A Saint or a Brute, Part 1 · Section 2
2. COnſider alſo, that, It is but One thing which God hath made Neceſſary for you. And I ſhewed you before, how that the means themſelves though they are many, have a certain unity in their harmony and connexion, and as they center in the ultimate end, which is One. If God had ſent you upon ſuch a multitude of errands as the fleſh and the world doth; and ſet you on ſuch diſagreeing contrary works, then you had been excuſable, if you had neglected ſome of them: But he hath ſent you but upon One errand, even to ſeek and make ſure of everlaſting life; and therefore if you neglect this One, you are unexcuſeable. If the world be divided into a thouſand opinions, or go a thouſand ſeveral wayes, they may thank themſelves who are the Authors of this confuſion; but God is no cauſe of it, or friend to it. He hath made them but One work, and ſet them but One way to heaven, and given them One Maſter, Jeſus Chriſt, to teach that way; and written but One Law, even his holy Scripture, to be their ſure and conſtant guide: And if men would ſtick to this One Maſter, and not make fleſh and blood their maſter, or the multitude their maſter, or the Rulers of the world, or the cuſtum of their fore fathers the maſter of their fatih: and if they would ſtick to this One Word of God, and not run after the Traditions of men, they would not be in ſuch a maze, nor of ſo many minds as now they are: But they do in their doctrines as they do in their practice: God hath marked them out but One way in the holy Scripture, which is the good and the ſure way, the way that Peter and Paul and the reſt of the Apoſtles went to heaven in, and this way will not ſerve mens turns, but they will run an hundred waies inſtead of this One: and they muſt make new wayes which the Apoſtles of Chriſt were never acquainted with.
If God had loaded your memories with many things, you might poſſibly have ſaid [we cannot remember them all] but he hath ſet you finally but one thing to remember, even to lay hold on everlaſting life, and preſs on to the Crown that is ſet before you; and he hath an ill memory that cannot remember One thing, and ſuch a thing as this is too.
It may be you are Ignorant and cannot learn many things; but God hath ſet you but this One thing to learn as of Abſolute Neceſſity: And he is dull indeed that cannot learn one thing, and ſuch a thing too. If you cannot underſtand the depths of Sciences, nor reach the height of learning that others do attain, yet learn this One thing, to know God in the Redeemer; and if you know this, you know all. Paul was not only contented with this knowledge, but reſolved to know nothing elſe but Chriſt and him crucified; that is, Nothing that is wholly alien to this: Nothing but what doth keep its due ſubordination to this, and ſo may be reduced to the knowledge of Chriſt, 1 Cor. 2. 2 He would not own any other knowledge as knowledge, but diſclaimeth it as Ignorance and Fooliſhneſs, though it ſeemed wiſdom in the eyes of the world, 1 Cor. 3. 19. This ſeeming knowledge and wiſdom of the world, that is totally disjunct from Chriſt, is part of the [all] that we muſt ſell to buy the Pearl, if we will obtain it. Matth. 13. 46. and part of the [all things] which Paul accounted dung and loſs, that he might win Chriſt and be found in him. Phil. 3. 7, 8, 9, 10. For they that know not this One thing, know nothing, whatſoever they may ſeem to know: and they that would go beyond the knowledge of Chriſt, and think it too low for them, and trouble their brains and the Church with their ſpeculations, they do not know indeed, but dream. And if they would ſee their faces in the glaſs of Scripture. 1 Tim. 6. 4. They are proud knowing nothing, but doating about Queſtions and ſtrifes of words; whence cometh envy, railing, evil ſurmiſings, perverſe diſputings of men of corrupt minds, and deſtitute of the Truth.
Moreover, if your ſtrength be ſo ſmall that it will not ſuffice for every thing, at leaſt you ſhould lay it out on this One thing.
Your time, I know, is ſmall, your lives are ſhort, and therefore you may ſay, We have not time for many things; but when you have but One thing given you to do, that muſt be done, you may ſure find time for this for which you have your time.
If you ſet your ſervant to work, and bid him be ſure to do one thing, whatever elſe he do, you will not take it well if that one ſhall be neglected. If you ſend him on an errand, and bid him be ſure to remember one thing, whatſoever he forget, you will not take it well if he forget that one. If you truſt him but with one thing, and bid him be ſure to keep that one, you will not take it well if that be loſt; eſpecially if he wilfully throw it away.
O conſider, Whether this be not your caſe. God hath ſent you into this world but on one errand, even to make ſure of everlaſting life, and will you neglect that one? He hath truſted you with one thing, and will you caſt away that one? He hath given you one leſſon to learn, even to pleaſe him and to ſave your ſouls, and will you not learn and remember that one? If you had forgot your food and raiment, or forgot the houſes you dwell in, it had been a ſmall matter in compariſon: but to forget that one work that muſt be done, that one friend that you muſt alwayes truſt to, that one place that you muſt live in for ever, this is moſt unreaſonable; and when you have recovered your underſtandings, you ſhall confeſs it to be ſo.