Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul.67

 

Objection. But some may object, and say, But you denounce all against the soul; the soul, as if the body were in no fault at all; or, as if there were no punishment assigned for the body.

Answer 1. The soul must be the part punished because the soul is that which sins. 'Every sin that a man doeth is without the body,' fornication or adultery excepted (1 Cor 6:18). 'Is without the body; that is, as to the wilily inventing, contriving, and finding out ways to bring the motions of sin into action. Alas! What can the body do to these? It is in a manner wholly passive; yea, all together as to the lusting and purposing to do the wickedness, excepting the sin before excepted; ay, and not excepting that, as to the rise of that sin; for even that, with all the rest, ariseth and proceedeth out of the heart—the soul; 'For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man' (Mark 7:21–23). That is, the outward man. But a difference must always be put betwixt defiling and being defiled, that which defileth being the worst; not but that the body shall have its share of judgment, for body and soul must be destroyed in hell (Luke 12:4,5; Matt 10:28). The body as the instrument, the soul as the actor; but oh! the soul, the soul, the soul is the sinner; and, therefore, the soul, as the principal, must be punished.

And that God's indignation burneth most against the soul appears in that death hath seized upon every soul already; for the Scripture saith, that every natural or unconverted man is dead (Eph 2:1-3). Dead! How? Is his body dead? No, verily; his body liveth, but his soul is dead (1 Tim 5:6). Dead! But with what death? Dead to God, and to all things gospelly good, by reason of that benumbing, stupifying, and senselessness, that, by God's just judgment for and by sin, hath swallowed up the soul. Yeah, if you observe, you shall see that the soul goeth first, or before, in punishment, not only by what has been said already, in that the soul is first made a partaker of death, but in that God first deals with the soul by convictions, yea, and terrors, perhaps, while the body is well; or, in that He giveth up the soul to judicial hardness and further blindness, while He leaveth the body to do His office in the world; yea, and also when the day of death and dissolution comes, the body is spared, while the soul is tormented in unutterable torment in hell. 

And so, I say, it shall be spared, and the clods of the valley shall be sweet unto it, while the soul mourneth in hell for sin. It is true, at the day of judgment, because that is the last and final judgment of God on men, the body and soul shall be re-united or joined together again, and shall then, together, partake of that recompense for their wickedness, which is met. When I say, the body is spared and the soul tormented, I do not mean that the body is not then, at death, made to partake of the wages of sin, 'for the wages of sin is death' (Rom 3:23). But I mean, the body partakes then of temporal death, which, as to sense and feeling, is sometimes over presently, and then rests in the grave, while the soul is tormented in hell. Yes, and why is death suffered to slay the body? I dare say, not chiefly for that the indignation of God most burneth against the body; but the body being the house for the soul in this world, God even pulls down this body, that the soul may be stripped naked, and being stripped, may be carried to prison, to the place where damned souls are, there to suffer in the beginning of suffering, that punishment that will be endless.

Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul.66

 

[Through sin the soul sets itself against God.]

1. He saith, that he regardeth not this Christ, that he seeth nothing in Him, why he should admit Him to be entertained in his affections. Therefore the prophet, speaking in the person of sinners, says, 'He (Christ) hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him;' and then adds, to show what he meaneth by his thus speaking, he is despised and rejected of men' (Isa 53:2, 3). All this is spoken with reference to His person, and it was eminently fulfilled upon Him in the days of His flesh, when He was hated, maligned, and persecuted to death by sinners; and is still fulfilled in the souls of sinners, in that they cannot abide to think of Him with thoughts that have a tendency in them to separate them and their lusts asunder, and to the making of them to embrace Him for their darling, and the taking up of their cross to follow Him. All these sinners speak out with loud voices, in that they stop their ears and shut their eyes as to Him, but open them wide and hearken diligently to anything that pleases the flesh, and that is a nursery to sin. But,

2. As they despise, and reject, and do not regard His person, so they do not value the grace that He tendereth unto them by the gospel; this is plain by that indifference of spirit that always attends them when, at any time, they hear thereof, or when it is presented to them.

I may safely say, that most men who are concerned in a trade, will be more vigilant in dealing with a twelve-penny customer than they will be with Christ when He comes to make unto them, by the gospel, a tender of the incomparable grace of God. Hence they are called fools, because a price is put into their hands to get wisdom, and they have no heart for it (Prov 18:16). And hence, again, it is that that bitter complaint is made, 'But My people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of Me' (Psa 81:11). Now, these things being found, as practiced by the souls of sinners, must, after a wonderful manner, provoke; wherefore, no marvel that the heavens are bid to be astonished at this, and that damnation shall seize upon the soul for this (Jer 2).

