9. Again, methinks the very industry of the devil, and the industry
of his servants, should make you that have a desire to heaven and
happiness, run apace. Why, the devil he will lose no time, spare no
pains, also neither will his servants, both to seek the destruction
of themselves and others; and shall not we be as industrious for our
own salvation? Shall the world venture the damnation of their souls
for a poor corruptible crown, and shall not we venture the loss of a
few trifles for an eternal crown? Shall they venture the loss of
eternal friends, as God to love, Christ to redeem, the Holy Spirit
to comfort, heaven for habitation, saints and angels for company,
and all this to get and hold communion with sin and this world, and
a few base wretches like themselves? And shall not we labor as hard,
run as fast, seek as diligently, nay, a hundred times more
diligently, for the company of these glorious eternal friends,
though with the loss of such as these, nay, with the loss of a
thousand times better than these poor, low, base, contemptible
things? Shall it be said at the last day, that wicked men made more
haste to hell than you did make to heaven; that they spent more
hours, days, and that early and late, for hell, than you spent for
that which is ten thousand thousand of thousand times better? O let
it not be so, but run with all might and main.
Is the soul such an excellent thing, and is the loss thereof so
unspeakably great? Then this commends those for the wise ones that
above all business concern themselves with the salvation of their
souls; those that make all other matters but things by the by, and
the salvation of their soul the one thing needful.
Let me then encourage those that are of this mind to be strong and
hold on their way. Soul, thou hast chosen right; I will say of thy
choice, as David said of Goliath's sword, "There is none like that,
give it me."
But who told thee that thy soul was such an excellent thing as by
thy practice thou declarest thou believest it to be? What, set more
by thy soul than by all the world? What, cast a world behind thy
back for the welfare of a soul! Is not this to play the fool in the
account of sinners, while angels wonder at and rejoice for thy
wisdom?
What a thing is this, that thy soul and its welfare should be more
in thy esteem than all these glories wherewith the eyes of the world
are dazzled! Surely, thou hast looked upon the sun, and that makes
gold look like a clod of clay in thine eyesight.
But who put the thoughts of the excellencies of the things that are
eternal--I say, who put the thoughts of the excellency of those
things into thy mind in this wanton age, in an age wherein the
thoughts of eternal life and the salvation of the soul are with too
many like the Morocco ambassador [Footnote: Evelyn, who lived in the
times of Charles I., Cromwell. Charles II., and William, refers in
his "Diary" to this ambassador, named Hamet. When presented to the
king, he and his retinue were "clad in the Moorish habite, cassocks
of colored cloth or silk, with buttons and loopes; over this an
ALHAGA or white woolen mantle, so large as to wrap both head and
body; a shash or small turban; naked legg'd and armed, but with
leather socks like the Turks; rich scymeters, and large
calico-sleeved shirts. The ambassador had a string of pearls oddly
woven in the turban. Their presents were lions and estridges
(ostriches.) But the concourse and tumult of the people was
intolerable, so as the officers could keep no order."] and his men
of strange faces, in strange habits, with strange gestures and
behaviors, monsters to behold?
