The Works of John Bunyan, vol 1 by John Bunyan (best book clubs txt) 📖

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