And indeed, the soul that doth thus by practice, though with his mouth—as who doth not? he shall show much love, he doth, interpretatively, say these things:

(1.) That he loves sin better than grace, and darkness better than light, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shown, 'And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness more than light (as is manifest) because their deeds were evil' (John 3:19).

(2.) They do, also, by their thus rejecting of Christ and grace, say, that for what the law can do to them, they value it not; they regard not its thundering threatenings, nor will they shrink when they come to endure the execution thereof; wherefore God, to deter them from such bold and desperate ways, that do, interpretatively, fully declare that they make such desperate conclusions, insinuates that the burden of the curse thereof is intolerable, saying, 'Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I, the Lord, have spoken it, and will do it' (Eze 22:14). (3.) Yea, by their thus doing, they do as good as say that they will run the hazard of a sentence of death at the day of judgment and that they will, in the meantime, join issue, and stand trial at that day with the great and terrible God. What else means their not hearkening to Him, their despising of His Son, and their rejecting of His grace; Yeah, I say again, what else means their slighting of the curse of the law, and their choosing to abide in their sins till the day of death and judgment? And thus I have shown you the causes of the loss of the soul; and, assuredly, these things are no fables.

Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul.65

 

[Through sin the soul sets itself against God.]

1. He is set forth as born for us, to save our souls (Isa 9:6; Luke 2:9–12).

2. He is set forth before us as bearing our sins for us and suffering God's wrath for us (1 Cor 15:3; Gal 3:13).

3. He is set forth before us as fulfilling the law for us, and as bringing everlasting righteousness to us for our covering (Rom 5:4; Dan 9:24).

Again, as to the manner of His work, He worked out the salvation of sinners for them, that they might have peace and joy, and heaven and glory, forever.

(1.) He is set forth as sweating of blood while He was in His agony, wrestling with the thoughts of death, which He was to suffer for our sins, that He might save the soul (Luke 22:44).

(2.) He is set forth as crying, weeping, and mourning under the lashes of justice that He put Himself under, and was willing to bear for our sins (Heb 5:7).

(3.) He is set forth as betrayed, apprehended, condemned, spit on, scourged, buffeted, mocked, crowned with thorns, crucified, pierced with nails and a spear, to save the soul from being betrayed by the devil and sin; to save it from being apprehended by justice, and condemned by the law; to save it from being spit on, in a way of contempt, by holiness; to save it from being scourged with the guilt of sins, as with scorpions; to save it from being continually buffeted by its own conscience; to save it from being mocked at by God; to save it from being crowned with ignominy and shame forever; to save it from dying the second death; to save it from wounds and grief forever.

Dost thou understand me, sinful soul? He wrestled with justice, that thou mightest have rest; He wept and mourned, that thou mightest laugh and rejoice; He was betrayed, that thou mightest go free; was apprehended, that thou mightest escape; He was condemned, that thou mightest be justified; and was killed, that thou mightest live; He wore a crown of thorns, that thou mightest wear a crown of glory; and was nailed to the cross, with His arms wide open, to show with what freeness all His merits shall be bestowed on the coming soul; and how heartily He will receive it into His bosom? Further, all this He did of mere goodwill, and offereth the benefit thereof unto thee freely; yea, He cometh unto thee, in the word of the gospel, with the blood running down from His head upon His face, with His tears abiding upon His cheeks, with the holes as fresh in His hands and His feet, and as with the blood still bubbling out of His side, to pray thee to accept the benefit and to be reconciled to God thereby (2 Cor 5). But what saith the sinful soul to this? I do not ask what he saith with his lips, for he will assuredly flatter God with his mouth; but what doth his actions and carriages declare as to his acceptance of this incomparable benefit? For a wicked man speaketh with his feet, and teacheth with his fingers' (Prov 6:12,13). With his feet—that is, by the way, he goeth: and with his fingers—that is, by his acts and doings. So, then, what saith he by his goings, by his sets and doings, unto this incomparable benefit, thus brought unto him from the Father, by His only Son, Jesus Christ? What saith he? Why, he saith that he doth not at all regard this Christ, nor value the grace thus tendered unto him in the gospel.

Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul.64

 

[Through sin the soul sets itself against God.]

II. To speak of the gospel and of the carriage of sinful souls towards God under that dispensation.

The gospel is a revelation of a sovereign remedy, provided by God, through Christ, for the health and salvation of those who have made themselves objects of wrath by the breach of the law of works; this is manifest by all the Scripture. But how doth the soul carries it towards God, when He offered to deal with it under and by this dispensation of grace? Why, just as it carried it under the law of works: they oppose, they contradict, they blaspheme, and forbid that this gospel be mentioned (Acts 13:45; 27:6). What higher affront or contempt can be offered to God, and what greater disdain can be shown against the gospel? (2 Tim 2:25; 1 Thess 2:14-16). Yet all this the poor soul, to its own wrong, offered against the way of its own salvation; as it is said in the Word of truth, 'He that sinned against me wronged his own soul: all they that hate Me love death' (Prov 8:36).

But, further, the soul despised not the gospel in that revelation of it only, but the great and chief bringer thereof, with the manner, also, of His bringing of it. The Bringer, the great Bringer of the gospel, is the good Lord Jesus Christ himself; He 'came and preached peace to them that the law proclaimed war against; became and preached peace to them that were afar off, and to them that were nigh' (Eph 2:17). And it is worth your observation to take notice how He came, and that was, and still is, as He is set forth in the word of the gospel; to wit, first, as making peace Himself to God for us in and by the blood of His cross; and then, as bearing (as set out by the gospel) the very characters of His sufferings before our faces in every tender of the gospel of His grace unto us. And to touch a little upon the dress in which, by the gospel, Christ presented unto us while He offered unto sinful souls His peace, by the tenders thereof.

Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul.63

 

[Through sin the soul sets itself against God.]

Third, so That you may better perceive that the soul, through sin, has set itself against God, I will propose, and speak briefly about these two things:

I. The law II. The gospel.

I. For the law. God has given it as a rule of life, either as written in their natures, or as inserted in the Holy Scriptures; I say, as a rule of life for all the children of men. But what have men done, or how have they carried it to this law of their Creator; Let us see, and that from the mouth of God himself.

1. 'They have not hearkened unto My words' (Jer 6:19).

2. 'They have forsaken My law' (Jer 9:13).

3. They 'have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law' (Jer 16:11).

4. They have not 'walked in My law, nor in My statutes' (Jer 44: 4).

5. 'Her priests have violated My law' (Eze 22:26).

6. And, saith God, 'I have written to him the great things of My law, but they were counted as a strange thing.' (Hos 8:12).

Now, from whence should all this disobedience arise? Not from the unreasonableness of the commandment, but from the opposition that is lodged in us against God, and the enmity that it entertains against goodness. Hence the apostle speaks of the enmity, and says, that men are enemies in their minds, and souls, as is manifest by wicked works (Col 1:21). This, if men went no further, must need to be highly provoking to a just and holy God: yea, so highly offensive is it, that, to show the heat of His anger, He saith, 'Indignation and wrath, tribulation, and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil,' and this evil with a witness, 'of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile,' that does evil (Rom 2:8, 9). That breath the law; for that evil, He is crying out now. But,

Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul.62

[How sin, by the help of the soul, destroys it.]

But, as I said, when the imagination hath thus set forth sin to the rest of the faculties of the soul, they are presently entangled, and fall into a flame of love thereto; this being done, it follows that a purpose to pursue this motion, till it be brought unto act, is the next thing that is resolved on. Thus Esau, after he had conceived of the profit that would accrue to him by murdering his brother, fell next into a resolve to spill Jacob's blood. And Rebecca sent for Jacob, and said unto him, 'Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee' (Gen 27:42). See also (Jer 49:30). Nor is this purpose to do evil without its fruit, for he comforted himself in his evil purpose: 'Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.'

The purpose, therefore, being concluded, in the next place the invention is diligently set to work to find out what means, methods, and ways, will be thought best to bring this purpose into practice, and this motion to sin into action. Esau invented the death of his brother when his father was to be carried to his grave (Gen 27:41). David purposed to make Uriah's father his bastard child by making him drunk (2 Sam 11:13). Amnon purposed to ravish Tamar, and the means that he invented to do it were by feigning himself sick. Absalom purposed to kill Amnon, and invented to do it at a feast (2 Sam13:32). Judas purposed to sell Christ, and invented to betray him in the absence of the people (Luke 22:3-6). The Jews purposed to kill Paul and invented to entreat the judge of a blandation26 to send for him, that they might murder him as he went (Acts 23:12-15).

