchedness of such people when they shall stand before the Judgment seat of God to
unexpected news that all he had is lost and gone 5. It will be an incomparable losse What will it profit a man though he gain the whole world and lose his own Soul It will be a great losse for a small matter the losse of that which is most precious for that which is most vile shouldst thou set thy Soul to sail not for a few pence or a lye or a base lust but for a kingdome or a world thou wouldest be such a loser as to be utterly undone by the bargain 6. It will be an irreparable and so an eternal losse If thou losest one eye thou hast another if thou losest one limb thou hast another If thou losest thy goods thou mayst recover them again or if thou losest thy life thou mayst be a gainer by it thou mayst find it again Mat. 16. 25. but if thou losest thy Soul thou hast not another and all is lost with it and nothing left to redeem it Thy Soul once lost is lost for ever and its ruine is most lamentable because irrecoverable If thou missest at death thou missest for ever and for ever there is no aftergame to be play'd but thou must suffer the vengeance of eternal fire If the great work for which thou wert born be not then done thou art undone to all eternity O eternity eternity they that here could never have enough of the world and sin in thee shall have wrath enough and pain enough After a thousand millions of years space their misery shall be never the nearer an end because it shall have none being easless endless remedyless What shall a man give in exchange for his Soul why there is nothing at all he can give in exchange for it the redemption of it is so precious that it ceaseth for ever Oh that the careless world did but believe and consider the word of God and in particular these words of our Saviour surely they would mind their Souls otherwise then now they do Therefore good Reader be intreated not only to suffer others who are or may be intrusted with the care of thy Soul to be very solicitous for the welfare thereof but be thou as careful too thy self resolving as he did who sayd volo servare animam meam I will O God by all means save my Soul Say with thy self and look up unto God for his grace and spirit to enable thee to say it sincerely O Lord I am sensible of the evil of my ways and of my lost condition without thee and therefore with a penitent Soul I flee unto thee trusting in thy mercy and the merits of thy dear Son Jesus Christ I believe him making satisfaction to thy Justice for the sins of the world to be the only Saviour thereof and thereupon with the full consent of my heart I accept him for my Lord-Redeemer to save me henceforth as well from the power as the guilt of my sins I am unfeignedly willing that henceforth he should rule in me and reign over me by his word and spirit I am O God willing to be saved through him in forbearing to my utmost all that evil which thou hast forbidden in using all those ordinances which thou hast instituted in performing all those duties which thou hast commanded and in doing to my utmost all that good which thou hast required And I further resolve by thy grace assisting so to love thee and believe in thee my God and Saviour as henceforth while breath is continued to serve please worship and glorifie thee all that I can and all the ways that I can If thou hast thus resolved heretofore yet do it again and do it often in the course of thy life it cannot set thee back at all in thy gracious estate it may and will much further and quicken thee in thy holy walking Such an earnest care of thy Souls welfare let it be thy principal care because among others it may have these deserved commendations to be holy and easy safe and successeful prudent and profitable 1. It is an holy care making them that have it desirous to be holy in all manner of conversation and godliness 2. 'T is a prudent care being most earnest for that which is most precious and best deserves it He in the parable might be justly commended for his wisdome who cared not so much what became of other things so he might obtain the pearle which was of great price and purchase the field which had a rich treasure hidden therein 3. 'T is a blessed and successeful care Many are at much care and pains for the world but all in vain but here Christ hath made such provision by the covenant of grace that if we sincerely believe in him and endeavour to be in will word and deed what he requires we shall without fail obtain the end of our faith even the salvation of our Souls 4. 'T is a safe and satisfactory care And if thy Soul be first set a right God-ward and heaven-ward if thou art first devoted unto Christ stedfastly purposing to observe his word and will in all things thou mayst in the next place mind that which concerns thy ingenuous education or the works of thy honest calling more seasonably piously and regularly and by far more safely then others can do For who can with such safety and comfort follow those studies or labours which concern the preservation of life or their natural welbeing as they who have first made sure as to the main stake that which concerns their everlasting well-being Others though in the strongest castle or highest dignity are not free from the danger of hell one minute of an hour But such as these God will keep as the apple of the eye and none can take them out of Christs hands S t John 10. 28 29. Deut. 33. 27. Zach. 2. 8. They may say upon good grounds our Souls are safe to eternity our salvation we shall not misse of and other things we shall have too as God seeth best for our spiritual good and his own glory Mat. 6. 33. 5. The care of the Soul is comparatively an easie care 'T is the ready way to provide also for our bodily welfare not only hereafter but for the most part here too Religious temperance is cheap and healthful Exod 23. 25. Ye shall serve the Lord your God and he shall blesse thy bread and thy water and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee We are sure that the body hath no annoyance which we can prevent and for that the most trades are followed with restless care and toyle but certainly the Soul being much more precious deserves the far greater diligence Yet be but at half that pains to do well which others are at who weary themselves in doing evil take but half that care for thy precious Soul which some do about the affairs of the body and thou mayst be most happy for ever 6. And lastly 't is a delightful and profitable care and
