16. SERM. XVI. The Seventh Sermon on the Excellency of the Soul.
SERM. XVI. The Seventh Sermon on the Excellency of the Soul.
F or what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? – Matth. 16:26.
Quest. But you slay we must go further, How shall a man know that he is gone further than those whose souls are lost?
Answ. To that I would briefly answer thus; Canst thou say with David, Lord, thy Word is pure, therefore doth thy servant love it? I believe 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 with it, because it is pure; this is further than any of them went: David could say so, Saul could not, nor Ahab could not, nor Herod could not, the stony-ground, and Herod rejoiced in it, but it was not from the purity of it that they did rejoice, for then they would have rejoiced in all the Word of God, every part of God's Word being pure and holy.
Secondly, They could not say thus, That they did prize Jesus Christ for a Sanctifier, as well as a Savior: None of them did look upon Jesus Christ, that he 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 be glad to be 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 be all in all to their souls; they went not thus far: And therefore do not think that it is a putting people to great straits, to tell them how far many went, whose souls were lost, and if they went no further, their souls would likewise be 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 be pleased this evening to cause everyone 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 be saved? Oh be not satisfied in anything in the world, till you come to a resolution in these things; And if you find that these things speak against you, and your souls be 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; Oh then let every man or woman propound this question, What shall I then do to be 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 be saved?
And if people when they meet together would be taken up, and be 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 me 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 people's 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 profaneness, he labors 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 we must not receive the weak in Faith unto doubtful disputations. But, Object. You will say, we must inquire after all truths.
Answ. It is true, but seasonably, in their due time; It is not for young converts, before they be settled 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 we 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 we do to be saved? In Eccl. 7, saith the wise man there, God hath made man upright, but he hath found to himself many
inventions, so your books have it, but I find it translated in the old Lattin, He 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 we do to be saved? It was the question, you know, of the Jailor, 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 be saved, then 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 forever, 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 be 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 be asking this great question, What shall
I do to be saved? And we have an example of this, of a young man that Christ looked upon in love, because he 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 ver. 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 we do to have eternal life? And it appears that he was a young Gentleman, a man of great possessions, and he is called in the Gospel by St. Luke, a Ruler; some Interpreters think that that was meant only in the family, for the Jews had some chief in the family that did rule and govern there; but this young man he comes to Christ, and that
running, as in Mar. 10, where you have the story, and Christ looked upon him, and loved him, as in ver. 21. Oh it is a lovely thing to see young people begin betimes to inquire what they should do to be saved, and we 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 to himself, as ever was, I think, since the beginning of the world, and the Devil knowing that he could not get them to turn to lewdness and profaneness presently again, therefore he labors to put them upon turning all their Religion into questions about controversial things, which they could not be able to manage and understand, and so puts them off the thoughts of that great question, What they should do to be saved? But O labor to inquire, and to be satisfied and resolved in that question betimes.
Secondly, If you ask this question, as you are to do it betimes, so do it earnestly, do it with a great deal of fervency of spirit, as a matter of infinite concernment; so in Matth. 10:17. When he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? He came running with a great deal of fervency and earnestness about the business; and the fervency that youth hath should be manifested in this, in being earnest in the inquiring after the way of salvation; people that are elder, they think they are well enough, and they have not lived so long, they think, as not to know how to be saved all this while, and therefore will not inquire; so that their spirits do not boil with that fervency and heat as young ones do; he came running to Christ.
Thirdly, If you do inquire, inquire sincerely, with a heart truly willing to do whatsoever God shall make known to you; we are this day about this great question, what a man should do to save his soul? I suppose many of
you would be glad to know what should be done, and me-thinks everyone is ready to ask such a question as this is: But before we come to answer it, let me speak to you as in the Name of God, do you desire to know it with a heart truly willing to yield to whatsoever should out of God's Word be revealed to you? Put this to your own hearts before we come to give any answer, otherwise what do you hear this day, if there be not such a heart as this, that you can appeal to God, and profess that whatsoever this day the Lord shall reveal unto me from his Word that I should do to save my soul, here I am, and profess to yield myself up to the truths of God, if your hearts be so framed, then we may have encouragement to come and show you what should be done.
Fourthly, And you must inquire constantly too; if you should not be satisfied at one time, never be at rest till you are satisfied, do not ask what I should do, and come to hear what you should do, and then pass it over, and let every little thing take this out of your minds again; but when you begin to be inquiring after the way of salvation, resolve that you will never give rest to your souls, till you have gotten this question answered to you. —
And there is a great deal of reason that we should ask this question in such a way. For, Reas. First, Every one of your souls are in a lost condition naturally; therefore it concerns you to be inquiring after the way of salvation.
