that is, the body, ‘of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul’ (Gen 2:7).
Do but compare these two together, the body and the soul; the body is
made of dust, the soul is the breath of God. Now, if God hath made this
body so famous, as indeed He has, and yet it is made but of the dust of
the ground, and we all do know what inferior matter it is, what is the
soul, since the body is not only its house and garment, but since
itself is made of the breath of God? But, further, it is not only said
that the soul is of the breath of the Lord, but that the Lord breathed
into him the breath of life—to wit, a living spirit, for so the next
words infer—and ‘man became a living soul.’ Man, that is, the more
excellent part of him, which, for that which is principal, is called
man, that bearing the denomination of the whole; or man, the spirit and
natural power, by which, as a reasonable creature, the whole of him is
acted, ‘became a living soul.’ But I stand not here upon definition,
but upon demonstration. The body, that noble part of man, had its
original from the dust; for so says the Word, ‘Dust thou art (as to thy
body), and unto dust shalt thou return’ (Gen 3:19). But as to thy more
noble part, thou art from the breath of God, God putting forth in that
a mighty work of creating power, and man ‘was made a living soul’ (1
Cor 15:45). Mark my reason. There is as great a disparity betwixt the
body and the soul, as is between the dust of the ground and that, here
called, the breath of life of the Lord. And note further, that, as the
dust of the ground did not lose, but gained glory by being formed into
the body of a man, so this breath of the Lord lost nothing neither by
being made a living soul. O man! dost thou know what thou art?
The soul God’s image.
2. As the soul is said to be of the breath of God, so it is said to be
made after God’s own image, even after the similitude of God. ‘And God
said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.—So God created
man in His own image, in the image of God created He him’ (Gen
1:26,27). Mark, in His own image, in the image of God created He him;
or, as James hath it, it is ‘made after the similitude of God,’ (James
3:9); like Him, having in it that which beareth semblance with Him. I
do not read of anything in heaven, or earth, or under the earth, that
is said to be made after this manner, or that is at all so termed, save
only the Son of God Himself. The angels are noble creatures, and for
present employ are made a little higher than man himself, (Heb 2); but
that any of them are said to be made ‘after God’s image,’ after His own
image, even after the similitude of God, that I find not. This
character the Holy Ghost, in the Scriptures of truth, giveth only of
man, of the soul of man; for it must not be thought that the body is
here intended in whole or in part. For though it be said that Christ
was made after the similitude of sinful flesh (Phil 2), yet it is not
said that sinful flesh is made after the similitude of God; but I will
not dispute; I only bring these things to show how great a thing, how
noble a thing the soul is; in that, at its creation, God thought it
worthy to be made, not like the earth, or the heavens, or the angels,
seraphims, or archangels, but like Himself, His own self, saying, ‘Let
Us make man in Our own likeness. So He made man in His own image.’
This, I say, is a character above all angels; for, as the apostle said,
‘To which of the angels said He at anytime, ‘Thou art my Son?’ So, of
which of them hath He at any time said, This is, or shall be, made in
or after Mine image, Mine own image? O what a thing is the soul of man,
that above all the creatures in heaven or earth, being made in the
image and similitude of God.10
The soul God’s desire.
3. Another thing by which the greatness of the soul is made manifest is
this, it is that—and that only, and to say this is more than to say, it
is that above all the creatures—that the great God desires communion
with. He ‘hath set apart him that is godly for himself,’ (Psa 4:3);
that is, for communion with his soul; therefore the spouse saith
concerning him, ‘His desire is toward me,’ (Song 7:10); and, therefore,
he saith again, ‘I will dwell in them, and walk in them’ (2 Cor 6:16).
