17. SERM. XVII. The Eighth Sermon on the Excellency of the Soul.
SERM. XVII. The Eighth 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. Now you will say, What is it in the Gospel, and in the Covenant of Grace that we must labor to inform ourselves in, that we may be saved?
Answ. First, Thou must labor to inform thyself of the absolute necessity of satisfaction to divine Justice, that is revealed in the Gospel, and that thou must come to know, I am a sinful wretched creature, my soul is in a damnable condition; now that that must save me must satisfy God's infinite
Justice, I may not be saved merely by my crying to God for mercy; no, if there were nothing else but my crying to God for mercy, yea, put all my good deeds into the scale, put what I have done, what I can do, what I can be enabled to do, all my prayers, my cries, this will not do. — It is true, there is not enough in me, but will not God's mercy eke it out? — No, it is neither what thou doest, or canst do, or canst be enabled to do, and put
God's mercy merely without anymore, that doth it, but it is a satisfaction to justice, a price paid for the soul; no soul is ever saved, but it is saved in the
way of a price, that is paid for it; and this thou must acquaint thy soul with, which thousands of people are ignorant of; yet they hope to be saved, but how? They will pray to God that they may be saved, and that God would have mercy upon them; and is here all? Certainly this is not the way of the Gospel; but the way of the Gospel it is that that reveals unto the soul the price that is paid for a soul, even the blood of Christ: That in Christ the great Mediator of the second Covenant, there is a perfect satisfaction to God's Infinite Justice; this indeed is a great part of the Mystery of the Gospel; this is the saving truth of the Gospel, and thou must acquaint thy soul with this truth if thou be saved. — And when thou hearest of this truth, perhaps thou canst not understand it for the present, Oh then thou hadst need go to God in secret, and be crying to him that he would reveal this truth unto thee. — But you will say, it is not our crying; — It is true, it is not merely our crying, but there is something of God further: But God hath made many gracious promises of answering our cries, and now that so he may make good his promises, he will further reveal this Mystery of the Gospel to thee, that there is a necessity of satisfaction to divine Justice for thy sin that hath brought thy soul into a lost condition.
Secondly, And further, A necessity of a perfect Righteousness; we will not speak of anything controversial about it, which way it comes to be applied; but this all will grant, that there is a perfect Righteousness that we have need of; the way of salvation is a perfect Righteousness, thou must have a surety that must have a perfect Righteousness for thee.
Thirdly, And then the way of salvation is this, it reveals an absolute necessity of the Application of the satisfaction and Righteousness of Jesus
Christ; the Application of that, that it must be made thine some way, that thou must have thy part and share in it, by thy union unto Christ; and by
being made one mystically with him through Faith, so that the soul is not merely saved through mercy: Nor thus, that Christ he hath come and done such and such things, and therefore saith God the Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ I will save thee, for he hath satisfied me by what he hath done:
No, but there is somewhat more; I confess it is true, in the conclusion we are saved for the sake of Christ, but it is by our union with Christ, we are united to Christ, and made one with him, and so what Christ hath done for our salvation, is tendered up to the Father as ours, we being one with Jesus
Christ: so that now, if thou shouldest know thy miserable estate by nature, and thereupon inquire after salvation, and cry to God that he would be merciful unto thee; that is not enough, but the Gospel reveals further.
Suppose thou comest to know more than thou canst understand by the light of nature, but yet the Gospel doth reveal to thee, that not only thou must be saved by Christ, but thou must be united to Christ by Faith; there must be a spiritual marriage between the Son of God, and thy soul; thou must have
Christ to be a head, and thou a member; he thy husband, and thou his Spouse; thou must inquire after this union, and that is the way of believing, and the substance of the Apostles words to the Jailor, when he cried, what he should do to be saved, why saith he, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved: It must be through Jesus Christ, the great Mediator of the second Covenant, by thy believing in him, and being made one with him that thou must come to be saved.
