confifteth, and when it may be faid to profper. 3. What are the Reasons, whereby it may be made to appear, that the profperity of the Soul is the most defirable prof perity. For the first of these, there are two things to be taken into confideration, and to be fpoken to apart. 1. What the Soul is, in its natural conftitution. Anf. It is hard to tell you, for it is a thing which no Man ever faw: But this I may fay, that it is that, which the Scripture fometimes calls, The Spirit of Man which is in him,1 Cor. 2.11. Sometimes, and indeed moft frequently, The heart of Man. Prov. 23.26, My Son give me thine heart: The inward Man, 2.Cor. 4.16. The hidden. Man of the heart, 1 Pet. 3. 4. The Candle of the Lord, Prov.20. 3.4. 27. And this I may fay farther; That it is a most excellent piece of God's Workmanship, and indeed well worth the tongue, and pen of an Angel to defcribe it. The Body of Man, though it was of mean extraction; made, at firft, but of the Duft of the Earth, and liable every moment, when God will, to tumble into the grave, to rot, and putrifie, and to be refolved into its first original: Duft thou art, and unto Duft fhalt thou return again, Gen. 3. 19. Yet that it is a very curious piece: David fpeaking of his Body, Pfal. 139. faith verf. 13, 14, That he was fearfully, and wonderfully made. When I think thereof, faith he, as I do fometimes) it striketh me with aftonishment, yea with a dread, and fear of the incomprehenfible wif dom, and power of God manifefted therein. This my Soul knows full well; yet this is but the Cafe, the Cabinet: The Soul is the Jewel that is in it: If that be as the Ring, this is the Diamond in the Ring. I fhall not undertake an exact definition of it, but only this description. It is a Spiritual, Immortal substance united to the Body, yet exifting, when it is feparated from the Body; capable of doing more fervice unto God, and of receiving more good from God, then all the Creatures that ever God made, the glorious Angels, and the Human Nature of Chrift only excepted. I fhall not infift upon the proof of the particulars of this defcription. Some of them may, poffibly come to be fpoken to, hereafter: Only, for the prefent, take notice that it is endued with three most excellent Faculties, which will go far, if no more should at any time be faid, in proving this to be fo. 1. With the faculty of Understanding, capable of knowing Good from Evil, Truth from from Falfhood; of knowing God in Chrift, the knowledge of whom is Eternal Life. Job. 32.8. There is a Spirit in Man, and the infpiration of the Almighty giveth him Understanding. Every Soul hath this faculty, though this faculty in every Soul be not fo furnished, yet it is capable of the infpiration of the Almighty, fo as to know the truth as it is in Jefus, and every truth, as it ought to be known; without which, Man were no more capable of fuch knowledge then the Beasts of the field; as Elihu expreffeth himfelf, Job. 35. 11. Who teacheth us more then the Beasts of the Earth; and maketh us wifer then the Fowls of Heaven. Therefore Nebuchadnezer, upon the highest grounds of reafon, praifeth, and magnifieth God, for reftoring his understanding unto him. Dan. 4.34. 2. Endued it is with the admirable faculty of Confcience, which hath a power to make a Man ftand in awe of God, though he does not fee him; yea, and of himself too, when no Body knows where he is, nor what he is doing. For it taketh knowledge, and can, or, at laft day, will bear witness what a Man hath thought, or fpoken, or done; even from his Cradle to his Grave: So that no Man need to call for a Candle, to fee what he hath done in the dark. Though the darkness of the night may hide us from others, others, and the darkness of our mind may hide us from our felves (for Confcience may be hardened, it may be feared, but it can never be blind) yet ftill it hath an eye open, to fee into our moft retired thoughts, which no eye can fee, but his, who feeth all things. And farther, this is a faculty full of power, that it can acquit, or condemn, torment or comfort a Man as the matter requires, fay all the World what they can to the contrary, Rom.2. 14. 15. 3. It is endued with the faculty of the Will, which hath a liberty of choofing what is good, and refusing what is evil, fo that nothing can hurt us without our own confent. Matth. 10. 28, Fear not them which kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul. Satan cannot make any of his Fiery darts ftick, unless we will our felves. He did not by his power (for he could not) force Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, though he found her alone, without her Husband; but by his fubtilty he beguiled her. It is true, he is faid to have filled the heart of Ananias, fo as to lye to the Holy Ghost, but he could blame none but himfelf for it. Alt. 5.3,Why is it, faith Peter, that Satan hath filled thine heart, to lye to the Holy Ghost? He could not deny, but that it was his own doing: The Devil only pulled the Latch, and he opened the door himself. These Thefe are excellent endowments: Now of a Soul endued with all these excellent faculties, in respect of its original constitution, in every living Man, even the pooreft Castout (like that infant Ezek. 16.5.) upon that account only, not confidered as beautified with the excellencies of the new Creature it is, that our Saviour faith, Matth. 16. 26. That it is far more worth then the whole World. That the gaining of the one, would not recompence the lofs of the other. Now as we fay of a poor child, idling and begging about the Streets, that is of a good Complexion, hath a good wit, and a healthy conftitution, That it is a thousand pities that fuch a lovely, hopeful Child fhould be undone for want of breeding, and education. So we may fay much more, and that upon many accounts, That it is fad, exceeding, unfpeakably fad, that fuch an excellent Creature as the Soul of Man is, fhould perish, eternally perifh, and become the most miserable thing that ever God, made, (next unto the Devil) for want of good looking to; and that the wellfare and profperity thereof, fhould never be minded. It were a bleffed thing, if Men did but know the worth of their Souls, and value them accordingly: David indeed did fo. He counted it his Darling, his only One, Pfal. 22. 20. He was fo choice, and tender of it, as knowing the well W.NUTT. BINDER |