Inf. 6. Are souls so precious ? Then certainly the means and in- struments of their salvation micst he exceeding precious too, and the removal of them a sore judgment.
The dignity of the subject gives value to the instruments employed about it. It is no ordinary mercy for souls to come into such a part of the world, and in such a time as furnisheth them with the best helps for salvation. Ordinances and ministers receive their value not from their Author, but from their Object : they have a digni- ty stamped upon them by their usefulness to the souls of men, Acts XX. 32. the word is the seed of life, 1 Pet. i. 23. the regenerating instrument. It is the hr£ad of life, and Job xxiii. 1% more thau
176 A TREATISE OF THE SOlJL OF UAt.
our necessary food. The word is a light, shining in the dark world to direct your souls through all the snares laid for them unto glory. It is the soul's cordial in all fainting fits, Psal. cxix. 50. What shall I say of the word and ordinances of God ? The sun that shines in heaven to give us light, the fountains, springs, and rivers that stream for our refreshment, the corn and cattle on the earth, yea, the very air we breatJie in is not so useful, so necessary, so precious to our bodies, as the word is to our souls.
It cannot therefore but be a sore judgment, and a dreadful token of God's indignation and wrath, to have a restraint or scarcity of the means of salvation among us ; but should there be (which God in mercy prevent) a removal and total loss of those things, wrath would then come upon us to the uttermost. What will the condi- tion of precious souls be when the means of salvation are cut off from them .'' when that famine, worse than of bread and water, is come upon them ? Amos viii. 11. When the ark of God (the symbol of his presence) was taken, it is said, 1 Sam. iv. 13. " That " all the city cried out."" When Paul took his leave of Antioch, and told them they should see his face no more, how did the poor Christians lament and mourn, as cut at the heart by that kilhng word ? Acts XX. 37, 38. It made Christ's bowels to yern, and move within him when he saw the multitude scattered as sheep having no shepherd, Matth. ix. 36.
Matthew Paris tells us, in the year 1072, when preaching was suppressed at Rome, letters were framed as coming from hell, wherein the devil gave them thanks for the multitude of souls sent to him that year. But we need no letters from hell, we have a sad account from heaven, in what a sad state those souls are left, from whom the means of salvation are cut off: " Where no vision *' is, the people perish," Prov. xxix. 18. and Hos. iv. 6. " My ' people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
It is sad when those stars that guide souls to Christ, (as that which the wise men saw did) are set, and wandering stars shall shine in their places. O if God remove the golden candlestick out of its place, what but the desolation and ruin of milhons of souls must follow.?
We account it insufferable cruelty for a man to undertake the piloting of a ship full of passengers who never learnt his compass ; or an ignorant Empiric to get his living by killing men's bodies ; but much more lamentable will the state of souls be if ever they fall, (which God in mercy prevent) into the hands of Popish guides, or bli7id leaders of the blind.
hif. 7. If the soul be of so pi-ecious a nature, it can never live upon such base and vilejbod as earthly things are.
The apostle, Phil. iiL 8, 9. calls the things of this world
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 177
'^ dogs meat; and judge if that be proper food for such noble and high-born creatures as our souls are. An immaterial being can never live upon material things ; they are no bread for souls, as the prophet speaks, Isa. Iv. 2. " Why do ye spend money, (i. e. Time " aiid pains, thought and cares) " for that which is not bread ?" Your souls can no more live upon carnal, than your bodies on spi- ritual things. Earthly things have a double defect in them, by reason whereof they are called things of nought, Amos vi. 13. of no worth or value; they are neither suitable nor durable, and there- fore, in the souPs eye, not valuable.
1. They are not suitable. What are corn and wine, gold and silver, pleasures and honours, to the soul ? The body, and bodily senses, can find somewhat of refreshment in them ; but not the spirit : That which is bread to the body, affords no more nourish- ment to the soul than wind or ashes, Isa. xliv. ^0. " He feedeth " of ashes." " -f* Ashes are that light and dry matter, into which *' fuel is reduced by the fire ;" the fuel, before it was burnt, had nothing in it fit for nourishment ; or if the sap or juice that was in it, might in any respect be useful that way, yet all that is de- voured and licked up by the fire, and not the least nutriment left in the ashes : And such are all earthly things to the soul of man. " I am the bread of life," saith Christ, a soul can feed and feast itself upon Christ and the promises ; these are things full of mar- row and fatness, substantial, and proper soul-nutriment
2. As earthly things are no way suitable to the soul, so neither are they durable. The apostle reduceth all earthly things to three heads, " the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride '* of life," 2 John ii. 16. he calls them all by the name of that which gives the lustre and beauty to them, and pronounceth them all fading, transitory vanities, they all pass away ; as time, so these things that are measured by time, are mjliixu continuo, always go- ing, and at last will be all gone. Now the soul being of an immor- tal nature, and these things of a perishing nature ; it must necessa- rily and unavoidably follow, that the soul must overlive them all ; and if it will do so, what a dismal case are those souls in, for whom no other provision is made, but that on which it cannot subsist, whilst it hath them, no more than the body can upon ashes or wind ? and if it could, yet they will shortly fail it, and pass away for ever. So then it is beyond debate, that there lies a plain necessitv upon every man to make provision in time, of things more suitable and
• The Greek word SxyCaXov, for YL-JdiZaXov, signifies that which being rejected bT us is thrown to dogs.
f Cinis est crassior ilia materia m quam combustum redigitur.
173 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
durable than earthly treasures are, or the soul must perish, as to its comfort, to all eternity.
Hence is that weighty counsel of him that came to save them, Luke xii. 23. " Provide yourselves bags that wax not old, a trea- " sure in heaven that faileth not,'' i. e. a happiness which will last as long as your souls last. Certainly, the moth-eaten things of this world are no provision for immortal spirits, and yet multitudes think of no other provision for them, but live as if they had nothing to do in this world but to get an estate.