Fourthly, And then the Gospel it reveals further as necessary to salvation, a necessity of Regeneration, of being born again, of having the Image of God renewed in the soul, by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, of being a new
Creature, the want of which, if the soul should now depart, it must certainly perish under, but now if it come to be saved, it must have this revealed to it;
for in the Gospel there is held forth the great work of God in begetting that soul anew to himself, that he doth intend to save, in putting a new life into it, in sending the Spirt of Jesus Christ into it, whereby it lives, and acts, and works, being now carried on, not by its own spirit, but by the Spirit of the Son of God; this is necessary to salvation, to do acts of Regeneration: so Christ tells Nicodomus, he must be born again, and this only the Gospel reveals; and thus our souls should labor to acquaint themselves with the great things of the Gospel; and as the wise man saith concerning instruction, in Prov. 4:13. Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go, keep her, for she is thy life. So I say of these instructions that are revealed in the Gospel, keep them, for they are your lives; do not think that God, though he is infinitely merciful, yet that he will save souls any other way, for God hath set this way, and it is an infinite mercy that we are to admire at, and adore, and praise his Name for, that there may be salvation any way; and if there may be salvation any way, oh you poor wretched children of men! Know, that you should be restless, till you come to understand further that one way; Oh that we could make it to be the great business of our lives, to search into the Gospel, and find out these things, for it is through this that we come to have eternal life.
Fifthly, A fifth rule for the salvation of your souls, (If God hath put it into your hearts to seek to have them saved) you must walk with fear and trembling before the Lord all the days of your lives; the fear of God must be mighty and strong upon your spirits, if you would be saved, and you must labor to keep the fear of the great God upon your spirits; that place is famous for this, in Phil. 2:12. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do, of his own good pleasure. As if the Holy Ghost should say, you had need walk
with fear before the Lord, for the truth is, he hath you at such infinite advantage, as you are not able to stir one foot to do anything for the deliverance of your souls from eternal wrath, without the work of God upon you; you had need take heed what you do, that you do not provoke this infinite God that hath you under his feet, that you are able to do nothing towards your salvation if he withdraw himself from you.
I appeal to you, suppose you did so depend upon any one man in the world, that your life lay at his mercy, and if he should but speak a word you were a dead man or woman, would you not when you come into his presence come with fear, lest you should displease him? Would you say, what do I care for him? Let him be pleased or not pleased, what is that to me? You would not dare to do it: Now, shall we have less fear, because he with whom we have to do is the Lord? If we had dependence upon any man in the world, as we have upon God, we would fear him: Now I say, shall
God have the less fear, because he is a God? He should have the more fear; Fear him, saith Christ, that when he hath killed the body, can likewise kill the soul; Yea I say unto you, fear him; Christ puts an I say upon that; and truly, that soul begins to be in a way of salvation, that begins to have the fear of the great God to fall upon him. Most people in the world they walk boldly, and presumptuously in the presence of God, as if God had nothing to do with them, and as if they had nothing to do with God. Alas! These go on in the ways of death and destruction: but that soul that God hath a purpose to save, he begins to reveal his glory to it, and to shine upon it, as he did upon Saul, when he did shine from Heaven in a glorious manner, and stopped him in his way when he was riding post unto Hell and destruction; he cries to him, I am he that thou hast sinned against, I am he that thou persecutest, then Saul falls down trembling, and saith, Lord, What wilt thou
