Once more, what if to the testimony of the dying, we could add that of the dead? What if GOD were to turn aside the vail between us and the invisible world, and permit the most careless sinner in the assembly to converse for a few moments with the inhabitants of it? If you were to apply yourself to a happy Spirit, that trod the most thorny road to paradise, or passed through the most fiery trial, and to ask him, “was it worth your while to labour so much, and to endure so much for what you now possess?” Surely if the blessed in heaven were capable of indignation, it would move them to hear that it should be made a question. And, on the other hand, if you could inquire of one tormented in that flame below, though he might once be “clothed in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day,” _Luke_ xvi. 19. if you could ask him, “whether his former enjoyments were an equivalent for his present sufferings and despair?” What answer do you suppose he would return? Perhaps an answer of so much horror and rage, as you would not be able so much as to indure. Or if the malignity of his nature should prevent him from returning any answer at all, surely there would be a language even in that silence, a language in the darkness, and flames, and groans of that infernal prison, which would speak to your very soul what the word of GOD is with equal certainty, though less forcible conviction, speaking to your ear, that “one thing is needful.” You see it is so in the judgment of GOD the Father, and the LORD JESUS CHRIST, of the wisest and best of men, of many, who seemed to judge most differently of it, when they come to more deliberate and serious thought, and not only of the dying, but of the dead too, of those who have experimentally known both worlds, and most surely know what is to be preferred. But I will not rest the whole argument here; therefore,
2. I appeal to the evident reason of the case itself, as it must appear to every unprejudiced mind, that the care of the soul is indeed the one thing needful.
I still consider myself as speaking not to atheists, or to deists, but to those who not only believe the existence and providence of GOD, and a future state of happiness and misery, but likewise who credit the truth of the christian revelation, as many undoubtedly do, who live in a fatal neglect of GOD, and their own souls. Now on these principles, a little reflection may be sufficient to convince you, that it is needful to the present repose of your own mind; needful, if ever you would secure eternal happiness, and avoid eternal misery, which will be aggravated, rather than alleviated by all your present enjoyments.
1. The care of the soul is the one thing needful, because, “without it you cannot secure the peace of your own mind, nor avoid the upbraidings of your conscience.”
That noble faculty is indeed the vicegerent of GOD in the soul. It is sensible of the dignity and worth of an immortal spirit, and will sometimes cry out of the violence that is offered to it, and cry so loud, as to compel the sinner to hear, whether he will or not. Do you not sometimes find it yourselves? when you labour most to forget the concerns of your soul, do they not sometimes force themselves on your remembrance? You are afraid of the reflections of your own mind, but with all your artifice and all your resolution can you intirely avoid them? Does not conscience follow you to your beds, even if denied the opportunity of meeting you in your closets, and, though with an unwelcome voice, there warn you, “that your soul is neglected, and will quickly be lost:” Does it not follow you to your shops and your fields, when you are busiest there? Nay, I will add, does it not sometimes follow you to the feast, to the club, to the dance, and perhaps, amidst all resistance, to the theatre too? Does it not sometimes mingle your sweetest draughts with wormwood, and your gayest scenes with horror? So that you are like a tradesman, who, suspecting his affairs to be in a bad posture, lays by his books and his papers, yet sometimes they will come accidentally in his way. He hardly dares to look abroad for fear of meeting a creditor or an arrest: and if he labours to forget his cares and his dangers, in a course of luxury at home, the remembrance is sometimes awakened, and the alarm increased, by those very extravagancies in which he is attempting to lose it. Such probably is the case of your minds, and it is a very painful state; and while things are thus within, external circumstances can no more make you happy, than a fine dress could relieve you under a violent fit of the stone. Whereas, if this great affair were secured, you might delight in reflection, as much as you now dread it; and conscience, of your bitterest enemy, would become a delightful friend, and the testimony of it your greatest rejoicing.
2. The care of the soul is the one thing needful, “because without this your eternal happiness will be lost.”