To ‘dwell in,’ and ‘walk in,’ are terms that intimate communion and
fellowship; as John saith, ‘Our fellowship, truly our fellowship is
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ’ (1 John 1:3). That is,
our soul-fellowship; for it must not be understood of the body, though
I believe that the body is much influenced when the soul has communion
with God; but it is the soul, and that only, that at present is capable
of having and maintaining of this blessed communion. But, I say, what a
thing is this, that God, the great God, should choose to have
fellowship and communion with the soul above all. We read, indeed, of
the greatness of the angels, and how near also they are unto God; but
yet there are not such terms that bespeak such familiar acts between
God and angels, as to demonstrate that they have such communion with
God as has, or as the souls of His people may have. Where has He called
them His love, His dove, His fair one? and where, when He speaketh of
them, doth He express a communion that they have with Him by the
similitude of conjugal love? I speak of what is revealed; the secret
things belong to the Lord our God. Now by all this is manifest the
greatness of the soul. Men of greatness and honour, if they have
respect to their own glory, will not choose for their familiars the
base and rascally crew of this world; but will single out for their
fellows, fellowship, and communion, those that are most like
themselves. True, the King has not an equal, yet He is for being
familiar only with the nobles of the land: so God, with Him none can
compare; yet since the soul is by Him singled out for His walking mate
and companion, it is a sign it is the highest born, and that upon which
the blessed Majesty looks, as upon that which is most meet to be
singled out for communion with Himself.
Should we see a man familiar with the King, we would, even of
ourselves, conclude he is one of the nobles of the land; but this is
not the lot of every soul—some have fellowship with devils, yet not
because they have a more base original than those that lie in God’s
bosom, but they, through sin, are degenerate, and have chosen to be
great with His enemy—but all these things show the greatness of the
soul.
The soul a vessel for grace.
4. The soul of men are such as God counts worthy to be the vessels to
hold His grace, the graces of the Spirit, in. The graces of the
Spirit—what like them, or where here are they to be found, save in the
souls of men only? ‘Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for
grace’ (John 1:16). Received, into what? into ‘the hidden part,’ as
David calls it (Psa 51:6). Hence the king’s daughter is said to be ‘all
glorious within,’ (Psa 45:15); because adorned and beautified with the
graces of the Spirit. For that which David calls the hidden part is the
inmost part of the soul; and it is, therefore, called the hidden part,
because the soul is invisible, nor can any one living infallibly know
what is in the soul but God Himself. But, I say, the soul is the vessel
into which this golden oil is poured, and that which holds, and is
accounted worthy to exercise and improve the same. Therefore the soul
is it which is said to love God—‘Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?’ (Song
3:3); and, therefore, the soul is that which exerciseth the spirit of
prayer—‘With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my
spirit within me will I seek thee early’ (Isa 26:9). With the soul also
men are said to believe and into the soul God is said to put His fear.
This is the vessel into which the virgins got oil, and out of which
their lamps were supplied by the same. But what a thing, what a great
thing therefore is the soul, that that above all things that God hath
created should be the chosen vessel to put His grace in. The body is
the vessel for the soul, and the soul is the vessel for the grace of
God. But,
5. The greatness of the soul is manifest by the greatness of the price
that Christ paid for it, to make it an heir of glory; and that was His
precious blood (1 Cor 6:20; 1 Peter 1:18,19). We do use to esteem of
things according to the price that is given for them, especially when
we are convinced that the purchase has not been made by the estimation
of a fool. Now the soul is purchased by a price that the Son, the
wisdom of God, thought fit to pay for the redemption thereof—what a
thing, then, is the soul? Judge of the soul by the price that is paid
for it, and you must needs confess, unless you count the blood that
hath bought it an unholy thing, that it cannot but be of great worth
and value. Suppose a prince, or some great man, should, on a sudden,
descend from his throne, or chair of state, to take up, that he might
put in his bosom, something that he had espied lying trampled under the
feet of those that stand by; would you think that he would do this for
an old horse shoe,11 or for so trivial a thing as a pin or a point? 12
Nay, would you not even of yourselves conclude that that thing for
which the prince, so great a man, should make such a stoop, must needs
be a thing of very great worth? Why, this is the case of Christ and the
soul. Christ is the prince, His throne was in heaven, and, as He sat
there, He espied the souls of sinners trampled under the foot of the
law and death for sin. Now, what doth He, but comes down from His
throne, stoops down to the earth, and there, since He could not have
the trodden-down souls without price, He lays down His life and blood
for them (2 Cor 8:9). But would He have done this for inconsiderable
things? No, nor for the souls of sinners neither, had He not valued
them higher than he valued heaven and earth besides. 13 This,
therefore, is another thing by which the greatness of the soul is
known.
The soul immortal.
