Our LORD, you see, speaks of it as needful in the general. He says not, for this or that particular person; or for those of such an age, station, or circumstance in life, but needful for all. And indeed, when discoursing on such a subject, one might properly introduce it with those solemn words of the psalmist, “Give ear, all ye people, hear, all ye inhabitants of the earth, both high and low, rich and poor, together,” _Psalm_ xlix. 1, 2. For it is the concern of all, from the king that sits upon the throne, to the servant that grindeth at the mill, or the beggar that lieth upon the dunghill. It is needful for us that are _ministers_, for our own salvation is concerned: and woe, insupportable woe will be to our souls, if we think it enough to recommend it to others, and to talk of it in a warm, or an awful manner, in public assemblies, or in our private converse, while it does not penetrate our hearts, as our own greatest care. Our case will then be like that of the _Israelitish_ lord in _Samaria_, _2 Kings_ vii. 2. who was employed to distribute the corn when the siege was raised; though we see it with our eyes, and dispense it with our hands, we shall ourselves die miserably, without tasting the blessings we impart. It is needful to all you that are our _hearers_, without the exception of one single person. It is needful to you that are _rich_, though it may on some accounts be peculiarly difficult for you; even as difficult, comparatively speaking, as for a “Camel to go through the eye of a needle,” _Matthew_ xix. 24. yet if it be neglected, you are poor in the midst of all your wealth, and miserable in all your abundance; a wretch starving for hunger, in a magnificent palace and a rich dress, would be less the object of compassion than you. It is needful for you that are _poor_; though you are distressed with so many anxious cares, “what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and wherewithal you shall be cloathed,” _Matthew_ vi. 31. The nature that makes you capable of such anxieties as these, argues your much greater concern in the “bread which endures to eternal life,” _John_ vi. 27. than in that by which this mortal body must be supported. It is needful for you that are _advanced in years_; though your strength be impaired so that the “grashopper is a burthen,” _Ecclesiastes_ xii. 5. and though you have by your long continuance in sin rendered this great work so hard, that were it less important, one would in pity let you alone without reminding you of it: yet, late as it is, it must be done, or your hoary heads will be brought down to the grave with wrath, and sink under a curse aggravated by every year and by every day of your lives. It is needful to you that are _young_, though solicited by so many gay vanities, to neglect it, though it may be represented as an unseasonable care at present, yet I repeat it, it is needful to you; immediately needful, unless you who walk so frequently over the dust of your brethren and companions, that died in the bloom and vigour of their days, have made some secret covenant with the grave for yourselves, and found out some wonderful method, hitherto unknown, of securing this precarious life, and of answering for days and months to come, while others cannot answer for one single moment.
2. The care of the soul is “a matter of the highest importance;” beyond any thing which can be brought into comparison with it.
As _Solomon_ says of wisdom, that “it is more precious than rubies, and that all things which can be desired are not to be compared with her,” _Proverbs_ iii. 15. So I may properly say of this great and most important branch of wisdom; whatever can be laid in the balance with it, will be found altogether lighter than vanity. This is strongly implied when it is said in the text, “one thing is needful;” one thing, and _one thing alone_ is so. Just as the blessed GOD is said to be “only wise,” _1 Timothy_ i. 17. and “only holy,” _Revelation_ xv. 4. because the wisdom and holiness of angels and men is as nothing, when compared with his. What seems most great and most important in life, what kings and senates, what the wisest and greatest of this world are employing their time, their councils, their pens, their labours upon, are trifles, when compared with this one thing. A man may subsist, he may in some considerable measure be happy, without learning, without riches, without titles, without health, without liberty, without friends, nay, though “the life be more than meat, and the body than raiment,” _Matthew_ vi. 25. yet may he be happy, unspeakably happy, without the body itself. But he cannot be so, in the neglect of the one thing needful. I must therefore bespeak your regard to it in the words of _Moses_, “it is not a light thing, but it is your life,” _Deuteronomy_ xxxii. 47.
3. The care of the soul is of so comprehensive a nature, that “every thing truly worthy of our regard may be considered as included in it, or subservient to it.”