234 On the Exce!letacy of the Soul. if you had faid you hadloved mee as your body, then I fhould have thought you had lovedmee , but I fee no love you have to your foul ; It was the prayer of the Apofile St. yob; in the Epifile that hee writ to his hofi Gains I fuppofe you that know Scripture, are not unacquainted with it, in his third Epifile, Beloved , I wily above all things that thou lnayefl profper, and bee in health,even as thy foul profpereth. I (hall clofe all I intend for the prefent with this Scrip- ture ; it Teems that Gains was a holy man , but a man of a weakly and fickbody, and therefore St. John writing to him, hee pr ayes thus , Above all things , I defire that thy body may but profper,as thy foul frofpereth. 11s if hee fhould fay , O Gains, thou hafi an excellent gracious foul, indued with ad- mirable graces of the Spirit of God, full of God thy foul is, though thy body bee weakly : Oh that thou hadfi but as good a body, as thou hafi a foul. It feems Gains had more care of his foul a great deal , than of his body : but now my brethren confider this, Would not this bee a curfe to mofi men for one to pray thus for them, Oh Lord,give them fuch bodies as they have fouls? it were as much as:to fay, Lord, Let that body bee blafiied , let it bee flied with difeafes , let it bee filled with rottenxefs, let it confume away, let it bee a noy- [eme and loathfome body , for his foul is fo ; The fouls of mofi men are filled with difeafes, are noyfome and loath - fome in the eyes of God. It is a happy thing, my brethren, to have better fouls than bodies , that was the happinefs of Gains and fo it would bee your happinefs , if you could fay fo; you have great care of the bodies of your children, I, but have you a greater care of their fouls? if you have, it would bee an excellent fign that God bath made you to underfiand what true excellency means. It is a great que- fiion amongDivines , and among Philofophers too, about the propagation of the foul , how it comes in , whether by the Parents, or immediate creation ; truly there is one ar- gument that it is not like to come in by the Parents , be- caufe wee fee that there is fcarce any Parents that have any care of the fouls of their children , but altogether ca- ring
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