6. The soul is immortal, it will have a sensible being for ever, none
can kill the soul (Luke 12:4; Matt 10:28). If all the angels in heaven,
and all the men on earth, should lay all their strength together, they
cannot kill or annihilate one soul. No, I will speak without fear, if
it may be said, God cannot do what He will not do; then He cannot
annihilate the soul: but, notwithstanding all His wrath, and the
vengeance that He will inflict on sinful souls, they yet shall abide
with sensible beings, yet to endure, yet to bear punishment. If
anything could kill the soul, it would be death; but death cannot do
it, neither first nor second; the first cannot, for when Dives was
slain, as to his body by death, his soul was found alive in hell—‘He
lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment’ (Luke 16:23). The second
death cannot do it, because it is said their worm never dies, but is
always torturing them with his gnawing (Mark 9:44). But that could not
be, if time, or lying in hell fire for ever, could annihilate the soul.
Now, this also shows the greatness of the soul, that it is that which
has an endless life, and that will, therefore, have a being endlessly.
O what a thing is the soul!
The soul, then, is immortal, though not eternal. That is eternal that
has neither beginning nor end, and, therefore, eternal is properly
applicable to none but God; hence He is called the ‘eternal God’ (Deu
33:27). Immortal is that which, though it hath a beginning, yet hath no
end, it cannot die, nor cease to be; and this is the state of the soul.
It cannot cease to have a being when it is once created; I mean, a
living, sensible being. For I mean by living, only such a being as
distinguishes it from annihilation or incapableness of sense and
feeling. Hence, as the rich man is after death said to ‘lift up his
eyes in hell,’ so the beggar is said, when he died, to be ‘carried by
the angels, into Abraham’s bosom’ (Luke 16:22,23). And both these
sayings must have respect to the souls of these men; for, as for their
bodies, we know at present it is otherwise with them. The grave is
their house, and so must be till the trumpet shall sound, and the
heavens pass away like a scroll. Now, I say, the immortality of the
soul shows the greatness of it, as the eternity of God shows the
greatness of God. It cannot be said of any angel but that he is
immortal, and so it is, and ought to be said of the soul. This,
therefore, shows the greatness of the soul, in that it is as to abiding
so like unto him.
’Tis the soul that acts the body.
7. But a word or two more, and so to conclude this head. The soul!—why,
it is the soul that acteth the body in all these things, good or bad,
that seem good and reasonable, or amazingly wicked. True, the acts and
motions of the soul are only seen and heard in, and by the members and
motions of the body, but the body is but a poor instrument, soul is the
great agitator and actor. ‘The body without the spirit is dead’ (James
2:26). All those famous arts, and works, and inventions of works, that
are done by men under heaven, they are all the intentions of the soul,
and the body, as acting and labouring therein, doth it but as a tool
that the soul maketh use of to bring his invention into maturity (Eccl
7:29). How many things have men found out to the amazing of one
another, to the wonderment of one another, to the begetting of endless
commendations of one another in the world, while, in the meantime, the
soul, which indeed is the true inventor of all, is overlooked, not
regarded, but dragged up and down by every lust, and prostrate, and
made a slave to every silly and beastly thing. O the amazing darkness
that hath covered the face of the hearts of the children of men, that
they cannot deliver their soul, nor say, ‘Is there not a lie in my
right hand?’ (Isa 44:20), though they are so cunning in all other
matters. Take man in matters that are abroad, and far from home, and he
is the mirror of all the world; but take him at home, and put him upon
things that are near him, I mean, that have respect to the things that
concern his soul, and then you will find him the greatest fool that
ever God made. But this must not be applied to the soul simply as it is
God’s creature, but to the soul sinful, as it has willingly apostatized
from God, and so suffered itself to be darkened, and that with such
thick and stupifying darkness, that it is bound up and cannot—it hath a
napkin of sin bound so close before its eyes that it is not able—of
itself—to look to, and after those things which should be its chiefest
concern, and without which it will be most miserable for ever.
The soul capable of having to do with invisibles.