Thus you see how sin is, in the motion of it, handed through the soul—first, it comes into the fancy or imagination, by which it is so presented to the soul, as to inflame it with a desire to bring it into the act; so from this desire the soul proceeds to a purpose of enjoying, and from a purpose of enjoying to inventing how, or by what means, it had best to attempt the accomplishing of it.

But, further, when the soul has thus far, by its wickedness, pursued the motion of sin to bring it into action, then to the last thing; to wit, to endeavors, to take the opportunity, which, by the invention, is judged most convenient; so to endeavors, it goes, till it has finished sin, and finished, in finishing of that, its own fearful damnation. 'Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death' (James 1:15).

And who knows, but God and the soul, how many lets, hindrances, convictions, fears, frights, misgivings, and thoughts of the judgment of God, all this while are passing and repassing, turning and returning, over the face of the soul? How many times is the soul made to start, look back, and tremble, while it is pursuing the pleasure, profit, applause, or preferment that sin, when finished, promises to yield to the soul? for God is such a lover of the soul, that He seldom lets it go on in sin, but He cries to it, by His Word and providences, 'Oh! do not this abominable thing that I hate!' (Jer 44: 4); especially at first, until it shall have hardened itself, and so provoked Him to give it up in sin-revenging judgment to its own ways and doings, which is the most terrible judgment under heaven; and this brings me to the third thing, which I now will speak to.

3. As the soul receives, detains, entertains, and wilily works to bring sin from motion into the act, so it abhorreth to be controlled and taken off of this work—"My soul loathed them,' says God, 'and their soul also abhorred Me' (Zech 6:8). My soul loathed them because they were so bad, and their souls abhorred Me because I am so good. Sin, then, is the cause of the loss of the soul; because it hath set the soul, or, rather, because the soul of love for sin has set itself against God. 'Woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves (Isa 3:9).

 

Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul.61

 

[How sin, by the help of the soul, destroys it.]

Secondly, That I may yet show you what a great thing sin is with the soul that is to be damned, I will show how corruption, with the help of the soul, is managed, from the motion of sin, even till it comes to the very act; for sin cannot come to an action without the help of the soul. The body does little here, as I shall further show you.

There is then a motion of sin presented to the soul (and whether presented by evil itself or the devil, we will not at this time dispute); motions of sin, and motions to sin there are, and always the end of the motions of sin is to prevail with the soul to help that motion into an act. But, I say, there is a motion to sin in the soul; or, as James calls it, a conception. Now behold how the soul deals with this motion in order to finish sin, that death might follow (Rom 7:5).

1. This motion is taken notice of by the soul, but is not resisted nor striven against, only the soul lifts up its eyes upon it and sees that there is present a motion to sin, a motion of sin presented to the soul, that the soul might midwife it from conception into the world.

2. Well, notice being taken that a motion to sin is present, what follows is that the fancy or imagination of the soul takes it home to it, and does not only look upon it and behold it more narrowly but begins to trick and trim up the sin to the pleasing of itself and of all the powers of the soul. That this is true, is evident, because God finds fault with the imagination as with that which lends itself to sin in the first place, and that gives it the first lift towards being helped forward to act. 'And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth' (Gen 6:5, 12, 13). That is, many abominable actions were done; for all flesh had corrupted God's way upon the earth. But how came this to be so?

Why, every imagination of the thoughts, or of the motions that were in the heart to sin, was evil, only evil, and that continuously. The imagination of the thoughts was evil—that is, such as tended not to deaden or stifle, but such as tended to animate and forward the motions or thoughts of sin into action. Every imagination of the thoughts—that which is here called a thought, by Paul to the Romans, called a motion. Now the imagination should, and would, had it been on God's side, have so conceived of this motion of and to sins, all to have presented it in all its features as so ugly, so ill-favored, and so unreasonable a thing to the soul, that the soul should forthwith have let down the sluice, and pulled up the drawbridge, putting a stop, with the greatest defiance, to the motion now under consideration; but the imagination being defiled, it presently, at the very first view or noise of the motion of sin, so acted as to bring the said motion or thought into act. So, then, the thought of sin, or motion thereto, is first of all entertained by the imagination and fancy of the soul, and thence conveyed to the rest of the powers of the soul to be condemned, if the imagination is good; but to be helped forward to the act, if the imagination is evil.

