SERMON LII.

THE ONE THING NEEDFUL.

LUKE X. 42.

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

ALTHOUGH a man of any religion, or of no religion, may come to hear a sermon, so that we cannot discern by that, whether he be a Jew, a Turk, an Heathen, or a Christian : yet from your presence here at this time, and especially from your coming to worship God, and to pray to Him in the Name of Christ, as well as to hear His Word; I cannot but in charity believe that you are all Christians; that you were not only once baptized into Christ, and so made His disciples, but that you still continue to be so, looking upon Him as your Lord and only Saviour, and upon yourselves as bound, both in interest and duty, to believe what He hath taught, and to do what He hath commanded, that ye may be saved. And verily, you have infinite cause to rejoice and give thanks to God, that you are brought into a state of Salvation, and are as yet capable of obtaining it; capable of being made all glorified Saints in Heaven, equal to the holy Angels themselves in purity, happiness and glory.

Neither can any of you fail of it, but such only, as are first failing to themselves in looking after it. But such, I fear, are the most here present. And therefore seeing you are present here, give me leave to deal plainly and faithfully with you, as becomes a Minister of Christ, and to advise you in His Name, to take care of yourselves, and to

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SERM. mind your eternal good and welfare better than you have hitherto done it.

LII.

It is true, I cannot expect to be so happy, as to prevail with all to do it: most people's hearts being so wholly set upon the present, that they have little regard to their future state, or to any thing that can be said concerning it. However, I must do my duty, and leave the issue to God, who hath the hearts of all men in His hand, and yours particularly who are now before Him. And it will be worth the while to say all I can, though but one of you shall be persuaded by all I say, and God's blessing upon it, to mind the one thing necessary for the future, above all things else.

For this purpose therefore, I have chosen these words that I have now read, to explain unto you the words of our blessed Saviour, spoken upon this remarkable occasion. As He went about doing good, He came to a village near Jerusalem, called Bethany, where a brother and two sisters lived together. The brother's name was Lazarus; the sisters', Martha and Mary, who were all so truly pious and virtuous, that our Lord had a particular kindness for them. For it John 11. 5. is written, "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and

ver. 38.

ver. 39.

Lazarus." How happy should we think ourselves! how happy should we be, if the same could be written or said of us, that Jesus loves us! Well, let us but be such as they were, and we need not doubt but Jesus will love us as He did them.

Our Lord being come to the village where these His faithful and beloved disciples dwelt, Martha being the housekeeper, invited and received Him into her house. And being extremely pleased that she had got so Divine a guest in her house, as she well might, she was very busy in providing a suitable entertainment for Him, while her sister Mary, in the meantime, sat at Jesus' feet, and heard His Word. He was, it seems, no sooner come into their house, but He feasted them with better food than they could prepare for Him; for He entertained them with heavenly food, the bread of life; taking that, as He did all occasions of discoursing to them that were about Him, of the things that belonged to their everlasting peace. All the while that our Saviour was thus speaking, Mary, in an humble and devout

posture, sat at His feet, (as scholars then used to sit at the Acts 22.3. feet of their masters) wholly intent upon what He said, catching at every word that came from Him, and laying it up in her heart, for her spiritual edification and comfort. But Martha having more business upon that extraordinary occasion than she could well turn her hand to, wondered that our Lord should take no more care of her, but suffer her sister to sit there, and leave her to serve alone. And therefore desired Him to bid her come and help her. "But ver. 40. Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her."

He knew that Martha had now a great deal of care and trouble upon her, and that it was all for His sake, to entertain and serve Him; yet nevertheless He lets her know, that He preferred Mary's taking care of her own soul, before her taking care of His body; and therefore that Mary should not leave hearing Him to help her; no, though it was to prepare an entertainment for Himself. Such a mighty value doth He set upon the souls of mankind, which He came to save. He came on purpose to save them, and therefore preferred their Salvation, before His necessary food, yea, before His very life; for that also He laid down. to save them.