8. Further, as the soul is thus curious about arts and sciences, and
about every excellent thing of this life, so it is capable of having to
do with invisibles, with angels, good or bad, yea, with the highest and
Supreme Being, even with the holy God of heaven. I told you before that
God sought the soul of man to have it for His companion; and now I tell
you that the soul is capable of communion with Him, when the darkness
that sin hath spread over its face is removed. The soul is an
intelligent power, it can be made to know and understand depths, and
heights, and lengths, and breadths, in those high, sublime, and
spiritual mysteries that only God can reveal and teach; yea, it is
capable of diving unutterably into them. And herein is God, the God of
glory, much delighted and pleased—to wit, that He hath made Himself a
creature that is capable of hearing, of knowing, and of understanding
of His mind, when opened and revealed to it. I think I may say, without
offence to God or man, that one reason why God made the world was, that
He might manifest Himself, not only by, but to the works which He made;
but, I speak with reverence, how could that be, if He did not also make
some of His creatures capable of apprehending of Him in those most high
mysteries and methods in which He purposed to reveal Himself? But then,
what are those creatures which He hath made (unto whom when these
things are shown) that are able to take them in and understand them,
and so to improve them to God’s glory, as He hath ordained and purposed
they should, but souls? for none else in the visible world are capable
of doing this but they. And hence it is that to them, and them only, He
beginneth to reveal Himself in this world. And hence it is that they,
and they only, are gathered up to Him where He is, for they are they
that are called ‘the spirits of just men made perfect,’ (Heb 12:23);
the spirit of a beast goeth downward to the earth, it is the spirit of
a man that goes upwards to God that gave it (Eccl 3:21;12:7). For that,
and that only, is capable of beholding and understanding the glorious
visions of heaven; as Christ said, ‘Father, I will that they also, whom
thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My
glory, which thou hast given Me; for thou lovedst Me before the
foundation of the world’ (John 17:24). And thus the greatness of the
soul is manifest. True, the body is also gathered up into glory, but
not simply for its own sake, or because that is capable of itself to
know and understand the glories of its Maker; but that has been a
companion with the soul in this world, has also been its house, its
mantle, its cabinet and tabernacle here; it has also been it by which
the soul hath acted, in which it hath wrought, and by which its
excellent appearances have been manifested; and it shall also there be
its co-partner and sharer in its glory. Wherefore, as the body here did
partake of soul excellencies, and was also conformed to its spiritual
and regenerate principles; so it shall be hereafter a partaker of that
glory with which the soul shall be filled, and also be made suitable by
that glory to become a partaker and co-partner with it of the eternal
excellencies which heaven will put upon it. In this world it is a
gracious soul (I speak now of the regenerate), and in that world it
shall be a glorious one. In this world the body was conformable to the
soul as it was gracious, and in that world it shall be conformable to
it as it is glorious; conformable, I say, by partaking of that glory
that then the soul shall partake of; yea, it shall also have an
additional glory to adorn, and make it yet the more capable of being
serviceable to it, and with it in its great acts before God in eternal
glory. Oh, what great things are the souls of the sons of men!
The soul capable of diving into the depths and mysteries of hell.
9. But again, as the soul is thus capable of enjoying God in glory, and
of prying into these mysteries that are in him, so it is capable, with
great profundity, to dive into the mysterious depths of hell. Hell is a
place and state utterly unknown to any in this visible world, excepting
the souls of men; nor shall any for ever be capable of understanding
the miseries thereof, save souls and fallen angels. Now, I think, as
the joys of heaven stand not only in speculation, or in beholding of
glory, but in a sensible enjoyment and unspeakable pleasure which those
glories will yield to the soul (Psa 16:11), so the torments of hell
will not stand in the present lashes and strokes which by the flames of
eternal fire God will scourge the ungodly with; but the torments of
hell stand much, if not in the greatest part of them, in those deep
thoughts and apprehensions, which souls in the next world will have of
the nature and occasions of sin; of God, and of separation from Him; of
the eternity of those miseries, and of the utter impossibility of their
help, ease, or deliverance for ever. O! damned souls will have thoughts
that will clash with glory, clash with justice, clash with law, clash
with itself, clash with hell, and with the everlastingness of misery;
but the point, the edge, and the poison of all these thoughts will
still be galling, and dropping, and spewing out their stings into the
sore, grieved, wounded, and fretted place, which is the conscience,
though not the conscience only; for I may say of the souls in hell,
that they all over are but one wound, one sore! Miseries as well as
mercies sharpen and make quick the apprehensions of the soul. Behold
Spira in his book, 14 Cain in his guilt, and Saul with the witch of
Endor, and you shall see men ripened, men enlarged and greatened in
their fancies, imaginations, and apprehensions though not about God,
and heaven, and glory, yet about their loss, their misery, and their
woe, and their hells (Isa 33:14; Psa 1:4; Rev 14:10; Mark 9:44,46).