But where hadst thou that heart that gives entertainment to these
thoughts, these heavenly thoughts? These thoughts are like the
French Protestants, [Footnote: By the famous edict of Nantes, which
was granted the Huguenots by Henry IV., they were allowed liberty of
conscience and the free exercise of religion. Louis XIV., grandson
of Henry, after a series of arbitrary infractions of that edict by
his father and himself at the instigation of the Jesuits, at length
in 1685 abrogated it, and banished the Protestants from the kingdom
under circumstances of aggravated cruelty. Great numbers of them
were dispersed through all the countries of Europe. Evelyn, in his
Diary, says that in 1685, "there had now been numbered to passe
through Geneva onely forty thousand towards Swisserland. In Holland,
Denmark, and all Germany were dispersed some hundred thousands,
besides those in England." In the Memoirs of the Reformation in
France prefixed to Saurin's Sermons, it is stated that eight hundred
thousand were banished from France, and that they carried with them
more than twenty millions of property. The refugees charged their
sufferings on the RELIGION of Rome, for Pope Innocent XI highly
approved of this persecution. He wrote a brief to the king, assuring
him that what he had done against the heretics of his kingdom would
be immortalieied by the eulogies of the Catholic church. He
delivered a discourse in the Consistory in 1689, in which he said,
"The most Christian king's zeal and piety did wonderfully appear in
extirpating heresy." He ordered the TE DEUM to be sung. Evelyn says,
"I was show'd the harangue which the bishop of Valentia on Rhone
made in the name of the cleargie, celebrating the French king for
persecuting the poor Protestants; with this expression in it: 'His
victory over heresy was greater than all the conquests of Alexander
and Caesar.'"] banished thence where they willingly would have
harbor: how came they to thy house, to thy heart, and to find
entertainment in thy soul? The Lord keep them in every imagination
of the thoughts of thy heart for ever, and incline thine heart to
seek him more and more.
And since the whole world have slighted and despised and counted
foolish the thoughts wherewith thy soul is exercised, what strong
and mighty supporter is it upon and with which thou bearest up thy
spirit, and takest encouragement in this thy forlorn, unoccupied,
and singular way, for so I dare say it is with the most? But
certainly it is something above thyself, and that is more mighty to
uphold thee than is the power, rage, and malice of all the world to
cast thee down, or else thou couldst not bear up, now the stream and
the force thereof are against thee.
OBJECTION. "I know my soul is an excellent thing, and that the world
to come and its glories, even in the smallest glimpse thereof, do
swallow up all the world that is here; my heart also doth greatly
desire to be exercised about the thoughts of eternity, and I count
myself never better than when my poor heart is filled with them; and
as for the rage and fury of this world, it swayeth very little with
me, for my heart is come to a point; but yet for all that, I meet
with many discouragements, and such things as indeed do weaken my
strength in the way."
But, brave soul, pray tell me what the things are that discourage
thee, and that weaken thy strength in the way.
"Why, the amazing greatness of this my enterprise. I am now pursuing
things of the highest, the greatest, the most enriching nature, even
eternal things; and the thoughts of the greatness of them drowned
me: for when the heat of my spirit in the pursuit after them is a
little returned and abated, methinks I hear myself talking thus to
myself: Fond fool, canst thou imagine that such a gnat, a flea as
thou art, can take and possess the heavens, and mantle thyself up in
the eternal glories? If thou makest first a trial of the
successfulness of thy endeavors upon things far lower, more base,
but much more easy to obtain, as crowns, kingdoms, earldoms,
dukedoms, gold, silver, or the like, how vain are these attempts of
thine, and yet thou thinkest to possess thy soul of heaven. Away,
away! by the height thereof, thou mayest well conclude it is far
above, out of thy reach; and by the breadth thereof, it is too large
for thee to grasp; and by the nature of the excellent glory thereof,
too good for thee to possess. These are the thoughts that sometimes
discourage me, and that weaken my strength in the way."
ANSWER. The greatness of thy undertakings does but show the
nobleness of thy soul, in that it cannot, will not be content with
such low and dry things as the base-born spirits that are in the
world can and do content themselves withal.
And as to the greatness of the things thou aimest at, though they
be, as they are indeed, things that have not their like, yet they
are not too big for God to give; and he has promised to give them to
the soul that seeketh him; yea, he hath prepared the kingdom, and
laid up in the kingdom of heaven the things that thy soul longeth
for, presseth after, and cannot he content without.
Art thou got into the right way? Art thou in Christ's righteousness?
