. ^ Mstin. The Stoic thought it was better to be a fool in the form of a man than ^^se i/the shape of a beast.
' C/.idbbes, vol. v. 144, and note hb, 154. Correct the reference in index of Sibbea "** 'er Ga.en from 54 to 154.— G.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 271
spiritual in its oLject ; it contemplates God and heaven. God is the orb and centre where the soul doth fix.i God is the terminus ad quern, the soul moves to him as to his rest, ' Keturn to thy rest, 0 my soul' This dove can find no rest hut in this heavenly ark.2 Nothing can till the soul but God, nothing can quiet the soul but God, nothing can satisfy the soul but God, nothing can secure the soul but God, nothing can save the soul but God. The soul being spiritual, God only can be the adequate object of it. The soul is spiritual in its operations. It l)eing immaterial, doth not depend upon the body in its working. The rich and rare endowments, and the noble o])era- tions of the soul, speak out the excellency of the soul. The soul, saith one, [Aristotle.] hath a nature distinct from the body ; it moves and operates of itself, though the body be dead, and hath no depend- ence upon, or co-existence with, the body. The soul hath an intrinse- cal principle of life and motion, though it be separate from the body. And doth not the immortality of the soul speak out the excellency of the soul, against that dangerous notion of the soul's mortality? Consult the scriptures in the margin,-^ and seriously and frequently think of this one argument, among a multitude of arguments that might be produced to prove the immortality of the soul. That which is not capable of killing is not capable of dying ; but the soul is not capable of killing, ergo. Our Lord Jesus proves the minor proposition, that it is not capable of killing : Luke xii. 4, ' Fear not them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.' Therefore the soul, not being capable of killing, is not in a ])0^sibiIity of dying. The essence of the soul is metaphysical : it hath a beginning, but no end; it is eternal a parte post; it runs parallel with eternity. The soul doth not wax old ; it lives for ever, which we cannot affirm of any sublunary created glory. To conclude this first word of counsel, what Job saith of wisdom, I may fitly apply to the soul, * Man knows not the price thereof ; it cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire, the gold and crystal cannot equal it, and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold,' Job xxviii. 13, 16, 17. O my friends, it is the greatest wisdom, policy, equity, and justice, to provide for your precious souls, to secure your precious souls ; for they are jewels of more worth than ten thousand worlds. All the honours, riches, greatness, and glory of this world are but chips, toys, and pebbles to these glorious pearls. But,
2. The second word of counsel is this, as you would be safe here, and saved in the great day of the Lord, as you would be happy here, and blessed hereafter, take up in nothing heloiv a gracious acquaint- ance ivith Christ, a choice acceptation of Christ, a holy reliance upon Christ, a full resignation of yourselves to Christ, and a real and glori- ous union with Christ, Acts ii. 20 ; Job xxii. 21 ; 1 Tim. i. 15 ; Job xiii. 15; 2 Cor. ii. 11. If you do, you are lost and undone in both W(Hlds.
[1.] First, Some take up in a name to live when they are dead, Rev.
1 Gen. ii. 7; Heb. lii. 9; ilccles. xii. 7; Zech. lii. 1; Ps. cxvi. 7; John xiv. 8; Ps. xvii. It).
* ' Lord,' saith Austin, ' thou hast made us for thyself, and our heart is unquiet till it comes unto tliyself.' [Confessions, as before. — G.]
•» Luke xxiii. 43; 1 Thes. iv. 17, 18; Phil. i. 23; Aft? vii. 59.
272 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
iii. 1, dead in trespasses and sins, Eph. ii. 1, dead Grodwards, and dead Christwards, and dead heavenwards, and dead holinesswards. The Sadducees derive their name from Zeduchim or Zadducjeus, a just man. But the worst men, saith the historian, got the best names. The Alcoran of the Turks hath its name from brightness, Al,^ in the Arabic, being as much as Kazan in the Hebrew, ' to shine' or * cast forth in brightness,' when it is full of darkness, and fraught with false- hoods. It will be but a poor comfort to any for the world to com- mend them as gracious, if God condemn them as graceless ; for the world to commend them as pious, if Grod condemn them as impious ; for the world to commend them as sincere, if God condemn them as hypocrites. But,
[2.] Secondly, Some take up in a form of godliness when they are strangers to the power, 2 Tim. iii. 5 ; when they deny, yea, when they oppose and persecute, the power. Such monsters this age hath abounded with ; but their seeming goodness is but a religious cheat, Acts xiii. 45, 50.
[3.] Thirdly, There are some that take up in their religious duties and services ; in their praying, fasting, prophesying, hearing, receiving ; they make a God, a Christ, a Saviour of their own duties and services. This was the undoing and damning sin of the Scribes and Pharisees, and is the undoing and damning sin of many thousands in our days. Mat. vii. 22; Luke xviii. 12, xiii. 26, and xvi. 15; Ezek. xxxiii. 31, 32.
[4.] Fourthly, There are many that take up in their common gifts and parts ; in a gift of knowledge, and in a gift of teaching, and in a gift of utterance, and in a gift of memory, and in a gift of prayer, and this proves ruinous and destructive to them, Mat. vii. 22 ; Kom. ii. 17-24 ; 1 Cor. xii. ; Heb. vi. 4, 5.
[5.] Fifthly, There are many that take up in their riches, pro- sperity, and ivorldly grandeur and glory: Prov. xviii, 11, 'The rich man's wealth is his strong city.' It is hard to have wealth, and not trust to it, Mat. xix. 24. Wealth was never true to those that trusted it. There is an utter uncertainty in riches, 1 Tim. vi. 17 ; a nonentity, Prov. xxiii. 5, 6 ; an impotency to help in an evil day, Zeph. i. 18 ; an impossibility to stretch to eternity, unless it be to destroy the owner for ever,2 Prov. x. 15 ; Ps. Ixxiii. 19 ; Mat. xx. 26. There is nothing more clear in Scripture and historyjthan that riches, prosperity, and worldly glory hath been commonly their portion who never have had a God for their portion, Luke xvi. 25. It was an excellent saying of Lewis of Bavaria, emperor of Germany : Hujus- modi comparandce sunt opes, qiice cum naufragio simul enatent, Such goods are worth getting and owning as will not sink or wash away if a shipwreck happen. 3 Solus sapiens dives, Only the wise man is the rich man, saith the philosopher. Another saith, [Augustine,] Divitioi corporales paupertatis plence sunt, That earthly riches are full of poverty, they cannot enrich the soul; for oftentimes under silken apparel there is a threadbare soul.
. ^ Query, * Koran ' ? Alis simply the definite article, the. — Ed,