And thus the evil imagination helps the motion of and the sin towards the act, even by dressing it up in that guise and habit that may best delude the understanding, judgment, and conscience; and that is done in this manner: Supposing a motion of sin to commit fornication, to swear, to steal, to act covetously, or the like, be propounded to the fancy and imagination; the imagination, if evil, presently dresses up this motion in that garb that best suits the nature of the sin. As, if it be the lust of uncleanness, then is the motion to sin dressed up in all the imaginable pleasurableness of that sin; if to covetousness, then is the sin dressed up in the profits and honors that attend that sin; and so of theft and the like; but if the motion be to swear, hector, or the like, then is that motion dressed up with valor and manliness; and so you may count of the rest of sinful motions; and thus being trimmed up like a Bartholomew baby, it is presented to all the rest of the powers of the soul, wherewith joint consent it is admired and embraced, to the firing and inflaming all the powers of the soul.

Hence it is that men are said to inflame themselves with their idols under every green tree. 'And to be as fed horses, neighing after their neighbor's wife' (Jer 5:8). For the imagination is such a forcible power, that if it putteth forth itself to dress up and present a thing to the soul, whether that thing be evil or good, the rest of the faculties cannot withstand it. Therefore, when David prayed for the children of Israel, he said, 'I have seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee;' that is, for preparations to build the temple. 'O Lord God,' saith he, 'keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and prepare their hearts unto Thee' (1 Chron 29:17, 18). He knew that as the imagination was prepared, so would the soul be moved, whether by evil or good; therefore, as to this, he prays that their imagination might be engaged with apprehensions of the beauteousness of the temple, that they might always, as now, offer willingly for its building.

Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul.60

 

[Sin the cause of the loss of his soul.]

3. Again; as the soul receives and retains sin, so it also entertains it—that is, countenances, smiles upon it, and likes its complexion and nature well. A man may detain—that is, hold fast—a thing that he does not regard; but when he entertains, he countenances, likes, and delights in the company. Sin, then, is first received by the soul, as has been explained, and by that reception, it is polluted and defiled. This makes it hateful in the eyes of justice: it is now polluted. Then, secondly, this sin is not only received but retained—that is, it sticks so fast, abides so fixedly in the soul, that it cannot be gotten out; this is the cause of the continuation of abhorrence; for if God abhors because there is a being of sin there, it must be that he should continue to abhor, since sin continues to have a being there. But then, in the third place, sin is not only received, detained, but entertained by the now defiled and polluted soul; wherefore this must need to be a cause of the continuance of anger, and that with aggravation. When I say, entertained, I do not mean as men entertain their enemies, with small and great shots, but as they entertain those whom they like and those that get into their affections. And therefore the wrath of God must certainly be let out upon the soul, to the everlasting damnation of it.

Now that the soul doth thus entertain sin, is manifest by these several particulars:

(1.) It hath admitted it with complacence and delight into every chamber of the soul; I mean, it has been delightfully admitted to entertainment by all the powers or faculties of the soul. The soul hath chosen it rather than God: it also, at God's command, refuseth to let it go; yea, it chooseth that doctrine, and loveth it best, since it must have a doctrine, that has most of sin and baseness in it (Isa 65:12; 66:3). They 'say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits' (Isa 30:10). These are signs that the soul with liking hath entertained sin; and if there be at any time, as indeed there is, a warrant issued out from the mouth of God to apprehend, to condemn, and mortify sin, why then,

(2.) These shifts the souls of sinners do presently make for the saving of sin from those things that by the Word men are commanded to do unto it—

(a) They will, if possible, hide it, and not suffer it to be discovered. 'He that hideth his sins shall not prosper' (Prov 28:13). And again, they hide it, and refuse to let it go (Job 20:12, 13). This is an evident sign that the soul has a favor for sin and by liking it, entertains it.

(b) As it will hide it, so it will excuse it, and plead that this and that piece of wickedness is no such evil thing; men need not be so nice, and make such a fuss about it, calling those that cry out so hotly against it, men more nice than wise. Hence the prophets of old used to be called madmen, and the world would reply against their doctrine, Wherein have we been so wearisome to God, and what have we spoken so much against Him? (Mal 1:6, 7; 3:8, 13).