which are abstracted from bodily substances In adversity there may be solid joys in the mind as there may be real torments upon a mans spirit which the Primitive Christians and Martyrs being freed from made little reckoning of their outward sufferings but endured them as Sozomen says as if their bodies had been other folks and not their own In prosperity too there may be a power in mans Soul to curb the body in that which is most sutable and pleasing which a beast cannot do 1 Cor. 9. 27. I keep under my body and bring it into subjection St Mat. 18. 8 9. Prov. 23. 1 2. When thou sittest to eat with a ruler consider diligently what is before thee And put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite Again when the body faints with age or sickness the Soul may have strong desires after God and eternity And when the body returns to the dust the immortal spirit goes to him that gave it to be judged to weal or woe I desire says the Apostle to be dissolved and be with Christ Father says our Saviour into thy hands I commend my spirit S t Luke 23. 43. and 46. to the penitent thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The body you see then though curiously wrought or imbroydered is but the cabinet of a more precious Soul which as was said is chiefly the man Oh therefore let us not live as if we were all of a piece and the body was the man as if that only was to be adorned pampered and provided for God having given us Souls capable of all those excellencies which he is pleased to impart to the best of his Creatures let us count them richly worth the care and labour of an holy Christian life Far be it from us to be willing of so much pains for the world and to call farless for the Soul too much ado Far be it from us to think our precious Souls no more worth then honour wealth or foolish mirth Oh far be it from us to count them so worthless as to be abused to the basest drudgery to be poysoned with sin and sensuality or to be ventured for a thing of nought But thus you have seen both what it is to gain the world and what to lose the Soul as also the worthlesness of the one though gained and the preciousness of the other if lost which if you compare and duely consider you will acknowledge as our Saviour here hath taught us That each ones Soul is of such worth and excellency that they must needs be exceeding great losers who lose their Souls though it could be by the gaining of the whole world As for the more full and particular improvement of this weighty truth which so nearly concerns every one of us you may take it in the following inferences Use 1. Is the Soul of any man or woman whatsoever more worth then a world Hence then O Christian learn to entertain right thoughts concerning the dignity of thy nature and let this 1. make thee hate to dishonour thy self by thinking speaking or doing any thing unworthy of a rational Soul much more of a Christian Let this make thee afraid to live and dye so vilely as at last with the wicked to wish thou hadst been made a toad or serpent or that thou hadst never been born 2. Rather let this consideration make thee careful to live holily to Gods glory and so to praise him for thy Soul made capable of so excellent a work as to love serve and honour him here and of so glorious a reward as to enjoy him hereafter 3. Let the same consideration move thee to praise God also for Christ the Lover of Souls who hath done and suffered so much for their eternal welfare and in him to praise the Lord especially for all other Soul mercies and advantages Though he should be pleased to keep thee short of other things say with a thankful heart as Eph. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Gaius had a Sickly body but was happy in the prosperous state of his Soul Beloved says S t John Epistle 3. v. 2. I wish that thou mayst prosper and be in health even as thy Soul prospereth 4. Let this dignity of thy humane nature help thee to see the dignity of thy holy religion And remember though every thing else be mean about thee yet thy sincere religiousness relating to the precious Soul is no mean but an excellent thing which as Solomon says makes the righteous more excellent then his neighbour 5. Let this further make thee to carry they self alwaies humbly and courteously towards the meanest people thou canst meet with considering that though thou mayst differ from them in some outward respects yet they have Souls which in their own nature are as precious as thine own Use 2. Is the Soul more worth then a world and shall they be such exceeding great losers that lose their Souls though by the gaining of the whole world See then a great help Christians have to beat back Satans temptations when tempted to evil as Eve and our Saviour by any thing in the world Should a Chapman bid thee for any part of thy goods not so many pence as they are worth pounds wouldst thou not turn away with scorn from one that offered thee so much to thy loss Or if but for thy life thou couldst have an earthly crown or the whole world layd in thy hand wouldst thou not utterly refuse it knowing it could do thee no good at all when thy life was gone Wilt thou then exchange thy so precious Soul to its eternal undoing when offered for it but a morsel of base gain or a cup of stoln pleasure which will vanish in a moment Therefore 1. When about to lye dissemble curse or swear blasphemously if the next abuse of thy tongue would cost thee the certain loss of that unruly member would not self-love make thee refrain from such evil and wilt thou not do so much more for the love of God and to prevent the loss of thy precious Soul Take not his name who made thy mouth in vain It gets thee nothing and hath no excuse Lust and wine plead a pleasure avarice gain But the Cheap swearer through his open sluce Le ts his Soul runne for nought as little fearing Were I an Epicure I could bate swearing Again 2. when tempted to drink more then will do thee good if one should assure thee that the next needless cup was mixed with deadly poyson thou wouldest certainly refuse it counting thy life more precious then to be so vilely cast away shouldst thou not then much rather resolutely and constantly avoid such beastly drunkenness as manifestly endangers the life and happiness of thy far more precious Soul 3. So when tempted next to Ale-house gaming and stage-plays in