Of the senses of the soul.
Second, I come, in
the next place, to describe the soul by its senses, its spiritual senses, for
so I call them; for as the body hath senses about it, and as it can
see, hear, smell, feel, and taste, so can the soul; I call, therefore, these the
senses of the soul, in opposition to the senses of the body, and because the
soul is the seat of all spiritual sense, where supernatural things are known
and enjoyed; not that the soul of a natural man is spiritual in the apostle's
sense, for so none are, but those that are born from above (1 Cor 3:1-3) nor
they so always neither. But to go forward.
Of sight.
1. Can the body see?
hath it eyes? so hath the soul. 'The eyes of your understanding being
enlightened' (Eph 1:18). As, then, the body can see beasts, trees, men, and all
visible things, so the soul can see God, Christ, angels, heaven, devils, hell,
and other invisible things; nor is this property only peculiar to the
souls that are illuminated by the Holy Ghost, for the most carnal soul in the
world shall have time to see these things, but not to its comfort, but not to
its joy, but to its endless woe and misery, it dying in that condition.
Wherefore, sinner, say not thou, 'I shall not see Him; for judgment is before
Him,' and He will make thee see Him (Job 35:14).
Of hearing.
2. Can the body hear?
hath its ears? so hath the soul (Job 4:12,13). It is the soul, not the body,
that hears the language of things invisible. It is the soul that hears God when
He speaks in and by His Word and Spirit; and it is the soul that hears the
devil when he speaks by his illusions and temptations. True, there is such a
union between the soul and the body, that oftentimes, if not always, that which
is heard by the ears of the body doth influence the soul, and that which is
heard by the soul doth also influence the body. Still, yet as to the organ of
hearing, the body hath one of its own, distinct from that of the soul, and the
soul can hear and regard even then when the body doth not nor cannot; as in the time of sleep, deep sleep and trances, when the body lieth by as a thing that
is useless. 'For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man, (as to his body)
perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep
falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men,
and sealeth their instruction,' etc. (Job 33:14-16). This must be meant of the
ears of the soul, not of the body; for that at this time is said to be in deep
sleep; moreover, this hearing, is a hearing of dreams and the visions of the
night. Jeremiah also tells us that he had the rare and blessed visions of God
in his sleep (Jer 21:26). And so doth Daniel too, by the which they were
greatly comforted and refreshed; but that could not be, was not the soul also
capable of hearing. 'I heard the voice of His words,' said Daniel, 'and when I
heard the voice of His words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my
face toward the ground' (Dan 10:8,9).
Of tasting.
3. As the soul can
see and hear, so it can taste and relish, even as really as doth the palate
belonging to the body.6 But then the things so tasted must be that which is
suited to the temper and palate of the soul. The soul's taste lieth not in, nor
is exercised about meats, the meats that are for the belly. Yet the soul of a
saint can taste and relish God's Word (Heb 6:5), and doth ofttimes find it
sweeter than honey (Psa 19:10) nourishing as milk (1 Peter 2:2), and
strengthening like too strong meat (Heb 5:12-14). The soul also of sinners, and
of those that are unsanctified, can taste and relish, though not the things now
mentioned, yet things that agree with their fleshly minds, and with their
polluted, and defiled, and vile affections. They can relish and taste that
which delighteth them; yea, they can find soul delight in an alehouse, a
whorehouse, a playhouse. Ay, they find pleasure in the vilest things, in the
things most offensive to God, and that are most destructive to themselves. This
is evident to sense and is proved by the daily practice of sinners. Nor is the
Word barren as to this: They 'feed on ashes' (Isa 44:20). They 'spend their
money for that which is not bread' (Isa 55:2). Yea, they eat and suck sweetness
out of sin. 'They eat up the sin of My people' as they eat bread (Hosea 4:8).
Of smelling.
4. As the soul can
see, hear, and taste, it can smell, and refresh itself that
way. Hence the church saith, 'My fingers dropped with sweet-smelling myrrh;'
and again, she saith of her beloved, that 'his lips dropped sweet-smelling-myrrh'
(Song 5:5,13). But how came the church to understand this, but because her soul
did smell that in it that was to be smelled in it, even in his word and
gracious visits? The poor world, indeed, cannot smell, or savor anything of
the good and fragrant scent and sweet that is in Christ; but to them that
believe, 'Thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love
thee' (Song 1:3).
Of feeling.
5. As the soul can
see, taste, hear, and smell, so it hath the sense of feeling, as quick and as
sensible as the body. He knows nothing that knows not this; he whose soul is
'past feeling,' has his 'conscience seared with a hot iron' (Eph 4:18, 19; 1
Tim 4:2). Nothing so sensible as the soul, nor feeleth so quickly the love and
mercy, or the anger and wrath of God. Ask the awakened man, or the man under the convictions of the law, if he doth not feel? and he will quickly tell
you that he faints and dies away because of God's hand, and His wrath that
lieth upon him. Read the first eight verses of the 38th Psalm; if thou knowest
nothing of what I have told thee by experience; and there thou shalt hear the
complaints of one whose soul lay at present under the burden of guilt, and that
cried out that without help from heaven, he could by no means bear the same.
They also know what the peace of God means, and what an eternal weight
there is in glory know well that the soul has the sense of feeling, as well as
the senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling. But thus much for the
senses of the soul.
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