(c) As the soul will do this, so to save sin, it will cover it with names of virtue, either moral or civil; and of this God greatly complains, yea, breaks into anger for this, saying, 'Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; and put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter' (Isa 5:20)!

(d) If convictions and discovery of sin are so strong and so plain, that the soul cannot deny but that it is sin, and that God is offended therewith; then it will give flattering promises to God that it will indeed put it away; but yet it will prefix a time that shall be long first, if it also then at all performs it, saying, Yet a little sleep, yet a little slumber, yet a little folding of sin in mine arms, till I am older, till I am richer, till I have had more of the sweetness and the delights of sin. Thus, 'their soul delighteth in their abominations' (Isa 66:3).

(e) If God yet pursues, and will see whether this promise of putting sin out of doors shall be fulfilled by the soul, then, it will be partial in God's law; it will put away some, and keep some; put away the grossest, and keep the finest; put away those that can best be spared, and keep the most profitable for a pinch (Mal 2:9).

(f) Yes, if all sin must be abandoned, or the soul shall have no rest, why then, the soul and sin part (with such a parting as it is), even as Phaltiel parted with David's wife, with an ill will and a sorrowful mind; or as Orpha left her mother, with a kiss (2 Sam 3:16; Ruth 1:14).

(g) And if at any time they can, or shall, meet with each other again, and nobody is ever the wiser, O, what courting will be betwixt sin and the soul? And this is called doing things in the dark (Eze 8:12).

By all these, and many more things that might be instanced, it is manifest that sin has a friendly entertainment by the soul and that therefore the soul is guilty of damnation; for what do all these things argue, but that God, His Word, His ways, and His graces, are out of favor with the soul, and that sin and Satan are its only pleasant companions? But,

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[Sin the cause of the loss of his soul.]

[Sin the cause of the loss of his soul.]

2. But as I said, the soul has not only received sin, but also retained it, held it, and showed no kind of resistance. It is enough that the soul is polluted and defiled, for that is sufficient to provoke God to cast it away; for which of you would take a cloth annoyed with stinking, ulcerous sores, to wipe your mouth withal, or to thrust it into your bosoms? and the soul is polluted with far worse pollution than any such thing can be. But this is not all; it retains sin as the wool retains the dye, or as the infected water receives the stench or poisonous scent; I say, it retains it willingly; for all the power of the soul is not only captivated by a seizure of sin upon the soul, but it willingly, heartily, unanimously, universally falleth in with the natural filth and pollution that is in sin, to the estranging of itself from God, and an obtaining of intimacy and compliance with the devil.

Now this being the state and condition of the soul from the belly, yea, from before it sees the light of this world, what can be concluded but that God is offended with it? How can it otherwise be, since there is holiness and justice in God? Hence, those who are born of a woman, whose original is by carnal conception with a man, are said to be serpents as soon as born. 'The wicked (and all at first are so) go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder, that stoppeth her ear' (Psa 58:3, 4). They go astray from the belly; but that they would not do if aught of the powers of their soul were unpolluted. 'But their poison is like the poison of a serpent.' Their poison—what is that? Their pollution, their original pollution, is as poisonous as a serpent—to wit, not only deadly, for poison is, but also hereditary. It comes from the old one, from the sire and dam; yea, it is also now become connatural to and with them, and is of the same date with the child as born into the world. The serpent has not her poison, in the original of it, either from imitation or from other infective things abroad, though it may be such things be helped forward and increased; but she brings it with her in her bowels, in her nature, and it is to her as suitable to her present condition as it is to that which is most sweet and wholesome to other of the creatures. So, then, every soul comes into the world poisoned with sin; nay, as such, which have poison connatural to them; for it has not only received sin as the wool has received the dye, but it retains it. The infection has gotten so deep, it has taken the black so effectively that the tint, the very fire of hell, can never purge the soul therefrom.

And that the soul has received this infection thus early, and that it retains it so surely, is not only signified by children coming into the world besmeared in their mother's blood, and by the firstborn's being redeemed at a month old, but also by the first inclinations and actions of children when they are so brought into the world (Exo 26). Who sees not that lying, pride, disobedience to parents, and hypocrisy, do put forth themselves in children before they know that they do either well or ill in so doing, or before they are capable of learning either of these arts by imitation, or seeing understandingly the same things done first by others? He that sees not that they do it naturally from a principle, from an inherent principle, is either blinded, and has retained his darkness by the same sin as they, or has suffered himself to be swayed by a delusion from him who at first infused this spawn of sin into man's nature.

