But sin hath defaced its beauty, razed out the Divine image which was its glory, and stamped the image of Satan upon it; turned all its noble powers and faculties against the author and foun- tain of its being. Surely if all the posterity of Adam, from the be- ginning to the end of the world, should do nothing else but weep and sigh for the sin and misery of the fall, it could not be suffi- ciently deplored: Other sins, like single bullets, kill particular persons : but Adam's sin, like a chain-shot, mowed down all man- kind at once. It murdered himself actually, all his posterity vir- tually, and Christ himself occasionally. Oh ! what a black train of doleful consequents attend this sin ! It hath darkened the bright eye of the soul's understanding, 1 Cor. ii. 14. made its complying and obedient will stubborn and rebellious, Job v. 40. rendered his tender heart obdurate and senseless, Ezek. xxxvi. 26. filled its se- rene and peaceful conscience with guilt and terror, Tit. i. 15. The considerations of these things is very humbling, and should cause those that glory in their high and illustrious descents, to wrap their silver star in cypress, and cover all their glory with a mourning veil. But this is but one part of their duty.
How should this consideration provoke us to apply ourselves with the most serious diligence to recover our lost beauty and dignity in the way of sanctification ! This is the great and most proper use of the fall, as Musculus excellently speaks ; — ut gratiam Ckristi eo subnlxiusa ambimus, — to inflame our desires the more vehemently after grace.
Sanctification restores the beauty of the soul, which sin defaced, Eph. iv. 25. Col. iii. 10. Yea, it restores it with this advantage,
o4?0 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
that it shall never be lost again ; holiness is the beauty of God im- pressed upon the soul, and the impression is everlasting. Other beauty is but a fading flower : Time will plough deep furrows upon the fairest faces, but this will be fresh to eternity.
All moral virtues, homilitical qualities, which adorn and beautify nature, and make it attractive and lovely in the eyes of men, are but separable accidents, which death discinds and crops off like a sweet flower from the stalk, Job iv. 21. " Doth not their excellency that " is in them go away ?" But sanctification is inseparable, and will ascend with the soul into heaven. Oh ! that God would set the glass of the law before us, that we may see what defiled souls we have by nature, that we might come by faith to Jesus Christ, who cometh to us by water and by blood, 1 John v. 6.
Inf. 13. To conclude. Upon the consideration of the whole matter before us, if this excellent creature, the soul, receive both its being and excellencies from God; Then he that formed it must needs have the full, and only right to possess and use it, and is therefore most injuriously kept out of the possession of it by un- sanctified and disobedient persons.
The soul of man is a building of God ; he hath laid out the treasures of his wisdom, power, and goodness in this noble struc- ture ; he built it for an habitation for himself to dwell in ; and in- deed such noble rooms as the understanding, will, and affections, are too good for any other to inhabit. But sin hath set open the gates of this hallowed temple, and let in the abomination which maketh desolate. All the doors of the soul are barred and chained up against Christ, by ignorance and infidelity ; he seeks for admis- sion into the soul which he made, but findeth none. A forcible entry he will not make ; but expects when the will shall bring him the keys of the soul, as to its rightful owner. So he expresseth himself to us in Rev. iii. 20. " Behold I stand at the door and " knock : If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will " come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." His stand'mg at the door, denotes his earnest desire and patient waiting, in the use of all those means that are introductive of Jesus Christ into the souls of men. His knocking, signifies the various essays he makes by his ordinances and providences externally, and the con- victions and persuasions of his Spirit, and the consciences of sinners internally : Every call of the word, and every conviction of con- science is a call, a knock from heaven, at the door of the soul, for the admission of Christ into it. By the souVs hearing his voice, and opening the door, understand its approbation, and consent to the motion and offer of God. By Christ's coming in, is meant his uniting that soul unto himself that opens to him. And as his coming in denotes union, so his supping with the soul, and the soul with
A THEATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAV. 541
nim denotes his sweet communion ; imperfect here, complete and full in heaven.
O the admirable condescension of God to poor sinners ! The God that formed you with a word, and can as easily ruin you with a frown, yet waits at the gates of your souls for admission into them. There be many souls within the sound of this complaint, that have kept God out of his own right all their days. They have shut out Jesus Christ, and delivered up their souls to Satan : If he but knock by a slight temptation, the door is presently opened ; but Jesus Christ may wait in vain upon them from sabbath to sabbath, and from year to year : But the longest day of his patience hath an end ; and there is a refusal of grace, after which no more ten- ders of mercy shall ever be made.
What say you, Souls ? Will you at last open the door to Jesus Christ, or will you still exclude him ? If you will open to him, he will not come empty-handed, he will bring a feast with him, such a feast as you never tasted any thing like it in your lives : But, if you will not open to him, then I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you have once barred the doors of your soul against him, whose pleasure and power gave them their very beings ; against him who is their sovereign Lord, and rightful Owner. And consequently this act of yours must stop your mouths, and deprive you of all pleas and apologies when you shall knock here- after at the door of mercy, and God shall ever shut it up against you, according to his just, but dreadful threatenings, Mat. vii. 22. Prov. i. 24, 25. And thus much of the divine original, and excel- lent nature of the soul of man.
Having taken a view of this excellent creature, the soul, in open- ing the former proposition : we come next to the consideration of' Us union with the body, in this second proposition.
Doct. II. That the souls and bodies of men are knit together, by the feeble band of the breath in their nostrils.