turally dro])ping and distilling it into that bowl, and the two pipes thereof to feed the lamps continually. Under this stately emblem vou have a lively representation of the spiritual gifts and graces dis- tilled by the Spirit into the ministers of the gospel for the use and benefit of the church, as you find not only by the angePs exposition of it here, but by the Spirit's allusion to it, and accommodation of it in Rev. xi. 3, 4. See herein what price God puts upon the sal- vation of souls : Gospel-lamps are maintained for their sakes, not with the sweat of ministers brows, or the expence and waste of their spirits, but by the precious gifts and graces of God's Spirit continually dropping into them for the use and sei-vice of souls. These ministerial gifts and graces are Christ's ascension-gifts, Eph. iv. 8. " When he ascended up on high, he gave gifts unto men ;'* and what are the royal gifts of that triumphant day ? Why, he *' gave some apostles, and some prophets^ and some evangelists, *' and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, *' for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of *' Christ." It is an allusion to the Roman triumphs, wherein the conqueror did spargere missilia, scatter abroad his treasures among the people. It is reported of the palm-tree, saith one, that when it was first planted in Italy, they watered its roots with v/ine, to make it take the better with the soil : But God waters our souls Avith what is infinitely more costly than wine, he waters them with the heart-blood of Christ, and the precious gifts and graces of the Spirit ; which certainly he would never do if they were not of great worth in his eyes. O how many excellent ministers, who were, as it is said of John, burning and shining lights in their places and generations, have spent themselves, and how many are there who are wilHng to spend, and be spent, as Paul was for the salvation of souis ! God is at great expence for them, and therefore puts a very high value upon them.
Now all this respects the soul of man ; that is the object of all ministerial labours. The soul is the terminus actionum ad ijitra, the subject on which God works, and upon which he spends all those invaluable treasures. It is the soul which he aims at, and prin- cipally designs and levels all to, and reckons it not too dear a rate to save it at.
No man will dig for common stones with golden mattocks, the instruments that would be worn out being of far greater value than the thing. This may convince us of what worth our souls are, and at what rates they are set in God's book, that such instruments are sent abroad into the world, and such precious gifts and graces, like golden oil, spent continually for their salvation ; " Whether Paul, "• or Apollos, or Cephas, all are yours," 1 Cor. iii. 22. i. e. all set apart for the service and salvation of your souls.
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10. The great encouragements and rewards God propounds and promiseth to them that win souls, speak their worth, and God's great esteem of tliem.
There cannot be a more acceptable service done to God, than for a man to set himself heartily and diligently to the conversion of souls ; so many souls as a man instrumentally saves, so many dia- dems will God crown him withal in the great day. St. Paul calls his converted Philippians his joy and his croivn^ Phil. iv. 1. and tells the converted Thessalonians, they were his " crown of rejoicing in " the presence of Jesus Christ at his coming," 1 Thess. ii. 19. There is a full reward assured by promise to those that labour in this great service, Dan. xii. 3. " And they that be wise shall shine " as the brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many *' to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.' The wisdom here spoken of, I conceive not to be only that whereby a man is made wise to the salvation of his own soul, but whereby he is also furnished with skill for the saving of other men's souls according to that, Prov. xi. 30. " He that winneth souls is wise :'' And so the latter phrase is exegetical of it, meaning one and the same thing with being wise and turning many unto righteousness : And, to put men upon the study of this wisdom, he puts a very honourable title upon them, calling them tD^i^im '•pn2f73 the justifiers of many^ as in 1 Tim. iv. 16. they are said to save others. Here is singular honour put upon the very instruments employed in this honourable service, and that is not all, but their reward is great hereafter, as well as their honour great at present, they " shall shine as the brightness " of the firmament, and the stars for ever and ever." The fir- mament shines like a sapphire in itself, and the stars and planets more gloriously again ; but those that faithfully labour in this work of saving souls shall shine in glory for ever and ever, when the fir- mament shall be parched up as a scroll. O what rewards and honours are here to provoke men to the study of saving souls ! God will richly recompense all our pains in this work : If we did but only sow the seed in our days, and another enter into our labours, and water what we sowed ; so that neither the first hath the comfort of finishing the work, nor the last the honour of beginning it ; but one did somewhat towards it in the work of conviction, and the other carried it on to greater maturity and perfection ; and so nei- ther the one nor the other began and finished the work singly, yet both shall rejoice in heaven together, John iv. 36.
You see what honour God puts upon the very instruments em- ployed in this work, even the honour to be saviours, under God, of men's souls, James v. 20. and what a full reward of glory, joy, and comfort, they shall have in heaven ; all which speaks the great
166 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
value of the soul with God. Such encouragements, and such re- wards would never have been propounded and promised if God had not a singular estimation of them.
And the more to quicken his instruments to all diligence, in this great work, he works upon their fears as well as hopes ; threatens them with hell, as well as encourages them with the liopes of hea- ven ; tells them he will require the blood of all those souls that perish by their negligence : " Their blood (saith he) will I require at the watchman's hands," Ezek. xxxiii. 6. which are rather thun- derbolts than words, saith Clnysostome. By all which, you see, what a weight God lays upon the saving or losing of souls : Such severe charges, great encouragements, and terrible threats had never been proposed in scripture, if the souls of men had not been invaluably precious.
11. It is no small evidence of the previous and invaluable worth of souls, that God manifests so great and tender care over them, and is so much concerned about the evil that befals them.
Among many others there are two things in which the tender care of God, for the good of souls, is manifested.