Secondly, The salvation of a soul is the most difficult thing in the world; if ever thy soul be saved, it must cost more than Heaven and Earth is worth to save it; it is not therefore such a trifling business, the saving of souls: This I dare avouch, as in the Name of God, that the soul of the poorest girl or servant that is here, if it be saved, it must cost more than Heaven and Earth is worth to save it; therefore there is a difficulty in it.
Thirdly and lastly, There are but few that shall be saved; there is nothing more clear in the Word of God than that, that there are but few souls that shall be saved; we cannot tell (as I have said) that this or the other soul cannot be saved; we are not to enter into God's counsels concerning particular souls, but this we may say, and have warrant from the Word to say, that there are but few souls that shall be saved: Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and few there be that enter: And upon that ground Christ himself raises that exhortation, therefore strive; therefore inquire you after the way of salvation with all your might; if there should a voice come from Heaven at this time, and say, there are but few in this Congregation shall go out alive, it would put everyone to a stand; everyone would think with himself, Oh Lord! Must I die here? Why there is this voice from Heaven, that there are but few souls in the world but shall perish eternally; then certainly it is not for us to be quiet, but it concerns us to be restless in our conditions, and everyone to say, what, is it
I? What, is it I? When Christ did but say that one of you shall betray me, everyone was inquiring, Is it I? Is it I? But when it is said that there shall be but few saved; the flock of Christ is but a little flock, the words in the original are two diminutives, and may be translated, a little little flock; Oh it concerns you all to look about you. But now these things being premised for the putting of you on to the enquiring after salvation with all your might: now we come to the answer of this question, What we should do that our souls may be saved?
And in the answer to this we must premise further.
First, There is nothing that any man can do, that saves him, there must be somewhat higher that what he can do; and yet God requires that he should do what he can do; Indeed what any man can do of himself, yea or by
assistance from common grace, yea we will say further, by assistance from any grace whatsoever, though it may help forward his salvation, by an ordinance of God, yet it cannot be the thing that saves him, the thing that saves him is higher than what is done by the creature, it is what is done by Christ, or what is suffered by Christ, it is that that saves the soul, and not, I say, what is done or suffered by us.
But yet now we must not make such a vain, and foolish, and dangerous inference, that therefore nothing is to be done, because the things that we do are not the things that save us; there is a great deal of evil comes from men and women's presuming to draw consequences; they think that if this be true, the other will follow, and so through the weakness of their understandings, they come to draw dangerous consequences from true positions: Why, we are dead in sins by nature, and without me ye can do nothing, saith Christ; upon this here is this consequence drawn by many ignorant people that pervert the Word to their own destruction, If God be not merciful to them; therefore why should we pray, or read, or hear, or use any means, let us lay aside all, we can do nothing, we are dead in sins, and the like: Now we are to know, that though nothing can be 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 be but that that shall stop us in the contrary way a little, it is worth our labor; 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 labor, and all our pains; but especially if we consider this, that though we are not able to do that that shall save us, yet God is pleased often to convey his strength to those he 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 be up and be doing. We read in the Gospel concerning the young man that I told you came to Christ, and inquired what he should do for eternal life, Christ professed to him that he was not far from the Kingdom of Heaven, he 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 Kingdom of Heaven, as profane ones, and therefore Publicans and Harlots may enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, as soon as Scribes and Pharisees; But there may be many actions done by a common assistance of God's Spirit, that may bring some nearer to the Kingdom of Heaven than others; and the denial of such a thing as that is, would be an extreme boldness in any; for they are the very words of Christ to the young man, That he was not far from the Kingdom of Heaven; and therefore notwithstanding your inability, and notwithstanding the things that we do are not the things that save us, yet we 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 Ancients, Though God made thee without thee, yet he 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 join with the work of God in the way of salvation; and certainly whatever conceits there are to the contrary, they are not only foolish, but extreme dangerous, and Satan's 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 anything that should be 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 we must name them for memory sake in some order, and God expects them from you, and you are to join with God in those works, if you would have your souls to be saved.
The great Question, of what we should do to be saved, answered.
First, If you would have your souls saved, do you join with God in what he hath revealed to you concerning your lost condition, laboring 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 be sensible of them: Those whom God intends to save, he shows unto them what this salvation is; he shows them from what it is they are to be saved, that so they may not run away with (the mere word (Salvation) and saving of souls) now God reveals this in his Word, and when he intends to save a soul, he doth by his Spirit stir it up to join with the Word of God, and work those things upon its self, so as to be made sensible of them.
