Taken from Selections from the Religious and Literary Writings of
John H. Bocock (Richmond, Va.: 1891).
Our souls, as we here see, may be lost; and that is a loss
which the gaining of the whole world would not make up to us. Our souls
are worth more than the whole world. They are worth so much,-- I. Because they are immortal.
There may probably be prophecies of immortality within our souls
themselves, in their own desires and longings after a life higher than
this, and their hopes, aspirings, fears and forebodings of things in
eternal scenes. To a pure eye there are analogies of man's immortality
around us: in the resurrection of the spring from the death of winter, in
the upspringing of wheat from the dead grain, in the rise of the
butterfly from the worm, and in the fact that other things, which seem
just as death seems, are but changes and advancements to other stages of
being. But is in the Bible, and by the voice of God, that life and
immortality are brought to light. There we learn clearly and fully
that this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortally. The righteous souls at the judgment shall go
away into life eternal. The wicked shall go away into
everlasting punishment. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the promise that he hath
promised us, even eternal life. That, being justified by his
grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal
life. The New Testament especially, infinitely stretches the value of the
soul by showing plainly that it will exist forever in eternal happiness
or eternal misery. Our souls are, therefore, worth more than the whole
world to us, because when the world and everything in it besides man
shall be burned up and taken away, then the soul will have an eternity
before it to go on existing, in heaven or in hell. Our souls must live
forever and forever in happiness or in misery. II. Our souls are worth so much on account of their powers of
enjoyment. It is enough to fill us with astonishment to think of the
great joy which, according to the word of God, the gospel pours into the
human soul. When a soul enters heaven, it is said to enter into the
joy of its Lord. When the prophet Isaiah spake beforehand of the
diffusion of the gospel among men, he said that everlasting joy should
be upon their heads; the kingdom of God among men is righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Along with the gospel the
Spirit of God comes and dwells in the spirit of man, and three of the
fruits of that Sprit are love, joy and peace. The Apostle John writes to
the churches that their joy might be full. Jude says that those
to whom he writes are to be presented faultless before the presence of
Christ's glory with exceeding joy. St. Paul tells the Philippians
that the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep their
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And Peter, speaking of the
bond of union between Christ and his people, says, "Whom having not
seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." And the Spirit
of God puts into the rapt and glowing lips of St. Paul a prayer for
Christians, that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith, that they,
being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fulness of God. And the same apostle tells us that a certain
process of discipline to which the souls of God's people are subjected in
this world works out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory in heaven. These are the brightest pictures of joy
that are to be found in any books of poetry or books of prophecy or books
of imagination--and much more, books of fact to be found in this world.
There is no joy of this earth that can go higher than joy
unspeakable and full of glory. And in reference to that glory with
which the joy is full there is no glory known below which
exceeds a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Man is
capable of these enjoyments, of which fish and beast and bird are not
capable, because man is gifted with an immortal soul. A man's soul is,
therefore, of great value to him. It is of so much value that the gain
of the whole world would not make up to him the loss of his soul. III. Our souls are worth so much on account of their powers of
suffering. Those who know not god and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ shall, in consequence of the immortality of their souls, be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of his power. A process of destruction shall go
on upon them which will be an everlasting process of destruction. There
shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth; for their
worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched. Sin is such a
deadly poison that when it gets hold upon the substance of a soul it
bites like a serpent and stings likes an adder and eats like a
cancer. These are esteemed among the most painful modes of death.
These are the ways in which the punishment of sin in the future world
are set forth in the Bible. If we take along with them the thought that
in the future world, if they once begin, they must endure forever and
forever; if we multiply each of the agonies of a guilty conscience by
endless years; if we consider well the decisive words of the Lord Jesus,
that their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched,
we can see enough to show us that a man's soul is worth more to him than
the world. If he loses his soul and gains the whole world, the gain of
the whole world will not make up to him the loss of his soul. IV. GOD's ETERNAL LOVE of our souls shows that they are worth more than
the whole world. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. God surely did not love the sins of this world, for he once
destroyed the inhabitants of the world by water on account of their sins,
and he will again destroy the world by fire on the same account. He
surely did not love the mere material elements of the world, or
the mere bodily part of man, as to give his Son to die for
us; for all the material elements of this world, except so much of them
as may have been connected with human souls, as the bodily tabernacles
of those souls, will be consumed by fire when that day of the Lord shall
come. On that day the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the works which
are therein shall be burnt up. And if God's love for this world was
connected with the material elements of it, beautiful as they are, and
rich as they are in the wonderful proofs of his handiwork, he would not
thus burn them up as soon as the immortal spirits of men, and the
renewed tabernacles of those spirits, spring up into the air, and leave
this world. It was not because it was a world of sinners that God so loved this
world; nor because it was a world of beautiful material workmanship,
fearfully and wonderfully made; but it was because of the immortal
spirits which inhabit the bodies of men in this world. It was
because the soul of man is immortal, and has power to be happy and full
of glory to all eternity, and has power to be forever in woe and anguish,
that God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son to die for
it. It was the soul of man upon which the love of God was fixed.
