A85953:727
Gospel-revelation in three treatises, viz, 1 The nature of God. 2 The excellencies of…
Gospel-revelation in three treatises, viz, 1 The nature of God. 2 The excellencies of Christ. And, 3 The Excellency of mans immortal soul. By Jeremiah Burroughs, late preacher of the gospel at Stepney, and Giles-Cripple-gate, London. Published by William Greenhill. William Bridge. Philip Nigh. John Yates. Matthew Mead. William Adderly.Gospel-revelation in three treatises, viz, 1 The nature of God. 2 The excellencies of Christ. And, 3 The Excellency of mans immortal soul. By Jeremiah Burroughs, late preacher of the gospel at Stepney, and Giles-Cripple-gate, London. Published by William Greenhill. William Bridge. Philip Nye. John Yates. Matthew Mead. William Adderly.
London: printed for Nath. Brook, 1660
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Treatise 3 › Sermon 10: The Tenth SERMON ON The Excellency of the Soul.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
yet this may convince rational men, that that which the wisest men in the world, that have had from God a testimony of great wisdom, have thought to be a little matter, certainly hath no great matter in it; but they have thought the gain of all the world to be as nothing; therefore certainly there is no great matter in ⟨p. 346⟩getting the things of the world, however men esteem of them.
yet this may convince rational men, that that which the wisest men in the world, that have had from God a testimony of great wisdome, have thought to bee a little matter, certainly hath no great matter in it; but they have thought the gain of all the world to bee as nothing; therefore certainly there is no great matter in ⟨p. 346⟩getting the things of the world, however men esteem of them.
Secondly, What if a man doth gain the world, but loses his soul, he is never a whit the better for any thing in the world; we say sometimes in our common language, such a man is the best man in the Parish, and I have the hands of the best men in the Parish; the truth is, we mean the richest men in the Parish: but riches and honours make no man one whit better than he was before:1 The heart of the wicked is little worth. Let a man have never so great an estate, he may have so many houses that are worth so much, but he is worth no more than he was; as a great letter makes no more to the sense of a word, than a little letter doth; so great honours, and great places, make no more to the excellency of a man, than to be without them; these things in the world they have no goodness in them any further than we put goodness upon them; we may indeed make good use of them, and so by our good use we may make our selves better through Gods Grace; but the possessing of them doth not make any soul one whit better than it was before, they make many souls worse; thousands of souls grow worse than they were before, by the enjoyment of the world, but where have you one better? none can be better by the things of the world, no, it must be by some grace of God that a soul grows better, and not by the things of the world: I will give you for this, this demonstration, you never find in Scripture (that I know of) that ever any child of God was worse for afflictions in the conclusion, but you may find, that almost every child of God that was in prosperity, was the worse for their prosperity, there are very few to be excepted: I confess we read not of Daniel, nor of Nehemiah, and I know not any but those two, but ever were the worse for their prosperity, but not one worse for afflictions, from Genesis to the Revelation; therefore certainly there is no such great matter in the things of the world; That is a remarkable place we have in