But then, according to His usual custom of taking all opportunities of saying or doing something that might be of general use and benefit to mankind, from Martha's being careful and troubled about many things, He takes occasion to put her and all mankind in mind, of the "one thing needful:" and that we may know what that one thing is, He points at it, by saying, that Mary had chosen that good part and to encourage us all to follow her example, in choosing the same, He adds, "That it shall not be taken away from her."

But, saith He, "There is need of one thing," or, as we translate it, "one thing is needful." Generally needful for all men, for all in man, in all respects, and at all times. There are several things which are needful at some time, and upon some particular occasions, as meat, drink, and

Matt. 6. 32.

SERM. clothing, of which our Saviour saith to His Disciples, LII. "Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." But these things are needful only for the body, and that too in this life only. But in my text, He speaks of that which is absolutely needful, to make men truly, perfectly, and eternally happy. That which all men naturally desire and seek for. But they seek for it only among the things of this world, where they can never find it; for He that made them, designed them only for our present convenience and support, and therefore put no such power or virtue into them, that they should be able to make men happy; for that nothing can do, but what is able to satisfy all our desires. But our desires are in a manner infinite, so as to rest nowhere but in an infinite good. Whereas the things of this world, are all but finite; and therefore can never terminate or put a stop to our desires, but how much, or how many soever we have of them, we can still desire more, yea, though we had all things that God ever made, we should be still but where we were; for our desires would still be running on further and further, till they come to Him that made them; and that made them incapable of fixing our desires, that Himself alone might be the object of them.

Seeing therefore the things of this world can never make us happy, none of them, nor altogether can be absolutely needful for us; but we may be happy without them as well as with them, even in this life, much more in the next, when they shall be no more. So that we must there be happy without them, or not at all; forasmuch as there will be none of those things there, which men upon earth take so much care and pains about, and all to no purpose, as to any real happiness and satisfaction they can find in them as they themselves find by experience, and therefore must own all these things to be needless and impertinent.

So very needless and impertinent, as to the making us happy, that they cannot so much as keep us from being miserable. But as we may be happy without them, as well as with them, we may be miserable with them, as well as without them, as all mankind generally is, how much or how little soever they have of the things which are so much

admired and sought for here below; for "we are all by [Eph. 2.3.] nature the children of wrath," by reason of our original and many actual transgressions of His righteous laws, that we have all been guilty of; we are all under the displeasure of the Almighty Governor of the world, and therefore our condition must needs be bad, whether we see it or no, and theirs worst who will not see it; for so long as He that made us, is angry with with us, all sorts of misery and calamity continually attend us, His curse is always upon us and upon all we have, even in this life. And howsoever we may flatter ourselves at present, His hand is stretched out, ready every moment to destroy us, both soul and body in Hell. And what can all the things of this world do for us? Can they appease the wrath of God, or rescue us out of His hands? They may help indeed to hasten and increase our misery, but can never prevent or lessen it. It is not only the Wise Man's observation, but the common experience of all mankind, that "riches profit not in the day of wrath." "What profit Prov. 11. 4. then hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?" No more than as if he had sat still and done nothing at all, if his labour was only for the things under the sun. For they are all, as the same Wise Man also observes, "Vanity [ver. 14.] and vexation of spirit." They are vanity, and therefore can never make us happy; and they are vexation of spirit too, and therefore serve only to make us miserable.

Eccles. 1.3.

But let us hear what a greater than Solomon saith, even Christ Himself; He saith, "What is a man profited, if he shall Matt.16.26. gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Where we see, how He who came into the world on purpose to save souls, takes it for granted, that although a man could get all this world, he may notwithstanding, lose his own soul; and what then will all that he has got profit him? Will he give it in exchange for his soul? He would certainly, if he could, with all his heart. But alas! when his soul is once gone, all he had got is no longer his, but other people are possessed of it; and if it was still his own, he could not give it in exchange for his soul: "For it cost more to redeem his soul, [Ps. 49. 8.] so that he must let that alone for ever," and be eternally