As thus, the soul being solicitous how it should come to be saved, it searches the Scripture, and there it finds how we are by nature the children of wrath; there it finds 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 he hath the seeds of all kind of sin in him, and that all his life, while he continues in his natural estate here, is nothing else but a fighting against God, a flying in the very face of God: He finds that by sin he is brought under a most dreadful curse, the curse of the Law, and that
he is bound over by the bonds of the Law, even to death, to eternal death, as the wages of sin; these things the soul finds in Scripture; now if thou wouldest be saved, when thou findest God revealing such things, labor thoroughly 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 me to have all the world, and be 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! Labor 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 thoroughly sensible of them, as he uses to make those whom he 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 only of your lost estate, but of your inability to save yourselves, 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 thyself now art unable to help thyself to save thy soul; be convinced thoroughly of this:
This was the way that Christ took with the young man, he tells him of the Law first, and then afterwards because he was conceited that he had fulfilled the Law, and done it, Christ puts him upon a duty (that might convince him to the contrary) which was required in the spiritual meaning of the Law, that forbids covetousness, and requires that we should be willing to part with all for God, when he calls for it; Go and sell all that thou hast, and follow me, and take up thy cross and follow me, saith Christ;
I but the young man he had great possessions; but because he was no swearer, nor stealer, nor murderer, nor liar, he thought he had fulfilled the
Law, but Christ by putting that to him, did as much as if he should say, poor young man, thou art deceived, thou thinkest that thou are able to do what
God requires in his Law, but didst thou but understand the spiritual part of the Law, thou wouldest see that thou art so cast by it, that all that thou art able to do in thy obedience to the Law, cannot be sufficient (through the sinfulness of thy heart and nature) but thou must perish if thou takest such a course as that is, to think to be saved by the Law; certainly this it is upon which thousands of souls do perish, they think indeed they are sinners, but they hope they shall do better, and they are able, they think (though not without God, God must help them) to do that that the Word of God requires of them, whereby they may come to be saved; now certainly thou knowest not thy fallen condition, and how far off thou art from God, and what thy sinful estate is naturally, that hast such thoughts as these.
But secondly, If thou wouldest have thy soul saved, break off the acts of thy sin at least; you will say, why do we speak to men to break off the acts of their sin? — why, certainly we may well speak, for God doth give men power for outward acts very far; thou canst not do it of thyself, that is true, but there is a common work of God's Spirit, that doth enable men and women for outward acts very far: Let him that stole steal no more. A man now at the day of judgment cannot say, Lord, I continued in theft, because I was not able to forbear it; though thou canst not change thy heart indeed, yet forbear the outward act thou canst: one that is dumb might say, if he could speak, Lord, I was no swearer, because I could not speak, otherwise thou art ready to say, I cannot help it, but God will find it otherwise at the great day: Certainly, if thou wouldest but put thyself upon what strength
God gives thee, thou mayest as well go to a Sermon, as to an Ale-house; It is a very false reasoning of people, that because they have not true grace,
therefore God enables them to do no outward acts; therefore do what in thee lies to break off the outward acts of thy sin: Thou that art a companykeeper, a Sabbath-breaker, a swearer, an unclean person, take heed of continuing in the outward way of sinning against God, resolve this day against those outward acts of thy sin; do but do thus much, because thou thinkest thou canst do nothing, do but profess thus to God in his presence, when thou art gone, get alone, and say, Lord, it is true, I can do nothingwithout thee, but here I do engage myself to join with whatsoever thou hast given me, or shalt give me to abstain from those acts of sin, which I have lived in, and this Lord I engage myself to do, as ever I expect to be saved in the day of Jesus Christ; canst thou not say these words? Express thyself but thus to God, and certainly these things thou mayest say, and that is somewhat; That man and woman that shall willfully go on in those vile gross acts of sin that are against the very light of nature, and the light of their consciences, for them to come and say, What shall I do to be saved?
And yet still continue in their sins, it is but a trifling with God, and taking God's Name in vain, except it be with a resolution to go thus far.
Thirdly, Thou must labor to take off thine heart as much as thou canst from the things of the world, from these outward contentment's here, from seeking after them as thy greatest good; that that was thy chief desire heretofore, thou must labor to take off thy heart from, and possess thy soul with the one thing necessary, to conclude thus with thyself, it is not necessary that I should be rich, that I should be honorable, that I should have these and these outward comforts in the world; but it is necessary that I should look to the salvation of my soul; when God hath a purpose to save, he doth take the heart off very much from creature-comforts; Oh, if people's hearts were but taken off from the world, to seek after salvation in a
constant way, as they are at some flashes, when they hear some truths that come near to their hearts, or when they are upon their sick-beds, Oh how far might they have been gone in the way of salvation! But the thoughts of the world hath taken their hearts, and all other things have vanished and come to nothing.
Fourthly, If thou wouldest have thy soul saved, thy great care and endeavor must be to acquaint thyself with the knowledge of the Mysteries of the Gospel of the covenant of grace, of the way that God hath chalked out for salvation; let a man or woman have never so good meanings, never such good desires and affections, live never so fairly and civilly in the world, yet if they be not acquainted with the way that God in the Gospel, and in the Covenant of Grace hath revealed for the salvation of souls, they may perish for all that, God hath appointed but one way to save souls, and he is set upon it and determined, that whosoever misses that way, must perish, whatsoever good thoughts and desires they have otherwise.