Nor doth the averseness of children to morality a little demonstrate what has been said; for as it would make a serpent sick, should one give it a strong antidote against his poison, so then are children, and never more than then, disturbed in their minds, when a strict hand and a stiff rein by moral discipline is maintained over and upon them. True, sometimes restraining grace corrects them, but that is not of themselves; but more often, hypocrisy is the great and first moving wheel to all their seeming compliances with admonitions, which indulgent parents are apt to overlook, yea, and sometimes, through unadvisedness, to count for the principles of grace. I speak now of that which comes before conversion. But as I said before, I would not now dispute, only I have thought it good thus to urge these things to make my assertion manifest and to show what is the cause of the damnation of the soul.

Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul.58

 

[OF THE CAUSE OF THE LOSS OF THE SOUL.]

FOURTH, And now I come to the fourth thing—that is, to show you the cause of the loss of the soul. That men have souls, that souls are great things, that souls may be lost, this I have shown you already; wherefore I now proceed to show you the cause of this loss. The cause is laid down in the 18th chapter of Ezekiel, in these words: Behold, all souls,' says God, 'are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die' (5:4).

[Sin the cause of the loss of his soul.]

First, It is sin, then, or sinning against God, that is the cause of dying or damning in hell fire, for that must be meant by dying; otherwise, to die, according to our ordinary acceptance of the notion, the soul is not capable of, it is indeed immortal, as hath been afore asserted. So, then, the soul that sinneth—that is, persevering in the same—that soul shall die, be cast away, or be damned; yea, to ascertain us of the undoubted truth of this, the Holy Ghost doth repeat it again, and that in this very chapter, saying, 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die' (5:20). Now, the soul may be said to sin against God; as, 1. In its receiving of sin into its bosom, and in its retaining and entertaining of it there. Sin must first be received before it can act in, or be acted by, the soul. Our first parents first received it as a suggestion or motion and then acted on it. Now it is not here to be disputed when sin was received by the soul, so much as whether ever the soul received sin; for if the soul has indeed received sin into itself, then it has sinned, and by doing so, has made itself an object of the wrath of God, and a firebrand of hell. I say, I will not here dispute when sin was received by the soul, but it is apparent enough that it received it betimes, because in old time every child that was brought unto the Lord was to be redeemed, and that at a month old, (Exo 13:13; 34:20; Num 18:15, 16); which, to be sure, was very early, and implied that then, even then, the soul in God's judgment stood before Him as defiled and polluted with sin. But although I said I will not dispute at what time the soul may be said to receive sin, yet it is evident that it was precedent to the redemption made mention of just before, and so before the person redeemed had attained the age of a month. And that God might, in the language of Moses, give us to see the cause of the necessity of this redemption, he first distinguisheth, and saith, 'The firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat,' did not need this redemption, for they were clean, or holy. But the firstborn of men, who was taken in lieu of the rest of the children, and the 'firstling of unclean beasts, thou shalt surely redeem,' saith He. But why was the firstborn of men coupled with unclean beasts, but because they are both unclean? The beast was unclean by God's ordination, but the other was unclean by sin. Now, then, it will be demanded, how a soul, before it was a month old, could receive sin to the making of itself unclean? I answer, There are two ways of receiving, one active, the other passive; this last is the way by which the soul at first receiveth sin, and by so receiving, becometh culpable because polluted and defiled by it. And this passive way of receiving is often mentioned in Scripture. Thus the pans received the ashes, (Exo 27:3); thus the molten sea received three thousand baths, (2 Chron 4:5); thus the ground receiveth the seed, (Matt 13:20-23); and this receiving is like that of the wool which receiveth the dye, either black, white, or red; and as the fire that receiveth the water till it be all quenched therewith: or as the water receiveth such stinking and poisonous matter into it, as for the sake of it, it is poured out and spilled upon the ground. But whence should the soul thus receive sin? I answer, from the body, while it is in the mother's belly; the body comes from polluted man, and therefore is polluted (Psa 51: 5). 'Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?' (Job 14:4). The soul comes from God's hand, and therefore as so is pure and clean: but being put into this body, it is tainted, polluted, and defiled with the taint, stench, and filth of sin; nor can this stench and filth be by man purged out, when once from the body got into the soul; sooner may the blackamoor change his skin, or the leopard his spots, than the soul, were it willing, might purge itself of this pollution. 'Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord God' (Jer 2:22).