"For the redemption of the soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever." It
was the soul of man, Jehovah's breath, lying in his sight weltering in
sin and woe, condemned and dying, yet a priceless jewel capable of
feeling the love of God, and of reflecting his glory, and capable of
wearing a bring and burning crown of reflected glory in heaven. It was
that soul of man on which the love of God was fixed with pity and
purposes of mercy and of salvation before the foundation of the world.
We may see the worth of our souls in the love of God flowing out towards
them from eternity in spite of sin, and may so learn that if we lose our
souls, the gain of the whole world would not make up the loss. V. The Son of God coming from heaven, and taking human flesh and
dying for our souls, shows their great value. It was not to save the material universe from being burned up in the
conflagration of the last day, nor was it to save the body of man from
being stricken by the scythe of death, and spread out in the grave as a
repast for the earth-worm, that Christ Jesus came into this world, but
it was to redeem the souls of sinners from the condemnation of
eternal death under which they lay. The Saviour went about doing good to the bodies of men, healing the
sick and cleansing the lepers, to show his compassion and to give vent to
the tender pity he felt for the lost estate of man and all his woes. But
his main occupation on earth was casting out devils, forgiving the sins
and undoing the spiritual bonds of guilty souls, as a physician of souls.
And his mighty miracles in feeding the thousands, and in speaking to and
stilling the waves and the winds, and in raising the dead to life, though
they were works of mercy in themselves, yet they had a deeper meaning by
far than mere mercy, for they were done to prove the consent of the
treating power in heaven to the main great work which he had in hand--to
die as the Redeemer of the souls of men. The language of the
miracles to the hearing ear was the same as the language of that
articulate voice itself once heard speaking immediately from the courts
of heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." I give
my sanction to his redeeming work. If Christ had come to be a mere Redeemer of the material elements from
the bondage of corruption, he would have gone about the fields plucking
up weeds and briars and thorns; he would roamed about killing the
poisonous reptiles of the world, fulfilling the low heathen idea of
Hercules as a redeemer of matter and a deliverer from mere material
evils; or he would have ascended into the fields of ether, like a new
Titan, among the whirling planets of the sky, and he would have forced
back the march of the earth in her orbit from that path in which she
has been walking since her inhabitants were sinners, and in which she
encounters the heat of summer, and the scorching fire of fever, and the
sirocco and the tornado, and in which she encounters the snow and the ice
and the chill blasts and the temporary death of winter, and he would have
impelled her again into the path in which she rolled in the days of the
paradise of old, in which eternal spring smiled over her borders and the
sweetness of even-temperature and the blessedness of perpetual youth and
health were enjoyed by her inhabitants. But great as these things would
have been, they were not the things that brought him down from heaven to
earth. The souls of men were in thick darkness in relation to
their spiritual concerns and in relation to the way in which a sinner may
be restored to the favor of God. When he came into the world "the people
which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the
region and shadow of death light is sprung up." He declared of himself,
"I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life." "I am the resurrection and
the life." "I am the way, the truth and the life." "In him was life,
and the light was the light of men." The souls of men lay under a heavy load of guilt also, which
they had heaped up by despising and breaking every principle of the law
of God, and the justice of that law which drew its mighty force and power
from the just and holy bosom of God, thundered terribly over men's heads,
and sent out its forked lightnings, and threatened soon to smite and
sweep away their souls with the arrows of destruction. The main great
work of Jesus Christ was to bear in himself man's heavy load of grievous
guilt, taking the place of man at the bar of heaven's justice. Realizing
more than the old fable of Atlas with the heavens upon his shoulders, he
bore those heavier things than even the roof and ceiling of the heavens
themselves, the wrath and curse of insulted law and justice, the wrath and
curse of the God of justice, which was due to human guilt. In thus
bearing our sins and carrying our sorrows in his own body on the tree he
took away their power over our souls. Satan, like lightning, fell from
heaven. Sin was conquered and retreated. Death, it is true, seemed to
be victorious for a short time. He held the Saviour for one day and a
part of two others locked fast in his once mighty and terrible arms.
But on the third morning death himself was conquered. The seeming
victory of the grave over him was soon turned into a complete and real
victory of his over the grave. When he had thus died for sin and risen
from the grave, the work which he came on earth to do was accomplished.