have me to do? As if Saul should say, Lord, I did not know thee, but I see thee now to be a great and a dreadful God, I see that I am in thy hands to save or destroy, as thou pleasest; and therefore Saul comes with a trembling heart, and cries to God, Lord, What wilt thou have me to do? I, he was in a good way of salvation; and so when a vile sinner that hath gone on without the fear of God upon him, shall now come in trembling, beholding the dreadfulness of the Infinite God, that eternal first-being that it hath to deal withal, and now shall have his fear strike into it, this soul is in a good way of salvation, it is stopped in the way of destruction, and it is in a good way of salvation; and that is very observable further in the Text, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that works in you. That is a place that many people grossly abuse, they think they need do nothing; but mark how boldly do these people cross the Spirit of God in the Text, for the Spirit of God makes this Argument, do you work out your salvation, because God works, and say they, It must be God that works, and therefore
I will do nothing; Oh! If you should willfully go on in ways of provocation to God, and upon your sick-bed, and death-bed, cry, Oh Lord! That now thou wouldest be pleased to work upon my soul, as thou usest to work upon those that thou intendest to save; If God should make this answer, Thou a bold wretch, that hast provoked the eyes of my glory all thy days, and dost thou now cry to me to do it? If any of you do think that there will ever be a time when you will stand in need of God's mercy to save your souls, you had need walk with fear and trembling before this God; Now I put this to the soul of everyone here, dost thou not think, O thou sinful soul, that there will be a time that thou shalt stand in need of the mercy of God? And what course dost thou take now beforehand? Is that course that thou takest beforehand a continual provocation of God? Is that a good preparation to
that time? If there were a man that you lived near, though for the present you care not for him, but slighted him, yet if you knew that there would be a time that you must stand in need of that man, so as if he should forsake you, you would be a lost man, would you dare to provoke that man? We all know what need we shall have of the mercy of God, and therefore we had need walk with fear and trembling before him.
Sixthly, Further, If thou wouldest have thy soul saved, attend upon those means that God hath appointed to save souls, wait at wisdoms posts. Now this one direction being clearly shewn out of Scripture, will be enough to confute all that talk against doing: If God hath appointed means to save, then surely he hath appointed that we must attend upon those means. Now in Rom. 1:16. The preaching of the Gospel there is called, The power of God to salvation. Now if you would be saved, you must bring your souls under that which is the power of God to salvation. Because the Lord in the Ministry of the Gospel doth use to put forth his Almighty Power for the saving of souls, therefore it is that the Gospel is called the power of God to salvation; you cannot be saved without the Almighty Power of God, and where is that put forth but in the preaching of the Gospel? To whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed? That is, the Arm of God in the preaching of the Gospel; so you know what the Apostle saith, in Rom. 10. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
You will say, can we do anything towards our salvation? Yes, you may hear, it is the duty of us as creatures to come and hear the Word; and Faith comes by hearing: so then Faith comes by somewhat that we do, but not so that God hath tied himself to give Faith to everyone that hears, I would not be understood so: But thus, God hath appointed, that hearing should be a means for the working of Faith; It is true, it is the blessing of God in
hearing, but hearing is the way that God hath set; God indeed can convey Faith from Heaven to any soul immediately; I but where there is the preaching of the Gospel, there do I expect that these creatures that do intend that I should work Faith in them, should come and attend upon the preaching of the Gospel: Christ could have opened the blind man's eyes, without spitting upon the clay, and anointing his face, but he would have that done, and that must be the means by which he will open his eyes: So if God will have hearing the Word of the Gospel to be the means by which he will work Faith in the soul, take heed how this be neglected, Act. 20:18.
