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.
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