And although we must believe that some mighty deliverance of some kind was
wrought out even for the material world by his awful vicarious sufferings,
because we are informed by inspired authority that the "creature itself
also (that is, probably the material creation,) shall be delivered from
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of
God;" yet when that death and resurrection were accomplished, the main
thing which was secured by them was the eternal salvation of the souls of
men. The curse of justice which bore upon human souls, and would have
sent them down to hell, was taken out of the way, being nailed to the
cross, and then the mighty principle of divine government came to
be acted on, and the mighty proclamation to be everywhere made
that"whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." The value of the soul of man "glasses itself", and is
exhibited in the mighty mediatorial work of Christ, in his deep
submission, his mighty agonies, his lowly and painful death, his sleep in
the grave, and his eternal wearing about him of wounds received in the
work of saving souls. The mediatorial but glorified person of Jesus
Christ is said by the author of the Book of Revelation to exhibit itself
in heaven, down to this very day, as a "Lamb that had been slain,"
bearing the wounds which were received on Calvary as the price he paid
for man's redemption. And as those wounds will be a memorial of
the mighty and evil power of sin, to be seen by the inhabitants of heaven
to all eternity, so they are now, as we see them by the eye of faith, a
memorial to us of the value of our souls, and of the great price that
was paid by the Divine Sufferer for the salvation of our souls from sin
which he offers to our acceptance. In the great price he paid we can see the worth of our souls, and we
may look upon his cross and learn that if we lose our own souls the gain
of the whole world will not make up the loss. VI. The SPIRIT OF GOD coming down from heaven to sanctify and purify
our souls, shows their value as they are regarded in heaven when Christ
had ascended up to heaven and the day of Pentecost was fully come, and
the Spirit of God was to descend upon the earth. This was a part of the
plan of salvation. He might have descended upon the minds of men to
teach the correct principles of political government, and this would have
been of great importance and value, for the political world was just then
entering into the iron age of the Roman military despotism. Or he might
have descended into the minds of men to teach them the knowledge of
science, and this too would have been good, for the age was then swiftly
coming on when ancient sciences and arts were about to be lost, and the
sciences had to sleep a long sleep in the grave of the dark ages before
their modern resurrection came. Or he, the Spirit of God, might have
descended to bring mere intellectual gifts, and this would have been a
bright thing for the world, for genius was passing away, and second-rate
minds were then coming uppermost, and intellectual darkness was seating
itself upon Greece and Rome. But the Spirit descended for none of these
things. He came to convert and to sanctify the souls of men, that
theirs might be the blessing of the pure in heart who shall see God. "He
came to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan unto God; that they might receive forgiveness of sins,
and inheritance among them that are sanctified, by faith that is in
Christ." He came to give the new birth to the souls of men, that being
born again, born of the Spirit, they might enter into the kingdom of God;
to take away the stony heart, and to give them hearts of flesh; to write
God's laws as God's mark upon the souls of men, that they should not
depart from him; to take away the carnal mind and the spiritual death
that dwells in it, and give the spiritual mind with the life and peace
that dwell in it; to be a spirit of adoption in the souls of the
children of God, giving them an earnest, a prelibation of heaven,
bearing witness that they are the children of God, and teaching them to
cry Abba Father. He came down to open the crystal fountain to quench the thirst of the
soul, to give it sanctifying grace sufficient for its day and according
to its wants, and thus to guide that soul through all the various scenes
of life, until it arrive safely on the shores of the blessed Canaan, and
at the New Jerusalem in heaven. In the importance of that errand, which brings from heaven, not only
the Son of God, but the Spirit of God, we may read the worth of our
souls, and learn that if we lose our souls a gaining of the whole world
will not compensate us for the loss:
"What, then, shall it profit us if we gain the whole world and lose
our own souls?" There are persons who always send the subject of
religion away to wait for a convenient season; who devote to it
the scraps of their time, or else no time at all; who allow it a place
only in the refuse corners of their mind. But your soul is immortal, and
of too vast importance to be dealt with thus. The angels of God in
heaven have a different estimate from you on the subject, for "there is
joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."
If the soul is thus valuable, beware of the things by which men
lose their souls. 1. Beware of secret cherished besetting sins. "'If thy right
eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is
profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that
thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend
thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee
that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should
be cast into hell." Cut away the secret, cherished, besetting sin at all
hazards and to the last extremity. 2. Beware of adopting false hopes upon presumptuous grounds.
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth that shall
he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap
corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap
life everlasting." 3. Beware of being satisfied with anything short of a renewal of
your heart, a regeneration of your spiritual nature, a putting away
of old things, a seeing of all things new, and a showing of your faith by
your works. "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again." "Many shall
say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name,
and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many
wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity." "Without holiness no man shall
see the Lord." "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be
anathema maranatha". 4. Beware of postponement and procrastination. On that rock thousands
have split. Time is precious. You have none to spare. "And the Lord
said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man." "Behold, now is the
accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.""For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and
lose his own soul." -- Mark viii. 36