Paradise Opened
shall endeavor to improve it for the everlasting advantage of both your souls. Therefore let my following counsel be not only accepted, but carefully, faithfully, and diligently followed by you, that so you may be happy here and blessed hereafter.
1. The first word of counsel is this: Let it be the principal care of both of you, to look after the welfare of your precious and immortal souls.
If your souls are safe, all is safe; if they are well, all is well. But if they are lost, all is lost, and you lost and undone in both worlds. [Mat.
16:26. "The soul is a greater miracle in man than all the miracles wrought among men," says Augustine.] Christ, who only paid the price of souls, has told us that one soul is more worth than all the world. Chrysostom well observes, "that whereas God has given us many other things double—namely, two eyes to see with, two ears to hear with, two hands to work with, and two feet to walk with, to the intent that the failing of the one might be supplied with the other—he has given us but one soul. If that is lost, have you, another soul to give in recompense for it?"
Ah, friends! Christ left his Father's bosom and all the glory of heaven, for the good of souls. He assumed the nature of men for the happiness of the soul of man. He trod the wine-press of his Father's wrath for souls. He prayed for souls. He paid for souls. He bled out his heart-blood for souls. [Isa 63:3; John 17; Luke 23:34; Mat.
26:28.] The soul is the breath of God, the beauty of man, the wonder of angels, and the envy of devils! It is of an angelical nature; it is a heavenly spark, a celestial plant, and of a divine offspring, 1 Pet. 5:8.
Again, weigh well "the incomparable price" which Christ paid for the redemption of the soul, 1 Pet. 1:18-19. What are the riches of the East or West Indies, the spoil of the richest nations, mountains of diamonds and gold, compared to the price that Christ laid down for souls! John 1:4, 12, and Heb. 22:23. The soul is a spiritual substance, capable of the knowledge of God, of union with God, of communion with God, and of an eternal fruition of God. There is nothing which can suit the soul below God, nor anything which can satisfy the soul without God, nor anything which can save the soul but God. The soul is so choice, so high, and so noble a piece—that it divinely scorns all the world in point of acceptance, justification, satisfaction, enjoyment, and salvation.
Christ made himself an offering for sin—that souls might not be undone by sin. The Lord died—that slaves might live. The Son died— that servants might live. The natural Son died—that adopted sons might live. The only-begotten Son died—that bastards might live.
Yes, the judge died—that malefactors might live! Heb. 9:11-14, and 10:10,14; Gal. 4:4-6; Heb. 2:8. Ah, friends! as there was never sorrow like Christ's sorrow, so there was never love like Christ's love, and of all his love, there is none compared to his love for souls, Isaiah 53:3, and Gal. 2:20. To say much in a little space, the spiritual enemies which daily war against the soul, the glorious angels which hourly guard the soul, and the precious ordinances which God has appointed as means both to convert and nourish the soul, show forth that love. Eph. 6:11-12; 1 Pet. 2:11; Romans 10:17; 1 Cor. 11:23-27.
The soul is capable of "a crown of life," Rev. 2:10; of "a crown of glory," 1 Pet. 5:4; of "a crown of righteousness," 2 Tim. 4:8; of "an incorruptible crown," 1 Cor. 9:25.
Earthly crowns have so many cares, fears, vexations, and dangers which daily attend them, that oftentimes they make the heads and hearts of monarchs ache, which made Cyrus say, "You look upon my crown and my purple robes, but did you but know how they were lined with thorns, you would not stoop to take them up!" [Proverbs
27:4, "Does the crown endure to all generations?"] But the crowns which immortal souls are capable of, are crowns without crosses; they are not attended with care of keeping or fear of losing; there are no evil persons nor evil spirits who haunt those crowns. Darius, that great monarch, fleeing from his enemies, he threw away the crown of gold from his head that he might run the faster; but a sincere
Christian is in no danger of losing his crown, 2 Tim. 4:8. His crown is laid up in a safe hand, in an omnipotent hand, 1 Pet. 1:5. Now what do all these things speak out, but the preciousness and excellency of the soul?
Once more, the excellency of the body, intimates a more than ordinary excellency of this jewel. The body is of all materials the most excellent. How does David admire the rare texture and workmanship of his body! "I am fearfully and wonderfully made. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb." Psalm 139:14-15. When workmen have some choice piece in hand, they perfect it in private, and then bring it forth to the light for men to gaze at. So here, the greatest miracle in the world is man, in whose very body—how much more in his soul!—are miracles enough to fill a volume.
Austin complains that men much wonder at the high mountains of the earth, the huge waves of the sea, the deep waterfalls of rivers, the vastness of the ocean, and at the motions of the stars, etc., but they wonder not at all at their wonderful selves. Galen, a profane physician and a great atheist, writing of the excellent parts of man's body, he could not choose but sing an hymn to that God, whoever he was, who was the author of so excellent and admirable a piece of work; he could not but cry out, "Now I adore the God of nature."
Now if the cabinet (the body) is so marvelously wrought, how much more is the jewel (the soul) which is contained in it! Oh, how richly and gloriously is the soul embroidered! How divinely inlaid and enameled is the soul!
Princes impress their images or effigies upon the choicest metals, namely, gold and silver. God has engraved his own image with his own hand upon angels and men, Gen. 1:26. The soul is the glory of the creation, a beam of God, a spark of celestial brightness, a vessel of honor, a bird of paradise, a habitation for God. The soul is spiritual in its essence; God breathed it in; God has invested it with many noble endowments; he has made it a mirror of beauty, and printed upon it a surpassing excellency. The soul is spiritual in its object; it contemplates God and heaven. God is the orb and center where the soul does fix. [Gen. 2:7; Heb. 12:9; Eccles. 12:7; Zech. 12:1; P. 116:7; John 14:8; Psalm 17:16.] God is the terminus of the soul— the soul moves to him as to his rest, "Return to your rest, O my soul."
This dove can find no rest but in this heavenly ark. ["Lord," says
Austin, "you have made us for yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it comes unto yourself!"]
Nothing can fill the soul but God, nothing can quiet the soul but God, nothing can satisfy the soul but God, nothing can secure the soul but God, nothing can save the soul but God. The soul being spiritual, God only can be the adequate object of it. The soul is spiritual in its operations. It being immaterial, does not depend upon the body in its working. The rich and rare endowments, and the noble operations of the soul, speak out the excellency of the soul. "The soul," says
Aristotle, "has a nature distinct from the body; it moves and operates of itself, though the body be dead, and has no dependence upon, or co-existence with, the body." The soul has an intrinsic principle of life and motion, though it be separate from the body. And does not the immortality of the soul speak out the excellency of the soul?
[Luke 23:43; 1 Thes. 4:17-18; Phil. 1:23; Acts 7:59.]
Luke 12:4, "Fear not those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do." Therefore the soul, not being capable of being killed, is not in a possibility of dying. The essence of the soul is spiritual. It has a beginning, but no end; it runs parallel with eternity. The soul does not wax old; it lives forever, which we cannot affirm of any sublunary created glory. To conclude this first word of counsel, what Job says of wisdom, I may fitly apply to the soul, "Man knows not the price thereof; it cannot be valued with the gold of