Do not say, Yes, in thy heart, when in truth there is no such
matter. It is a dangerous thing, you know, for a man to think he is
in the right way, when he is in the wrong. It is the next way for
him to lose his way; and not only so, but if he run for heaven, as
thou sayest thou dost, even to lose that too. O this is the misery
of most men, to persuade themselves that they are right, when they
never had one foot in the way! The Lord give thee understanding
here, or else thou art undone for ever. Prithee, soul, search when
it was thou turnedst out of thy sins and righteousness into the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. I say, dost thou see thyself in him;
and is he more precious to thee than the whole world? Is thy mind
always musing on him; and lovest thou to be walking with him? Dost
thou count his company more precious than the whole world? Dost thou
count all things but poor, lifeless, empty, vain things, without
communion with him? Doth his company sweeten all things; and his
absence imbitter all things? Soul, I beseech thee be serious, and
lay it to heart, and do not take things of such weighty concernment
as the salvation or damnation of thy soul without good ground.
Art thou unladen of the things of this world; as pride, pleasures,
profits, lusts, vanities? What, dost thou think to run fast enough,
with the world, thy sins and lusts in thy heart? I tell thee, soul,
they that have laid all aside, every weight, every sin, and are got
into the nimblest posture, they find work enough to run; so to run
as to hold out. To run through all the opposition, all the jostles,
all the rubs, over all the stumbling-blocks, over all the snares,
from all the entanglements that the devil, sin, the world, and their
own hearts lay before them--I tell thee, if thou art going
heavenward, thou wilt find it no small or easy matter.
Art thou therefore discharged or unladen of these things? Never talk
of going to heaven if thou art not. It is to be feared thou wilt be
found among the "many that shall seek to enter in and shall not be
able." If so, then in the next place, what will become of them that
are grown weary before they are got half-way thither? Why, man, it
is he that holdeth out to the end, that must be saved; it is he that
overcometh, that shall inherit all things; it is not every one that
begins. Agrippa took a fair step for a sudden: he steps almost into
the bosom of Christ in less than half an hour. "Almost," saith he to
Paul, "thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Ah, it was but ALMOST;
and so he had as good have never been a WHIT; he stepped fair
indeed, but yet he stepped short; he was hot while he was at it, but
he was quickly out of wind. O this BUT ALMOST! I tellyou, this BUT
ALMOST lost his soul. Methinks I have seen sometimes how these poor
wretches that get but almost to heaven, how fearfully their almost
and their but almost will torment them in hell; when they shall cry
out in the bitterness of their souls, saying, "Almost a Christian. I
was almost got into the kingdom, almost out of the hands of the
devil, almost out of my sins, almost from under the curse of God;
almost, and that was all; almost, but not altogether. O that I
should be almost at heaven, and should not go quite through!"
Friend, it is a sad thing to sit down before we are in heaven, and
to grow weary before we come to the place of rest; and if it should
be thy case, I am sure thou dost not so run as to obtain.
EVANGELIST. The crown is before you, and it is an incorruptible one;
"So run, that you may obtain it." Some there be that set out for
this crown, and after they have gone far for it, another comes in
and takes it from them: "Hold fast, therefore, that ye have; let no
man take your crown:" you are not yet out of the gunshot of the
devil; "you have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin:" let
the kingdom be always before you, and believe stead-fastly
concerning things that are invisible; let nothing that is on this
side the other world get within you; and, above all, look well to
your own hearts and to the lusts thereof, for they are "deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked:" set your faces like a
flint; you have all power in heaven and earth on your side.
Though the way to heaven be but one, yet there are many crooked
lanes and by-paths that shoot down upon it, as I may say. And again,
notwithstanding the kingdom of heaven be the chief city, yet usually
those by-paths are most beaten, most travellers go those ways; and
therefore the way to heaven is hard to be found, and as hard to be
kept in, by reason of these. Yet, nevertheless, it is in this case
as it was with the harlot of Jericho; she had one scarlet thread
tied in her window, by which her house was known: so it is here; the
scarlet streams of Christ's blood run throughout the way to the
kingdom of heaven; therefore mind that: see if thou do find the
besprinkling of the blood of Christ in the way; and if thou do, be
of good cheer, thou art in the right way.