DOCTRINE FIRST.
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 upon
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 the 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 thereafter 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 his soul. 'What shall a man give in exchange for
his soul?' But,
5. The whole man
goeth under this denomination; man, consisting of body and soul, is yet called
by that part of himself that is most chief and principal. 'Let every soul,'
that is, let every man, 'be subject unto the higher powers' (Rom 13:1). 'Then
sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred,
three-score and fifteen souls (Acts 7:14). By both these, and several other
places, the whole man is meant and is also so to be taken in the text; for
whereas here he saith, 'What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul?' It is said elsewhere, 'For what is a man
advantaged if he gains the whole world, and loses himself?' (Luke 9:25) and so,
consequently, or, 'What shall a man give in exchange (for himself) for his
soul?' His soul when he dies, and body and soul in and after judgment.
6. The soul is called
the good man's darling. 'Deliver,' Lord, saith David, 'my soul from the sword;
my darling from the power of the dog' (Psa 22:20). So, again, in another place,
he saith, 'Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their
destructions, my darling from the [power of the] lions' (Psa 35:17). My
darling—this sentence must not be applied universally, but only to those in
whose eyes their souls, and the redemption thereof, is precious. My darling—most
men do, by their actions, say of their soul, 'my drudge, my slave; nay, thou
slave to the devil and sin; for what sin, what lust, what sensual and beastly
lust is there in the world that some do not cause their souls to bow before and
yield unto? But David, here, as you see, calls it his darling, or his choice
and most excellent thing; for, indeed, the soul is a choice thing in itself,
and should, were all wise, be every man's darling, or chief treasure. And that
it might be so with us, therefore, our Lord Jesus hath thus expressed the worth
of the soul, saying, 'What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?' But if
this is true, one may see already what misery he is like to sustain that has,
or shall lose his soul; he has lost his heart, his spirit, his best part, his
life, his darling, himself, his whole self, and so, in every sense, his all.
And now, 'what shall a man,' what would a man, but what can a man that has lost
his soul, himself, and his all, 'give in exchange for his soul?' Yea, what
shall the man that has sustained this loss do to recover all again, since this
man, or the man put under this question, must need to be a man that is gone from
hence, a man that is cast in the judgment, and one that is gone down the throat
of hell?
But to pass this, and
to proceed.
