die, have hell enough. You count it a very shameful thing to break promise or covenant with men ; but is it not far more shameful to break with God ? The Egyptians, though heathens, so hated perjury, that if any man did but swear by the life of the king, and did not perform his oath, that man was to die, and no gold was to redeem his life. When the Romans made covenants, they took stones in their hands, and said, ' If I make this covenant seriously and faithfully, then let the great Jupiter bless me ; if not, so let me be cast away from the face of the gods as I cast away this stone, i Covenant- breaking was a sin greatly detested and abhorred among the very heathens ; and shall Christians make nothing of breaking their vows, promises, and covenants with the great G-od ? Well, sirs, remember this, those sins that you have vowed against must be deserted, and that holiness which you have vowed to follow must be pursued, or a worse thing than the curse of Meroz must be expected ; Judges v. 23 compared with that John v. 14. But,
(6.) Sixthly, If ever you would be holy, then dwell much upon the worth and preciousness of your souls. Christ, that only^ went to the price of souls, hath told us that one soul is more worth than all the world. Mat. xvi. 26. Christ left his Father's bosom, and all the glory of heaven, for the good of souls ; he assumed the nature of man for the happiness of the soul of man ; he trode the wine-press of his Father's wrath for souls ; he wept for souls, he sweat for souls, he prayed for souls, he paid for souls, and he bled out his heart-blood for souls. The soul is the breath of God, the beauty of man, the wonder of angels, and the envy of devils ; it is of an angelical nature, it is a heavenly spark, a celestial plant, and of a divine offspring, it is a spirit- ual substance, capable of the knowledge of God, and of union with God, and of communion with God, and of an eternal fruition of God. There is nothing that can suit the soul below God, nor nothing that can satisfy the soul without God ; the soul is so high and so noble a piece, that it scorns all the world in point of acceptation, justifica- tion, satisfaction, and salvation. What are all the riches of the East or West Indies ? what are rocks of diamonds, or mountains of gold, or the price of Cleopatra's draught, to the price that Christ laid down for souls ? 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. Christ made himself an offering for sin, that souls might not be undone by sin ; the Lord died that slaves may live, the Son dies that servants may live ; the natural Son dies that adopted sons may live, the only-begotten Son dies that bastards may live ; yea, the Judge dies that malefactors may live. Ah, friends, as there was never sorrow like Christ's sorrow, so there was never love like Christ's love, and of all his love none to that of soul-love. In a word, the spiritual enemies which daily war against the soul, the glorious angels which hourly guard the soul, and the precious ordin- ances which God hath appointed as means both to convert and to feed the soul, do all speak out the preciousness and excellency of the soul. There was once a great contest among some nations about Homer, an excellent poet — ^they severally pleaded their interest in him ; and truly so it is this day about the soul of man : many lay claim
1 As Paulus Fagius observes in his Comment ou Genesis, &c. [As before.— G.] » ' Alone.'— G.
222 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.