Paul was sent to preach, to what end? To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified by Faith that is in me. Saith the Lord Christ to Paul, I will send thee to open the eyes of men, and to turn them from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins; and this is the great ordinance that I intend for this end, and that I will accompany to those that I purpose to save at any time. Therefore when you come to hear the Word, you should come to it as the great Ordinance that God hath appointed to save souls by. Is there any soul that begins in this
Congregation to be awakened, and to think with itself, Oh Lord, What shall I do to be saved? I tell thee, that every time thou comest to hear the Word preached, thou shouldest come to it with such thoughts as these; Now am I going to that great Ordinance that the Lord hath appointed to convey his power thorough, to the salvation of those souls that are appointed to eternal life; I am going to the Pool of Bethesda, and there will I wait until the Lord shall be pleased for to send his Angel to stir in my heart, and I have begun to feel some power of Christ already, which doth encourage me to hope for
further power; There is many a soul hath met with Jesus Christ, and he hath brought it from the power of Satan, to his own Kingdom of light, and why may not my soul meet with the same power of Jesus Christ? However, I am resolved, that as long as I live, I will wait upon God in the way that he hath appointed; Oh the Word it hath a great deal of efficacy for the salvation of souls, therefore if thou wouldest have thy soul saved, attend upon it for that end. I shall apply one Scripture, which may be for the preparation to what remains.— You are about inquiring how you should be saved, and we are about answering, Oh take heed that you be not found in this, like unto those wretched Jews (which God forbid that there should be any one in this place found like unto) that would fain have the Prophet Jeremiah be inquiring what the mind of God was concerning them, and they professed, that whatsoever the Lord should reveal by him, that they would do, but when it came, loe they fling off all, and it was to no purpose; the Scripture is in Jer.
42:5. Then they said to Jeremiah, The Lord be a true and a faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things, for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us. We desire thee to go and know the mind of God, and tell it us, and here we profess and call God to witness, that we will do what lies in us to perform all that the Lord thy God shall require;
This was a very fair promise, and I hope there are some souls, if not generally all of you, have such a kind of disposition. Oh let his servant search his Word, and find out what should be done, and whatsoever he shall speak according to his Word, that will we do, and God forbid it should be otherwise; it were just with God that our souls should perish, if we should do otherwise; but there is a mighty deal of deceitfulness in the hearts of men; Jeremiah went, and did as they desired him, but mark, chap. 44:16, and you shall see what a different disposition there was in them, to what
there seemed to be before; first you shall find in chap. 43, they begin to wrangle at what Jeremiah spake to them, all the proud men began to wrangle at what Jeremiah spake, mark, it is all the proud men, they are proud spirits that do contend with God's Word, but mark, first they wrangle, chap. 43:2, and then they grow resolute and stubborn, chap. 44:16. As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee; why, what, are these the men that called God to witness, that whatsoever Jeremiah should declare in the Name of God, they would do it? And yet now, first they wrangle at what he saith, and then they resolve, that as for what he hath spoken to them in the Name of the Lord, they will not hear it: Now God forbid that ever there should be found among any of you such wrangling spirits with the Word of God; certainly
God will justify the words of his servants that they speak in his Name one day, and will make them good upon you, and they may lie heavy upon the soul that shall neglect them; but then where there is first wrangling at the Word of God, there usually grows an impudent, proud, stubborn, casting off the Word of God; As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. Why should not we do what we have a mind to? Why should not we take our liberty on the Lord's Day, as we were wont, and follow our business as we were wont? Let them say what they will, we will do as we were wont to do, and we will keep our company, as we were wont to do; let them speak while their heart aches; this was the very guise of this people that made such a profession before the Lord, but oh the Lord forbid that it should be so with any of you.
But Seventhly, If thou wouldest have thy soul saved, thou must take heed of resting upon false hopes of thy salvation, you must rase down even to the very ground all your false hopes of salvation; there is nothing in the world
hinders the salvation of souls more than false hopes; when men dare build their eternal salvation upon every sleight and vain hope that they hold, The hope of the Hypocrite, the Scripture saith, is like the Spiders-web, spun out of thine own conceits, but every little touch is enough to strike it down again: Oh the poor things that people thus venture their souls upon! I shown you in the opening of what did cause the loss of souls, that one thing was by venturing, and their vain hopes was one; now these must be razed down; you will say, what are those vain hopes that must first be razed down? And what do you mean by razing of them down?
That I may speak plainly in this thing, that concerns the poorest and meanest, that is of the meanest capacity in the world, as well as the most able or learned (for the poorest hath a soul to save, as well as the richest, and the weakest, as well as the learnedst) if such a one should say, What are those things that are to be razed down? To that I answer.