The ability of the soul to bear.
10. Nor doth their ability to bear, if it be proper to say they bear
those dolors which there for ever they shall endure, a little
demonstrate their greatness. Everlasting burning, devouring fire,
perpetual pains, gnawing worms, utter darkness, and the ireful souls,
face, and strokes of Divine and infinite justice will not, cannot, make
this soul extinct, as I said before. I think it is not so proper to say
the soul that is damned for sin doth bear these things, as to say it
doth ever sink under them: and, therefore, their place of torment is
called the bottomless pit, because they are ever sinking, and shall
never come there where they will find any stay. Yet they live under
wrath, but yet only so as to be sensible of it, as to smart and be in
perpetual anguish, by reason of the intolerableness of their burden.
But doth not their thus living, abiding, and retaining a being(or what
you will call it), demonstrate the greatness and might of the soul?
Alas! heaven and earth are short of this greatness, for these, though
under less judgment by far, do fade and wax old like a moth-eaten
garment, and, in their time, will vanish away to nothing (Heb 1).
Also, we see how quickly the body, when the soul is under a fear of the
rebukes of justice, how soon, I say, it wastes, moulders away, and
crumbleth into the grave; but the soul is yet strong, and abides
sensible to be dealt withal for sin by everlasting burnings.
The might of the soul further shown.
11. The soul, by God’s ordinance, while this world lasts, has a time
appointed it to forsake and leave the body to be turned again to the
dust as it was, and this separation is made by death, (Heb 9:27);
therefore the body must cease for a time to have sense, or life, or
motion; and a little thing brings it now into this state; but in the
next world, the wicked shall partake of none of this; for the body and
the soul being at the resurrection rejoined, this death, that once did
rend them asunder, is for ever overcome and extinct; so that these two
which lived in sin must for ever be yoked together in hell. Now, there
the soul being joined to the body, and death, which before did separate
them, being utterly taken away, the soul retains not only its own
being, but also continueth the body to be, and to suffer sensibly the
pains of hell, without those decays that it used to sustain.
And the reason why this death shall then be taken away is, because
justice in its bestowing its rewards for transgressions may not be
interrupted, but that body and soul, as they lived and acted in sin
together, might be destroyed for sin in hell together (Matt 10:28 Luke
12:5). Destroyed, I say, but with such a destruction, which, though it
is everlasting, will not put a period to their sensible suffering the
vengeance of eternal fire (2 Thess 1:8,9).
This death, therefore, though that also be the wages of sin, would now,
were it suffered to continue, be a hinderance to the making known of
the wrath of God, and also of the created power and might of the soul.
(1.) It would hinder the making known of the wrath of God, for it would
take the body out of the way, and make it incapable of sensible
suffering for sin, and so removing one of the objects of vengeance the
power of God’s wrath would be so far undiscovered. (2.) It would also
hinder the manifestation of the power and might of the soul, which is
discovered much by its abiding to retain its own being while the wrath
of God is grappling with it, and more by its continuing to the body a
sensible being with itself.
Death, therefore, must now be removed, that the soul may be made the
object of wrath without molestation or interruption. That the soul, did
I say? yea, that soul and body both might be so. Death would now be a
favour, though once the fruit of sin, and also the wages thereof, might
it now be suffered to continue, because it would ease the soul of some
of its burden: for a tormented body cannot but be a burden to a spirit,
and so the wise man insinuates when he says, ‘The spirit of a man will
sustain his infirmityl’ that is, bear up under it, but yet so as that
it feels it a burden. We see that, because of the sympathy that is
between body and soul, how one is burdened if the other be grieved. A
sick body is a burden to the soul, and a wounded spirit is a burden to
the body; ‘a wounded spirit who can bear?’ (Prov 18:14). But death must
not remove this burden, but the soul must have the body for a burden,
and the body must have the soul for a burden, and both must have the
wrath of God for a burden. Oh, therefore, here will be burden upon
burden, and all upon the soul, for the soul will be the chief seat of
this burden! But thus much to show you the greatness of the soul.
[OF THE LOSS OF THE SOUL.]