Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f theLoss Thereof; What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul.32

 

So then, the first truth drawn from the words stands firm—namely,

That the loss of the soul is the highest, the greatest loss; a loss that can never be repaired or made up.

In my discourse on this subject, I shall observe this method:—

FIRST, I shall show you what the soul is.

SECOND, I shall show you the greatness of it.

THIRD, I shall show you what it is to lose the soul.

FOURTH, I shall show you the cause for which men lose their souls; and by this time the greatness of the loss will be manifest.

[WHAT THE SOUL IS.]

FIRST, I shall show you what the soul is, both as to the various names it goes under, as also, by describing it by its powers and properties, though in all I shall be but brief, for I intend no long discourse.3

[Names of the Soul.]

1. The soul is often called the heart of man, or that, in and by which things to either good or evil, have their rise; thus desires are of the heart or soul; yea, before desires, the first conception of good or evil is in the soul, the heart. The heart understands, wills, affects, reasons, and judges, but these are the faculties of the soul; wherefore, heart and soul are often taken for one and the same. 'My son, give me thine heart' (Prov 23:26). 'Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,' etc. (Matt 15:19; 1 Peter 3:15; Psa 26:2).

2. The soul of man is often called the spirit of a man; because it not only giveth being but life to all things and actions in and done by him. Hence soul and spirit are put together, as to the same notion. 'With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early' (Isa 26:9). When he saith, 'Yea, with my spirit—will I seek thee,' he explaineth not only with what kind of desires he desired God but with what principal matter his desires were brought forth. It was with my soul, saith he; to wit, with my spirit within me. So that of Mary, 'My soul,' saith she, 'doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior (Luke 1:46,47). 

Not that soul and spirit are, in this place, to be taken for two superior powers in man; but the same great soul is here put under two names, or terms, to show that it was the principal part in Mary; to wit, her soul, that magnified God, even that part that could spirit and put life into her whole self to do it. Indeed, sometimes spirit is not taken so largely, but is confined to someone's power or faculty of the soul, as 'the spirit of my understanding,' (Job 20:3) 'and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.' And sometimes by spirit, we are to understand other things; but many times by spirit we must understand the soul, and also by soul the spirit.

3. Therefore, by soul we understand the spiritual, the best, and the noblest part of man, as distinct from the body, even that by which we understand, imagine, reason, and discourse. And, indeed, as I shall further show you presently, the body is but a poor, empty vessel, without this great thing called the soul. 'The body without the spirit,' or soul, 'is dead' (James 2:26). Or nothing but (her soul departed from her, for she died). It is, therefore, the chief and most noble part of man.

4. The soul is often called the life of man, not a life of the same stamp and nature of the brute; for the life of man—that is, of the rational creature—is, that, as he is such, wherein consisteth and abideth the understanding and conscience, etc. Wherefore, then, a man dieth, or the body ceaseth to act, or live in the exercise of the thoughts, which formerly used to be in him, when the soul departeth, as I hinted even now—her soul departed from her, for she died; and, as another good man saith, 'in that very day his thoughts perish,' etc. (Psa 146:4). The first text is more emphatical; Her soul was in departing (for she died). There is the soul of a beast, a bird, etc., but the soul of a man is another thing; it is his understanding, reason, conscience, etc. 

And this soul, when it departs, he dies. Nor is this life, when gone out of the body, annihilate, as is the life of a beast; no, this, in itself, is immortal, and has yet a place and being when gone out of the body it dwelt in; yea, as quick, as lively is it in its senses, if not far more abundant, than when it was in the body; but I call it the life because so long as that remains in the body, the body is not dead. And in this sense it is to be taken where he saith 'He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it' unto life eternal; and this is the soul that is intended in the text, and not the breath, as in some other places is meant. And this is evident because the man has a being, a sensible being after he has lost the soul. I mean not by the man a man in this world, nor yet in the body, or in the grave; but by man we must understand, either the soul in hell or body and soul there, after the judgment is over. And for this the text, also, is plain, for therein we are presented with a man sensible of the damage that he has sustained by losing of his soul. 'What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?' But,