First, Such hopes as are not Scripture-hopes, if they be not Scripture hopes, they must be razed down; Rom. 15:4. Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope. We have hope through patience and comfort of the Scripture; how doth the hopes of those that shall be saved arise? — Why, they rise thus, either by reading, or hearing something out of the Word of God, and God darting some light, some truths into their souls through his Word, they come to receive it, and there it lies working in them, till at length their souls relish it, and they taste the sweetness of the Word, and come to have comfort in it, and so through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, their hope comes to be raised; the Scripture in raising hopes, first it works patience, it usually beats down the soul first, and speaks hard things to it, and the soul that God over-powers to
himself, it is willing to lie under the power of the Scripture, and be patient, notwithstanding the Scripture doth reveal such hard things, and puts it upon never such hard duties, the heart, I say, yields to it, and at length the soul comes to find sweetness out of the Scripture, and so hopes comes to be raised, that is, the soul sees some eternal truth out of the Word of God, the truth of God himself that is eternal, a divine truth that it dares venture its eternal estate upon, and upon this it doth raise its hope; it is able to give an account from some place of the Scripture, upon what grounds it doth hope.
— I hope that God will show mercy to me, and save my soul in the day of Christ; will some say, I but what ground have you for your hopes? Now, if your hopes be right, then there is somewhat in this Book of God to be shown as the ground of this; and indeed you can have but little comfort of your hopes, except you be able to hold forth some Scripture of other upon which you build your hopes, for when you say you hope, you may not mean that you think and are persuaded that it is so, but what Scripture have you for if you will say, what Scriptures have any to ground their hopes of salvation upon? What Scriptures? A great many; I will give you but this one that many have to ground their hopes upon, Rom. 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Upon this now saith a soul that God brings to himself; What doth God say in his Word (that word upon which my soul stands, and must be cast one day for eternity) that those that are in Christ
Jesus, shall never be condemned? I but who are they? Such as walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, such as the bent of whose hearts, and the endeavors of whose souls are not after fleshly things, the comforts of this world, but after spiritual things; such whom the Lord hath made to be sensible of spiritual things, and such as the Lord doth act and guide by his
holy Spirit in their ways and conversations, God saith, such shall never be condemned; then upon this I will build my hopes, for I feel that the Lord hath been pleased to work so on me, as to bring me to Jesus Christ to see him, to close with him, and to rely upon him, and I feel the fruit of the Spirit of Christ in me, that whereas before I walked after the flesh, and spiritual things I did not savor, now I find that the lusts of the flesh are mortified, and I should wrong the grace of God, if I should deny the actings, and the guiding's of the Spirit in my soul; and therefore I will build my hopes, and rest upon this Scripture. — And the more any soul rests upon any Scripture (if it rests truly) the more shall it find the power of that Scripture upon it: — Therefore you shall know the difference between an hypocrites resting upon Scripture, and one that rests through the work of God's Grace; an Hypocrite rests upon such a Scripture, and conceits that his heart is according to the Scripture; but now he doth not find, that the more he rests, the more his heart is wrought upon by the Scripture, and daily grows to be liker and liker to the Scripture, to come nearer and nearer to what is required in the Scripture; but now when a gracious heart doth rest upon Scripture, it finds that daily it doth grow nearer and nearer to the Scripture, and that works daily more and more upon it; and indeed this is the way to grow in sanctification, and to make our hearts like to the Scriptures. Fall upon several places, and let your souls rest upon them for eternity, and so you will find your hearts to grow more and more like to those Scriptures, and the power of those Scriptures will appear more and more in your hearts and conversations. This is the way of the Saints that have hopes to be saved.
Secondly, Again, those hopes that are to be razed, are hopes that are not wrought in the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost: in the forenamed
Chapter, The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. That hope that is right for salvation, is such a hope as is wrought through the power of the Holy Ghost: Now then, that hope that is in men and women, which is born with them, and hath lived with them all their days, that springs from the root of nature, for so that that is born with us, and grows up with us all the days of our lives, I say, it springs from a root of nature, and so the hopes of most people, they are no other but such as springs from a root of nature; come from one to another, and ask them, do you think to be saved? I, I hope so; how long have you hoped so? Ever since I can remember, I thank God;
I, I thought so; it is a hope that springs out of the root of nature, and therefore you have had it always, whereas the true hope of the godly for salvation, it is a hope wrought in their hearts by the Almighty power of the Holy Ghost.
And I appeal to you now, what Almighty power of the Holy Ghost have you felt in your hearts to raise up those hopes that you have in you? — For certainly the grace of hope hath a difficulty in it, as well as any grace whatsoever; now all people almost find an easiness in that; but here the Scripture makes it to be the glory of the Holy Ghost, to raise hopes in any creature; therefore those hopes that arise from a root of nature, that are not wrought by an Almighty power of the Holy Ghost in the heart, must be razed down. — Do but put your souls to this question, I have hopes to be saved, but Lord, how are they wrought? What power of the Holy Ghost hath been in my heart to raise these hopes? Suppose there were no Holy Ghost
(as they said in the Acts, that they had not so much as heard whether there were any Holy Ghost or no) yet might not I have such a hope as I have in God's mercy? Oh the hope that will bring to salvation is such a hope as is
raised by the power of the Holy Ghost. — Now if our hopes be raised by the power of the Holy Ghost, then they will have much of the Holy Ghost in them, and suitable to your hopes, so doth the Holy Ghost come into your hearts, and dwell in your hearts, and if it comes in and dwells in your hearts, then it doth enlighten your hearts, it doth act and guide you, you are led by the Holy Ghost in your way; Now, can you say, that in the course of your lives, it is the Holy Ghost that guides you, that you are carried on by the Holy Ghost, and not by your own spirits; It is true, the best of all may be acted by their own spirits, in some time of temptation, but for the course of their lives they are acted and guided by the Holy Ghost, their lives are such, as those that live by them may say, here is one that is acted and guided by the Holy Ghost; Now, can you say so? Certainly if you have true hopes for salvation, it is raised by the Holy Ghost, and if it be raised by the Holy
Ghost, it doth act your lives in the ways of holiness.
Thirdly, Those hopes must be razed down that are not lively hopes, and purging hopes, I will put them both together. — That are not lively, that you have in 1 Pet. 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Here is a great deal in this Scripture; First, that the hopes of the Saints are lively hopes, that is, a hope as is mightily working in them, it will not suffer their hearts to lie dead in any way of wickedness; Indeed, it may be with the hearts of the Saints, as it is with a fountain of living water, that may have some dirt cast into it, but it being a living spring, it works out that dirt; so the children of God that have some lively hopes, may have some dirt cast in by temptation; some sin, I, but if their hopes be lively, it will work it all out. — And mark, you are begotten, therefore you see that the hopes of life and salvation it is that
that is not bred with us (as I spake before) but it is that that follows from our new birth. — And this is by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The power and the virtue of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead being in the soul, and putting a new life into the soul, begets it to this lively hope.
And then it is a purging hope, 1 Joh. 3:3. And every man that hath this hope, purifieth himself even as he is pure. Mark, you think, what need men be so pure and strict? Are there none of you that ever have scorned at purity, and preciseness, and holiness? If you have, consider of this text upon which your souls lies; every man that hath this hope, that is, to see Jesus Christ, and be made like unto him, he doth here in this world purify himself, as Jesus Christ is pure, that is, he doth make Jesus Christ to be his pattern in all that he doth, and aims at no less purity, than the very purity of the Son of God; he doth aim at it, he makes it his work, though he cannot come fully to it, and that very hope that is in him doth work him to this; Now what hopes you have had that are not such, must be razed down to the ground, if ever you would be saved at last.